Serving time for a crime I did not commit

Jan 2010 ... 12 bulls and 13 bear market days. Where are the green shoots and signs of recovery ?

Last November, I recall joking with my friends that the worst is yet to come. Maybe a few of the asset classes and industries might start looking better in the near future , but banks are going to have a rough time ahead. . I wouldn't be surprised if we find cities and countries going bankrupt. With the high percentage of gearing and leverage applied by banks in the business transactions we find that the risks and losses are multiplied by factors of 10 to 100 if not more. Are financial rescues like the TARP and bailouts enough to save the economy? Greed in the industry would just result in all the aid and bailout money being swallowed as quickly as they are being loaned out - creating even more debt.

The few trillion dollars bailed out was meant to write off bad assets. But then have banks written off these assets? Are they no longer bad assets? If so, could someone explain how this has been achieved?

Banks still have these assets on their books. Suspension of the traditional mark to market method of accounting for the rotten assets has only resulted in a profits for banks - but on a completely baseless accounting practice.

The global economies remain very fragile with very bleak prospects for the heavily indebted economies of the US and UK. Sovereign debt crisis in economies with large and rising deficits are inevitable - and we have just started seeing examples of these in the last 2 months - and UK is in the list of such examples - its just the timing that is not clear.

Whatever measures are being taken to rescue the world economy seems too little too late and also very unsustainable.

What can be said about the banking industry is that it is a regulated oligopoly with very restricted competition. The current hue and cry of bonuses and pay scales is just a joke. Banks are free from market disciplines which apply to "genuinely" competitive industries and can therefore chose to do as they wish and pay their staff what they like. The cost is always borne by the customers and if not by the tax payers.

This makes me believe I am serving time for a crime I did not commit. I love the challenges and pressure involved in my line of work, but I am tad bit uncomfortable with the moral ethics and values of this industry. But perhaps, being a part of the system is crime enough. My fervent passion to work in the financial services industry has taken me through a roller coaster ride the last 2 years. Its had more downs than ups, but I am still here - with optimism and a fair bit of courage to see this through.