Banks Not Making Big Enough Profits, Goldman Sachs the Latest; America's Future Doesn't Seem Very Bright

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Banks are borrowing at anywhere from 0.50% to 3.75%, charging interest on credit card loans at rates between 15% and 35%, but they're having a hard time improving profits.

On Tuesday, it was JP Morgan Chase getting whacked after releasing fourth quarter 2025 earnings with a big miss in EPS. The stock is down more than six percent on the week. Wednesday the terrific trio of Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC) released their earnings numbers and Wall Street sent them down 3.34%, 3.78%, and 4.61%, respectively.

This morning, Thursday, it's Goldman Sachs (GS) getting the cold shoulder after missing revenue estimates and taking a $2.26 billion loss on their former holding of the Apple Card portfolio which they sold to JP Morgan Chase (JPM). Goldman Sachs is down two percent pre-market with further markdowns sure to come during the cash session. Undeterred, Goldman lowered their provision for credit losses (adding to their bottom line) by $2.48 billion. JP Morgan added to theirs by roughly the same amount. Those Apple Card users must not be using enough AI, apparently. Their portfolio is a mess.

Banks not improving their profitability when money is loose and getting looser, the GDP is supposedly running red hot at about four percent, and inflation, according to the most expert opinions, is grinding lower doesn't quite add up. These financial wizards should be absolutely raking it in and they're not.

Maybe, just maybe, they know something the general public doesn't. Like bankruptcies are rising, consumer loans and credit cards are defaulting at alarming rates, and kidnapping heads of state isn't exactly stable foreign policy. The mainstream media complex won't tell the public what's really happening and the government is almost certainly cooking the books. Massive fraud is uncovered and yet, nobody goes to jail. At the same time, gold and silver are sending an alternative message about the stability of the US$ and the Western global financial system. Truth is, BRICS and most of what's become known as the "Global South" are shunning use of the dollar, trading amongst themselves and resetting the prices for not just precious metals, but commodities in general.

The United States, which once was a bastion of free speech, rugged individualism, and a strong middle class, has, mostly over the past 20 years, been downgraded to an enormous socialist/fascist third world state with a centrally-planned economy that is $38 trillion in debt, run by oligarchs and mega-corporations that likes to use its military to steal natural resources and other treasures from smaller countries. This is a far cry from the 1950s and 60s, when the United States was the wealthiest country in the world and a single earner with a wife two kids and maybe some pets could afford a decent house, annual vacations, and all the elements of a prospering middle class. That's all gone. Two incomes are now required for home ownership, and only if the combined income is upwards of $150,000. Even then it's a stretch. Vacations, Saturday night steaks on the grill, and other niceties are now considered luxuries. Most of the citizens can barely afford rent and food.

Yes, America is kinda going backwards. You can thank the last eight or 12 presidents and the congress that still hasn't figured out how to actually prepare a budget and stick to it. Removing the dollar redemption for gold, finally defaulted in 1971, played a huge rule.

Something's going to break.

At the Close, Wednesday, January 14, 2026:
Dow: 49,149.63, -42.36 (-0.09%)
NASDAQ: 23,471.75, -238.12 (-1.00%)
S&P 500: 6,926.60, -37.14 (-0.53%)
NYSE Composite: 22,721.23, +65.78 (+0.29%)