I'm not an expert in the field but, I affirm with confidence: "fuck banks". Oh yes, fuck them hard.
Frankly, why anybody would invest money in banks? First of all, financials of banks are hard to understand. Second, most banks offer an average performance (most sectors beat banking, except natural resources, of course). Third, it's a sector where there's a lot of irregularities, if not fraud (which is linked to the first point, because when things are hard to understand, crooks have an easier try).
My first transactions on the stock market were canadian banks, but since I've sold them all, I never wanted to come back (well, I've bought some shares of Bank of the Ozarks a few years ago, but even that performing bank hit a wall, because some crap happened).
Today, we learn that big banks like HSBC and some others where related to money laundering.
A few years ago, we discovered that Wells Fargo, the favorite bank of Buffett was involved in dishonest practices with customers.
"Yeah, but my bank is clean! Nothing ever happened to Royal Bank!". Well, fuck you. Maybe your bank is clean, but in that sector, a lot of things are not that clean. There’s much more chances to see rats in a sewer than anywhere else.
You'll see other shit like that if you invest in bank stocks. It's 100% sure. They'll sell your data to China or they'll do some shit with your social security number. You'll end up fucked because you deserve it, you fucking piece of shit that thinks that your bank is pure.
I totally agree. There is a black box aspect in bank financial statement. One day it will blew on your face, like Home Capital à few years ago.
RépondreSupprimerDo you still have shares of Credit Acceptance Corporation? The stock had a big drop recently because it was hit by a slew of law suits.
Can you say that Facebook and Google are so morally upstanding? Canadian bank stocks have been a great investment except these last couple of years. Some investors are satisfied with a solid dividend and a few percent of capital appreciation a year. If you have $2 million dollars in solid Canadian dividend stocks then you're generating a lot of suck-my-dick money for doing nothing. I'm leaning on the side of 'fuck bank stocks' too though. I feel that the future is not going to be as rosy as the past.
RépondreSupprimerIn my readings, I have learned it is not as much the banks themselves but rather the sleazy bankers who are to be blamed. Banks do not actually earn all that much money for their shareholders compared to the often outrageous and often very short-sighted bonuses their upper level speculators make for morally questionable practices. Even though banks have been progressively more regulated it is the fault of the government legislators that banks are involved in all of the issues that you mention. Such issues do not happen by accident but rather by design. Corrupt politicians and their rich friends design all of the loopholes in the existing system which is flawed on purpose.
RépondreSupprimerFree market would never allow many of the issues which have triggered many of the recent economic problems. It is the politicians and the lobbyists who meddle in the system and make it more vulnerable by creating perverse incentives where profits are privatized by the upper level bankers in their bonuses but losses are offset to shareholders or more recently even the government. Without corrupt politicians you would never have issues like too big to fail, housing for everyone regardless of whether they can afford it, common EURO currency based on made-up economic numbers, subsidized hazard insurance on speculative loans and contracts, etc. If you steal a chocolate bar, you go to jail. If you scam billions of dollars, you get a medal and become a respectable businessman.
The same applies to money laundering and tax-dodging. British have been scamming the whole world through their offshore tax-dodging shelters all with a blessing of their government. Irish, Dutch, Luxembourgish, Estonian etc have all been complicit as well in their own tax-dodging, money hiding, and money laundering scams. The politicians use these dodgy financial scams to hide their own bribes and protect their trust funds. Look at places like Macau, Seychelles, British Virgin Islands, or Lichtenstein... their only reason for existence is for scamming the surrounding countries. In a normal world, they would be black listed or invaded and taken over... but they seem to exist and even flourish with everyone being mysteriously quiet about their questionable transactions. If the politicians would not be complicit then all of the dodgy places would no longer exist... but they are not going to shoot themselves in the leg. Instead they just blame it on some bad apples and some lazy compliance officer in a bank. In the modern era of digital records and continuous digital trail for all transactions, there is no reason for any of these issues to exist... if there was a political will to get rid of these issues around the world, this could be easily solved in a few months or a few years at most.
It is easy to blame the banks... but they are not the ones responsible for most of the filth.
Agreed. No banks. Good article. Bad business model.
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