In a couple previous blogs I have advanced the notion that 2010 could be a downright nasty year for North American financial markets.

Now, further evidence comes to light to support this notion.

The International Monetary Fund, simply put, has a responsibility to watch over the global financial system. For the past 7 years the IMF has been pressing the issue of wanting to do a review of the US financial system. But a stubborn President Bush has been refusing to allow this review to start. Until now that is…..

As he packs his suitcase and gets set to leave the White House, Bush has now granted permission for the IMF to start this review. In order to complete this Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), the IMF will be examining in painstaking detail data from the SEC, Investment Banks, Mortgage Banks and Hedge Funds.

There once was a banker who enjoyed tremendous success lending to clients around the globe. But gradually over time, the forces of globalization grew so powerful that his clients no longer needed to borrow from him for they were enjoying unprecedented wealth of their own.

If you are waiting for Snow White and some dwarves to come around the corner next, forget it. This is no fairly tale. This is real.

The banker I speak of is the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Once a powerful global lender to developing nations, the IMF now has only $20 Billion in outstanding loans ( 1/4 of what it had 7 years ago)and half of this outstanding amount is to one country - Turkey.