The Banking Industry: Then and Now

Wall Street was pleased with the re-appointment of Ben Bernanke, and stocks enter the world of social networking. Also whats the state of the banking industry, and the denial that lead to our current financial crisis.

Episode Segments:

Obama's Economy Its the biggest financial projection mistake in history. The Obama Administration misstated the projected budget deficit by $2 trillion. As David Wessel, economics editor for the Wall Street Journal points out, its Barack Obamas economy now, lets hope the administration gets a handle on its financial forecasting. Next, whats moving the markets, our weekly recap of activity on Wall Street.
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The State of Our Banks In the Second Segment we look at the re-appointment of Ben Bernanke to head the Federal Reserve Bank. Wall Street was certainly pleased with this move. But how are the banks really doing? Shelia Bair the head of the FDIC gives a run down on how banks are really faring in this very difficult economy. The future for many banks is not bright as they face now only problems with their own loan portfolios, but also rising insurance assessments by the FDIC and stricter accounting rules that will not allow them to count certain assets. Its a tough time for the banks, and the regulators arent helping.
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The Markets are a-twitter In the Third Segment, Dianne Swonk, chief economist at Miserow Financial takes a look back at the financial crisis. From the fall of Lehman Brothers to todays bank failures many CEOs, politicians and economists simply missed what was really happening. The financial system meltdown took place in a sea of denial. Next a look at a new player in the social networking field. Stock Twits, a stock traders forum on Twitter has gained the attention of NASDAQ. On Thursday, NASDAQ invited the founder of Stock Twits to ring the closing bell, find out why this new technology is turning heads on Wall Street. Finally a look at the week ahead: whats on the economic calendar, and whats likely to move the markets.
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