The "Stress Testing" of the Big Banks is a Lie

I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!

As Atrios notes, this is, "just overpaying for sh&%pile."

Statement from the Treasury
Currently, the major U.S. banking institutions have capital in excess of the amounts required to be considered well capitalized.:

A strong, resilient financial system is necessary to facilitate a broad and sustainable economic recovery. The U.S. government stands firmly behind the banking system during this period of financial strain to ensure it will be able to perform its key function of providing credit to households and businesses. The government will ensure that banks have the capital and liquidity they need to provide the credit necessary to restore economic growth. Moreover, we reiterate our determination to preserve the viability of systemically important financial institutions so that they are able to meet their commitments. “We announced on February 10, 2009, a Capital Assistance Program to ensure that our banking institutions are appropriately capitalized, with high-quality capital. Under this program, which will be initiated on February 25, the capital needs of the major U.S. banking institutions will be evaluated under a more challenging economic environment. Should that assessment indicate that an additional capital buffer is warranted, institutions will have an opportunity to turn first to private sources of capital.

Otherwise, the temporary capital buffer will be made available from the government. This additional capital does not imply a new capital standard and it is not expected to be maintained on an ongoing basis. Instead, it is available to provide a cushion against larger than expected future losses, should they occur due to a more severe economic environment, and to support lending to creditworthy borrowers. Any government capital will be in the form of mandatory convertible preferred shares, which would be converted into common equity shares only as needed over time to keep banks in a well-capitalized position and can be retired under improved financial conditions before the conversion becomes mandatory. Previous capital injections under the Troubled Asset Relief Program will also be eligible to be exchanged for the mandatory convertible preferred shares.

The conversion feature will enable institutions to maintain or enhance the quality of their capital. “Currently, the major U.S. banking institutions have capital in excess of the amounts required to be considered well capitalized. This program is designed to ensure that these major banking institutions have sufficient capital to perform their critical role in our financial system on an ongoing basis and can support economic recovery, even under an economic environment that is more challenging than is currently anticipated. The customers and the providers of capital and funding can be assured that as a result of this program participating banks will be able to move forward to provide the credit necessary for the stabilization and recovery of the U.S. economy. Because our economy functions better when financial institutions are well managed in the private sector, the strong presumption of the Capital Assistance Program is that banks should remain in private hands.”

(Emphasis is from FT Alphaville, not the original)

I don't know about you, but it appears to me that Timothy Geithner has absolutely no intention of applying the normal standards of solvency to any of the big banks.

We have this further reinforced by this lovely quote:

Said one high-level official, “I think the market is missing that the whole intent of this process is to show that the banks have enough capital for even worse outcomes than we currently envision and to show there’s a program in place to give banks access to that capital if they need it.”

So that's Geithner's and by extension Barack Obama's official policy: privatize profits, and nationalize losses.

(H/T Naked Capitalism for finding the quote)

BTW, just when you thought that Geithner could not get his tongue any further up Wall Street's anus, we have news that he wants to loan massive amounts of money to hedge funds, to encourage them to buy large pieces of the sh%$pile.

By Dagon's doughnuts, if this is that bad, we need to nationalize preprivatize the banks tomorrow.