When will they give up the ghost? The major U.S. Banks, ruled by the Fed. and the Treasury, and the major Canadian Banks would appear to all be working in lockstep at many things, spin and the control of the PMs being just two of them...as we all know here, don't we?

One thing they all have in common is a lethal exposure to derivatives (never spoken about) and a continual stream of "surprises" with respect to their increasingly momentous announcements of "credit crunch" losses. Huh! Last year RBC touted the fact that it had little exposure to off balance sheet problems. Jim Sinclair quietly advised us to examine their quarterly report on page X that "suggested" a mysterious $41 million entry which was really an off balance sheet loss...totally unconnected to the U.S. subprime debacle of course. Seems it has suddenly ballooned almost a thousand-fold. Huh! "That was fast" said the dumbed-down client/investor.

Today we read with "surprise" that RBC may now have a $3 billion "credit hit", and I would add that that is probably as optimistic as it will ever get as we move forward. The subterfuge continues and this is only the tiny version of their American cousin's dilemma as the profit picture deteriorates rapidly. Concomitantly, it seems the RBC is trimming everywhere it possibly can from staffing and staff pressure to "other things"

If we revisit the derivatives scene and note the dramatic shuffling of the U.S. banks gold derivatives from Citibank to (bankrupt) to HSBC ( total of $25 billion) plus JP Morgan's effort to contain the silver price via derivatives ( total $11 billion) we get an HD TV version of what the real picture is.

Now, given the implications that not only must the bullion markets be kept under a lid, so too it would seem, must all the associated stocks, especially the JPMs. This then, compared to the intervention in the bullions would be mere child's play to have managed via the Canadian Banks/brokers/hedge funds. ...with a little "cooperation" and of course for politically motivated profit . All this of course can easily be accomplished with arrogance, spun and impunity.

However, the desperation grows daily to immense proportions due to the massive multi-trillion 700 to one leverage risk taken on by the likes of JP Morgan. How much time do they have left to keep the lid on? Think of the value of the $US, stock markets, hedge funds and the financials in general over and above the deterioration of the Real Estate markets, balance of trade and so on.