Could there be a better time to be a bank? If you have capital and courage, the markets are packed with opportunities-as they well understand at Goldman Sachs, which is once again filling its boots with risk. Governments are endorsing high leverage and guaranteeing huge parts of the financial system, so you get to keep the profits and palm off the losses on the taxpayer. The threat of nationalisation has receded, rein-vigorating the banks' share prices. Money is cheap, deposits plentiful and borrowers desperate, so new lending promises handsome margins. Back before the crash, banks' profits just looked big; today they might even be real.
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