Hey Brother, Can You Spare $500 Billion for America's Banks?

It may be spring in much of the country, but the air in the financial world carries a definite chill reminiscent of the fall of 2008.

So we have to ask again: is the world's banking system  strong enough to withstand the forces of a global recession? A number of prominent people - more on them below - are dubious that the banking system is as strong as it should be. They believe that "systemic risk" - defined as the risk that most of the financial system will fail together - is on the upswing again.

If you forgot the term "systemic risk" from your 2009-vintage financial crisis dictionary, it refers to the state of affairs when the financial system as a whole is "undercapitalized" - which means that banks don't have enough money to continue doing business. The whole system becomes at risk - thus, "systemic risk." Systemic risk could be prompted when something -- usually a shock like the fall of Lehman Brothers - causes banks to stop lending to each other and investors like money market funds to pull their money out of the banking system. Right now, Europe's financial crisis is seen as a potential systemic risk that could wound the banking system.

READ MORE:  http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/easy-street/hey-brother-can-you-spare-500-billion-americas-banks