The banks like B of A and JPM are doing this because 1) they can and 2) they need to. After the mortgage meltdown global regulators required that the banks keep a certain amount of healthy capital vs. their toxic assets. So what did they do? Simply take the bad stock, repackage, and call it good stock! AND FUNDS ARE BUYING IT.
The US keeps doing the craziest things. The US Federal Reserve is now saying they want inflation. The fed doesn't want inflation, you do. In a way. If inflation spikes, then the loan you have now for $100 will go down by the rate of inflation because your debt is fixed, but the future dollars will be worth less. This is great for a country in a 15 trillion dollar deficit (pay back the world with cheaper dollars) and with not many jobs (because we can export our stuff for cheaper, leveling the playing field with labor costs). However, just know that this will cause 1) interest rates to rise and 2) your retirement funds, assets in USD will get really low. So the bottom line is, this would be a good time to have debt (as an F.U. to the banks) and a BAD time to have US Dollars or USD backed assets.
