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If there’s anything we’ve all learned over the past few years, it’s that knowledge is power when it comes to investing in, borrowing money from, or socking money away in banks and other financial institutions.
Some deserve your money.
Many others don’t.
And if you don’t know the difference, you could lose fortunes!
Case in point: In the first phase of the massive credit crisis, the U.S. housing and mortgage markets imploded. Institutions like Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, IndyMac Wachovia, and more either collapsed, were forced into shotgun marriages, or were bailed out to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars.
Meanwhile, the stock market collapsed. Junk bonds collapsed. Large depositors had to worry about their money going up in smoke. It was truly an epic disaster.
But a few select individuals were fully prepared for the carnage …
They knew which banks and other institutions were at risk of failure — well in ADVANCE! That’s because they had simple, easy to understand information on U.S. bank safety — information based not on spin, hype, or subjective feelings, but rather hard, quantifiable data and facts.
Their Ace in the Hole?
The Weiss Ratings!
If you’re not familiar with Weiss Ratings, allow me to give you a quick introduction …
They’ve been rating banks since 1989 and credit unions since 2010. Here in the U.S., they now cover over 14,000 institutions in all 50 states and are set to launch global bank ratings on 200 of the largest publicly-traded banks in the world. Their work and their analysts have been recognized by investors, government officials, and the general public for their uncanny accuracy and valuable foresight.
Indeed, of the 440 institutions that failed between 2007 and present day, 90 percent were flagged in advance, rated D (“Weak”) or E (“Very Weak”), well before they imploded.
Now, the stakes are even higher. Now, we’re clearly embroiled in phase TWO of the great credit collapse. Only this time, it’s not just U.S. banks at risk. It’s GLOBAL banks all around the world. It’s not just BANKS that are failing to meet their obligations, or needing massive bailouts. It’s entire SOVEREIGN NATIONS!
That introduces all kinds of new risks … and new opportunities!
Look at what’s happening in Greece, for instance. Depositors have been rushing to withdraw money from weak banks there. Lines at ATMs are getting longer, with almost a billion dollars flowing out of Greek banks in just a few days in mid-May! Similar moves could be coming down the pike in Portugal, Ireland, Spain or Italy as the banking crisis escalates.
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| Greeks are rushing the banks; the chaos could easily flow to other euro countries. |
For our European readers, wouldn’t it be great to know which banks CAN be trusted with your deposits — and which CAN’T? Wouldn’t you like to know who you can do business with? Wouldn’t you like the peace of mind that comes with knowing your bank has the asset quality, liquidity, and earnings to power through this crisis … and which you should limit your exposure to right away?
And for U.S. investors, wouldn’t it be nice to know if bank risk is rising sharply? If bank ratings are dropping like a rock? Which institutions — and countries — are most at risk of seeing their stocks, bonds, and currencies tank?
Just think: If you knew — in advance — where to move your money, you could minimize your losses during this escalating crisis. Or if you’re more aggressive, you could use that information to go for PROFITS — using select investments designed to rise in value when those vulnerable institutions, stocks, bonds, and currencies decline.
My latest report gives you that information —
Here’s how to harness it!
Look, a few years ago when I saw the U.S. banking and housing markets coming apart at the seams, I knew I had to do something to help investors protect themselves. So I pulled no punches. I named the names of banks at risk of failure. I told investors which stocks to avoid like the plague, and many of them crashed and burned.
Now that the banking crisis has gone global — sweeping up not just banks, but entire sovereign nations — I’ve teamed up with Weiss Ratings to do it again. I’ve just put the finishing touches on a special report called Winners and Losers in the Great Global Banking Crisis of 2012-2013.
This blockbuster report starts off by explaining, in great detail, why we believe a new global banking crisis is practically guaranteed. But that’s just the beginning. It also gives you:
* A complete forecast on just how bad the coming global banking crisis is going to be (Hint: Far WORSE than anything we saw during the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008!) …
* Dirty secrets that Wall Street and the big three credit ratings agencies do NOT want you to know about — including countless examples of past incompetence … if not outright fraud …
* Which parts of the world look strongest based on our research — invaluable information that can help you decide what stock and bond markets have the best chances for growth in 2012 and beyond …
* Exclusive access to our complete list of global bank ratings on 205 overseas banks located in 43 countries around the world …
* Detailed analysis of the nine strongest global banks and 10 weakest global banks …
* My specific instructions on how to target three of the weakest banks on our list that we think will crater in value — including a step-by-step explanation of what to do for maximum profit potential …
* Plus, the three rock-solid (yet virtually unknown) foreign banks that look like a great bargain right now — with all the necessary details like how to buy them!
In short, I’ve partnered with my colleagues at Weiss Ratings to give you everything you need to get ahead of this rapidly-evolving situation … the very same one that the rest of the world seems hell-bent on brushing under the carpet.
If you want to know more … if you want a leg up on other depositors and investors … if you want to know exactly HOW to protect yourself from this unfolding crisis, all you have to do is click here.
Many of the institutions we’ve identified are already falling. Many investors are already losing money, especially now that U.S. markets are following foreign markets off a cliff. Can you really afford to sit idly by while your hard-earned savings goes up in smoke? I trust the answer is no, which is why I urge you to go here right away!
Until next time,
Mike
Mike Larson graduated from Boston University with a B.S. degree in Journalism and a B.A. degree in English in 1998, and went to work for Bankrate.com. There, he learned the mortgage and interest rates markets inside and out. Mike then joined Weiss Research in 2001. He is the editor of Safe Money Report. He is often quoted by the Washington Post, Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires, Orlando Sentinel, Palm Beach Post and Sun-Sentinel, and he has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg Television and CNBC.
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Read the following:
*Nouriel Roubini
*Predicted the current economy disaster. RobertReich.org .
*Why Capitalism Shouldn’t Be Saved 

by John Sanbonmatsu
The economic cronies (wall street) including the banking cartel (the Fed) need to be brought to justice.
Quit Cooking the Books
Make the Superrich Pay Their Share
End Legal Tax Cheating
Invade the Caymans
Wean Wal-Mart (and the Yankees
Cut Off the Utility Scam
Ground the Private Jet Exemption
Demolish the Mansion Deduction
Begin the Healing
•••••••••
Defang the Loan Sharks
Save Our Savings
End the Burglar-Alarm Subsidy

Stop Indenturing Students
Drag the IRS Into the 21st Century
David Cay Johnston is the author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill).
The seven common blunders are:
• Wealth without work
• Pleasure without conscience
• Knowledge without character
• Commerce without morality
• Science without humanity
• Politics without principle
• Rights without responsibilities.
Thanks to Reaganite economic policies we have bigger government, bigger business and Wall Street co-opt the seven blunders of the world.
Estevan
The G8 are not there to fight corruption, they are there to manage it. Depression is because real people are depressed. The one ingredient that is missing from G8 and G20 is real leadership with character that a decent person can believe in. You won’t get this from the morally bankrupt. All these people need to get out of our lives so we can start again.
Thanks to the envy and greed of the every day person, who take no responsibility for their actions, and are quick to blame – probably a Republican not that bias and prejudice and self justification has anything to do with anything – We, the People, have yet to discover a better way of collectively self governing, and the closest We, the People, have come has been to function under the umbrella of a Republic (USA); however, in todays mind set, whine and criticize while you sell whatever product you wish to sell….it is called making the most money you can get however grubby, or intellectualized. Good luck!
“”” closest We, the People, have come has been to function under the umbrella of a Republic”””
A Republic was much more than what you allude to. It was anchored in the philosophy of Aristotle, Cicero, et. al. A careful balance between virtuous government and virtuous citizens, each keeping the other virtuous through coercion.
The government kept the people virtuous through mandatory participation in institutions like public office, the militia, jury, road building, etc.
The people kept the government virtuous through participation in government duties — and holding the means to resist unvirtuous government.
This rhetoric may resonate with modern-day libertarians. But, it was actually closer to communism. A significant component of being a citizen in a republic was subordinating yourself to the will of the majority. For example, having the means to resist unvirtuous government didn’t mean each individual could decide for themselves when to resist. They deliberated and arrived at consensus. It was through this process (within a militia) that all classes came to see that they owed something to each other. That they had something in common: primarily the health of the republic. By sacrificing their private interests for common interests which they better understood by participating with their neighbors (across all classes) they came to be seen as virtuous and owed something from those to whom they sacrificed for.
That’s a far cry from modern libertarianism which seems to focus on “leave me alone, I got mine, go get yours.”
Anyway, the real fatal flaw in Civic Republicanism (the philosophy behind “Republics”) was that it was agrarian and relied upon a never-ending frontier to provide sufficient lands that every citizen could be self-sufficient and withdraw to their land rather than become dependent upon an un-virtuousness government which offered to do everything for its citizens.
We no longer have “Manifest Destiny” to take the lands of others in the name of promoting our Republic. We no longer live as self-sufficient farmers. Most individuals spend 1/2 their waking life working for someone else at a job they have little autonomy or control. Civic Republicans (like Harrington, Machiavelli, et. al.) would call such citizens “sharecroppers.” In terms of virtue, they would call us “palsied.” Incapable of virtue due to living a life that is dependent upon others.
All talk about how we live in a “Republic” has had increasingly less meaning since the 1860s. The more interesting question is how could we reconstitute the principles of Civic Republicanism in a modern world? How could we recognize how Civic Republicanism was heavily dependent upon shared resources (never-ending frontiers) and a duty/responsibility to each other?
A really good article about this topic was published in the Yale Law Journal a few years ago. It is titled “Civic Republicanism and the Citizen Militia: The Terrifying Second Amendment” by David Williams. (It can be found online by googling). Although it’s primarily about the popular/modern gun debate, it goes into the history and principles of Civic Republicanism (and whether it has any significant meaning today). Very thought provoking. It really gets into the qualities of the individual and communitarian emphasis of Republican thought. (Not the free-market, libertarian “me first” nonsense we hear so much today). And yet, the interesting thing is: by emphasizing the community it produced virtuous citizens and virtuous government, both of which we depend upon for continued protection of our rights.
GOLD & SILVER LOOKS BETTER AND BETTER EVERY DAY…..GOT GOLD?
Hi Mike
‘The finance ministers are on the phones trying to think of ways to restore confidence’ Doesn’t this make you feel more confident. Maybe the dominos have to fall so everyone can get an honest look at the landscape. That might restore confidence if they stopped trying to manage things and just got out of the way.
LETS FACE IT the ratings agencys FITCH, MOODYS,and S&P are covering up the real truth out there ,with FITCH giving out the most disinformation on information… presently the u.s. gross debt/GDP ratio is 103.7% with the united states external debt/GDP ratio at 101.4% the u.s. revenue/GDP ratio is 31.7% with the u.s. spending /GDP ratio at 44.7% the united states will have to be doing alot of cutting to bring the external debt /GDP ratio under 90% but if the united states numbers scare you look at irelands external debt to GDP ratio over 1244% or englands at 486% frances 272% portugals 258% spains 229% greece 220% germanys 205% italys 161% australia 105% we all see what happens when austerity programs are initiated in most of those countrys RIOTING AND LOOTING. The u.s fell off a cliff with its out of control spending habits under OBAMAS ADMINISTRATION but the united states is still correctable it must pull its external debt to GDP RATIO UNDER 90% IT HAS TOO we still have a chance, but huge cuts have to be made somewhere and everywhere but the way I see it for Ireland, England, France, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Germany and Italy THEY HAVE PASSED THE POINT OF NO RETURN their only option is to print more money in turn devaluing their own currency base
Mike. I grabbed your letter because it purported to exposed the banks most likely to fail. Lots of yaya but no banks mentioned. Did I miss it?
Where is the rating of banks?