There has been intense debate about whether the major banks are or are not insolvent and what to do about them. Many supporters of the administration have urged everyone to wait for the results of the stress tests, assuring us that more shall be revealed.
Rueters is now reporting that it is possible that more shall be concealed.
Stress Tests
The U.S. Treasury Department is planning to delay the release of any completed bank stress test results until after the first-quarter earnings season to avoid complicating stock market reaction, a source familiar with Treasury's discussions said on Tuesday.
The Treasury is still talking about how results of the regulatory stress tests on the 19 largest U.S. banks will be released, and may disclose them as summary results that are not institution-specific, the source said.
There are some things about this report that seem to me to be plausible conclusions. This a trial balloon from Treasury to test the waters to see what they can get by with. The results of the stress tests are not turning to be very possitive for some of the bigger fish in the pond.
If they thought they were going to have favorable results would they be hemming and hawing like an embarrassed kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar? No they would more likely eager to say look, look the banks are coming along nicely and our plan is working.
The lack of transparency about the details of the state of the financial system and the details of what has happened to the vast sums of tax money that has been poured into it is the greatest barrier to a sane and rational discussion of policy alternatives. It is looking like the situation isn't going to improve in the near future.