be kicked. Is there such a thing as corruption-informed investment funds? PIMCO comes to mind... Great article. One would hope the Fed would have the courage to do the math as laid out here on 2nd liens and tell the banks to hold on to their capital. With Europe and China slowing down and oil prices squeezing consumers' wallets we certainly have a good recipe for recession. But the Fed hasn't had the courage to go toe to toe with banks and other powerful interests since Paul Volcker knocked out inflation in the early 80?s -- a story we lay out in "Money For Nothing" (www.MoneyForNothingTheMovie.org) -- our upcoming documentary on the history of the Fed that includes exclusive interviews with Volcker himself, as well as people like Jim Grant and Jeremy Grantham and current and former Fed heads like Janet Yellen, Alan Blinder, Charles Plosser, Tom Hoenig, Jeff Lacker and many others. Is the Fed finally ready to be the "grown up" and make wise, long-term decisions that might sting a bit in the short term, as we all wish they'd done in 2002-2005? Or will it continue to let the big financials "scream for ice cream" and have their cake and eat it too? The "Banks Pass Stress Tests" story was worth about $100 billion in paper equities gains alone even though Citi was cited as undercapitalized -- and who wouldn't be with a $1 trillion in off-balance sheet garbola. Yet it only took a modest hit, while