FDIC princess Sheila Bair gestures her response to a question about bank accounting irregularities
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...The Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) increased by $5.5 billion during the second quarter to -$15.2 billion (unaudited). The increased amount included $3.2 billion from accrued assessment income, $2.6 billion from a decrease in provisions for insurance losses, and $119 million from interest on securities and other revenue. Unrealized losses on available-for-sale securities combined with operating expenses reduced the fund by $443 million...
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Funny thing -- when I got my accounting degree twenty-five years ago, an "insurance fund" with a balance of -$15.2 billion was considered, at the very least, grossly underfunded, if not outright bankrupt.
Time to turn to our betters at the NYT for the official word from the Kremlin.
Do you understand yet?
UPDATE 2040 EDT 1 SEPTEMBER 2010: Junior Deputy Accountant throws her talents onto the issue.
Hey, no problem, if they need the money to bail out a failing bank they'll just magically create it by rearranging the magnetic orientation of particles of rust on a spinning plastic disk in some closely guarded machine somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was a kid learning that some Pacific islanders used to use giant round stones (Yap stones) for money. I remember thinking at the time how weird that was. On reflection, the islanders would be more justified in thinking we were the ones who were crazy. Patterns in the magnetic orientation of rust particles glued to plastic disks are money. Not even the rust, mind you, but the patterns. Riiight....
Which part of -15.2 billion is a good thing?
ReplyDeleteNo wonder a cashless society appeals to them. You have all the money their crystal ball says you have at any given moment.
ReplyDeleteMark someone sitting in for Rush Limbaugh today said the INTEREST on the trillions the Obama administration is blowing on its nationalation and entitlement programs -- borrowed from and repaid to CHINA -- will equal the military budgets of China AND most of NATO combined. Our grandchildren will, in effect, be paying the army that oppresses the eastern hemisphere.