Banks

I do not understand the government's approach to Toxic Assets and the banks which hold them. From the ASIA TIMES: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KD03Dj02.html Geithner's dirty little secret By F William Engdahl ...Today, five US banks, according to data in the just-released Federal Office of Comptroller of the Currency's Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activity, hold 96% of all US bank derivatives positions in terms of nominal values, and an eye-popping 81% of the total net credit risk exposure in event of default. The top three are, in declining order of importance: JPMorgan Chase, which holds a staggering $88 trillion in derivatives; Bank of America with $38 trillion, and Citibank with $32 trillion. Number four in the derivatives sweepstakes is Goldman Sachs, with a mere $30 trillion in derivatives; number five, the merged Wells Fargo-Wachovia Bank, drops dramatically in size to $5 trillion. Number six, Britain's HSBC Bank USA, has $3.7 trillion. After that the size of US bank exposure to these explosive off-balance-sheet unregulated derivative obligations falls off dramatically. Continuing to pour taxpayer money into these five banks without changing their operating system, is tantamount to treating an alcoholic with unlimited free booze... Why has the criminal Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 , which created the playing field for these abuses, not been repealed? This is the act which forbade regulatory oversight of derivatives. If you forget, there was a serious infection of derivatives in the 90's. I remember something about how the pension fund for Orange County, California, had lost some incredible amount back then, because it had invested in derivatives. Why did then Senator Phil Gramm exempt it from scrutiny? Why has Gramm not been called to account for his crimes? Why has he not been summoned to testify before Congress? ( I think he was, but he was handled with the respect due a law-maker.)