“The results of the much-anticipated bank stress tests are finally set to be released on Thursday — after the markets close. But we can already give the Obama economic team a grade for the way the tests have been handled: F.
For starters, why the holdup in releasing the results? It’s been ten days since the Treasury Department and the Fed let the banks in on the preliminary results of the tests. So how come the public — you know, the ones who keep bailing out the banks — are still, ten days later, in the dark?
The reason is, the banks are using this time to negotiate how much information about their portfolios the hoi polloi will be privy to, and are trying to get the government to reconsider its analyses (which are already iffy, since they are based on the banks’ own estimates and on assumptions about the economy – including unemployment rates, and cumulative real estate and credit card losses — that are hardly stress-inducing).” (Read more from huffingtonpost.com)