You gotta love Kansas City Fed President, Thomas Hoenig. If you're a fan of truth from Fed officials (are you listening B-52?), then Hoenig and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher should be on your short list for silent kudos.
Six weeks ago, Hoenig broke from Bernanke and testified to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress that "insolvent banks should be allowed to fail." If you haven't seen that article, you need to read it now. HERE.
Again last week he went on the truth offensive in a speech in Sheridan, Wyoming. Listen to some of these gems he delivered and you will understand why we love this guy.
"In the long run, we are all dead but our children will be left to pick up the tab."
"Our financial institutions remain fragile and will require significant additional amounts of capital to regain their stability."
"If we hesitate to make needed changes, we will perpetuate an oligarchy of interests that will fail to serve the best interests of business, the consumer and the U.S. economy..."
"In discussing any aspect of financial reform, one of the most significant changes that must be accomplished is the end of "Too Big to Fail" . . . Institutions must be allowed to fail, no matter their size or political influence...The effect is to lower the costs to these firms and significantly raise costs to the taxpayer and, ultimately, to fundamentally weaken our financial system."
Steve here. The issue is straightforward. Wall street has captured the political class. We've been writing about it since the first live day of this site. Bush, Paulson, Bernanke, Obama, Geithner, Summers, Dodd, Frank and hundreds more elected and appointed officials have chosen the oligarchic banking interests and their politically-connected bondholders over the interests of taxpayers.
There is much more to his speech, which we have in pdf form below. I highly encourage you to take 5 minutes and read it. Hoenig is a classic truth-teller and this one is a beauty.
This speech is not to be missed.
Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig