Behold, Ourobouros!

Sheila Bair announded the other day that the FDIC may borrow from the banks in order to meet its Deposit Insurance payout obligations that are expected to come down the pike. (No, not the Mass. Pike.) ;-)

Zero Hedge

Even as the FDIC is scrambling to find ways to replenish the practically empty Deposit Insurance Fund, one of its options, namely borrowing from the Treasury, may be a non-starter due to the eggregious monetization by its counterparty, the Federal Reserve, as both run up against the Federal debt ceiling. According
to Bloomberg:

"Any new government borrowing brings the outstanding U.S. government debt closer to the $12.1 trillion limit. Tapping the FDIC’s line of credit or borrowing through the Federal Financing Bank or from private banks also would have implications for the debt limit, Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said in an interview."

More from Bloomberg:

The FDIC board is set to meet next week to decide how to refill funds
depleted by 94 bank failures this year. The options include new assessments on
banks, tapping a $100 billion line of credit with the Treasury Department, or borrowing money from banks or debt markets.

People, I can't begin to tell you how seriously whacked this is! The FDIC borrows from banks to fulfill its deposit insurance obligations and they'll repay the banks by assessing... the same banks! The FDIC and the banking "system" would become like Ourobouros, eating its own tail!

And suppose there's a bank run, like on Citigroup, or on Bank of America? Then all the big banks are in danger of collapsing! And who would be paying out to make the depositors whole to a certain degree? Why, the FDIC!!! And where would the FDIC get the money to bail out the depositors at these banks? Why the big banks themselves!!!!! O -- Ourobouros will be munching way, way up its tail! Once it reaches its own anus... well, you know what'll happen next.

Citigroup Fading Fast

Source: CNN

Chart is self-explanatory. Rumour has it that the street is not confident that this gnomes' lair will be saved before it collapses completely into insolvency.

Coming: Death to Bank of America and Citigroup

The stocks of bank of America and Citigroup have collapsed to below $5.00 a share - they are both penny stocks!

Charting Stocks Gone In 60 Days: Citi and Bank of America Won't Live to See May

Bank of America and Citigroup won’t live to see May. The two banks will be nationalized in the coming weeks, and we think that the announcement can come as
soon as tomorrow evening (Friday evenings are when major bank announcements and failures occur).


The US government has already committed half a trillion dollars to these two firms which is more than 10 times the amount it would cost to buy and control both companies. The market doesn’t believe that $500 billion is enough to save these companies.

Today both banks made fresh new lows with Citi closing at $2.51 and Bank of America closing at $3.93. The 1 year charts below show the short term price movements. You should understand that when a bank stock’s chart looks like
this, even a HEALTHY bank would be in trouble. Nobody wants their deposits tied
up in a company that trades at $2. The outflows of deposits from Bank of America
and Citi must be catastrophic.

And here are their stock price charts!

Source: Chartingstocks.net

The US Gov't will need a lot more than the $500Bn already spent to bail out these banks. Don't count on any bailout for any banks to get through Congress this time -- both Dems and Repubs are majorly pissed off at the banking gnomes who took their year-end bonuses out of the first TARP. When Obama and Geither go to Captiol Hill and tell them that the new TARP is must-pass, the Repubs plus some Dems will shoot it down, probably by filibuster!

I gots two credit cards from Bank of America, both with zero balance. When it goes under, I am sure those cards will be useless!!!!!