Billions and Billions!
So the venerable J.P. Morgan with the fortress balance sheet and exemplary risk control posts a $2B+ loss. Quite a shocking number but not surprising.
The banks are scrounging for ways to make money. With the Fed printing money and buying Treasuries, the yield curve is historically flat, so they can’t take deposits at one percent and invest in the long end to make five or six. The rates just aren’t there. With all of the regulation, liquidity in the fixed income markets is drastically reduced, so client trading revenues are way down. They are scared to lend money in this economy. So they take market risk – those evil banks!
I can remember when Sandy Weill walked through my office years ago and talking up the Travelers Citibank merger and how Glass Steagall should be repealed. This would remove the Chinese Wall between commercial and investment banks. I recall thinking there would be consequences in the long run.
They say, “If you don’t know history you are doomed to repeat it,” for a reason.
Born in Georgia and raised in Savannah, Todd spent his early summers in Carp Lake, Michigan listening to the vivid stories of his grandparents recalling their youth in the northern wilderness. Ever since his earliest days, he loved story telling.
Todd left Savannah in 1982 to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO where he studied aeronautical engineering. Upon graduation in 1986, he immediately left the Academy for flight school. His initial assignment was flying Combat Search and Rescue helicopters at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. In the UHAE (Unique Harsh Arctic Environment-pronounced “Yoo Hay” by Alaskans) he flew local rescue missions and was also deployed throughout Asia. During this time he was credited with saving many lives and even more assists. In addition to flying exciting missions, Todd also managed to graduate from the University of Alaska Anchorage with an M.S. in Engineering Management. In 1990 he volunteered for Special Operations and went back to flight school. In 1991 he was assigned to the 20th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, FL, flying MH-53J Pave Low helicopters. Immediately he was deployed to Kuwait. Over the next three years he was active in classified missions in support of counterterrorism under the control of the National Command Authority and deployed throughout the world. His customers included SEAL Team Six and Delta Force. He left the Air Force as a Captain in 1994. During this hectic period in his life he found time to write his first novel, The Ultimate Solution which was never published. He did publish an article in the Armed Force’s Journal in 1994 on Special Operations Aviation.
1994 found Todd joining an investment bank and earning a chance to expand his knowledge of his other passion, Finance. During this second career he became highly knowledgeable in Emerging Markets Fixed Income and traveled a great deal internationally with a focus on the Caribbean. He has conducted business in over forty different countries. He became acutely aware of the consequences of economic decisions and their effect on national and economic security.
However, Todd.’s love of storytelling was uncontrollable. He left the financial business in 2011 to write. Currency was published in December of that year. Once he began typing, he never stopped.
Todd lives on a three-hundred year old farm in Connecticut deeded by King George of England with his children.
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