Return of the Great Depression?

Pam Martens thinks that bank regulators are doing virtually nothing to prevent the return of the Great Depression. The chart below shows that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) sees credit risks today even lesser than before the Great Depression and issued a warning yesterday that credit risks are rising at banks.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) – the coalition of all the bank and Wall Street regulators that huddle together regularly in secret – said the following in its annual report

“Thirty percent of commercial loan products reflected increased credit risk, compared with 27 percent in 2014. Over the next 12 months, examiners expect credit risk to increase in 50 percent of commercial loan products, and examiners expressed concern with this anticipated level of risk in 73 percent of the products.” 

In a recent survey, the OCC found that only 32 percent of the banks in its survey (which includes the largest 19 banks in the U.S.) are considered to have “conservative” underwriting standards" .

And what is being done by the regulators?