Trump Tariffs and Stagflation: Why TACO is the Least Bad Option
The first obvious step right now for fighting stagflation is for Trump to dump his tariff policies.
The results of the "stress tests" are in.
According to the results, the biggest banks need $75 billion in additional capital to ride out a "prolonged downturn" (as opposed to whatever it was we've just been through and all the money we've loaned out).
The Washington Post has a handy chart here. The biggest potential losers are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and GMAC.
However, according to former banking regulator and S&L scandal prosecutor William Black, the tests are a "complete sham" that don't go nearly far enough. If they really tested banks properly they would show a collective hole of $2
(yes, capital "t"), and force banks to massively increase their capitalization rates.
Read the article here and the interview here, as well as Black's amazing article for D&S way back from 2007.
--d.f.