What is the good and the bad about the condition of our banks?

Nevertheless, there are signs of underlying problems that banks still have to deal with. Among them are:

• Fear still lingers of a return to the chaos of last summer and fall when sharp losses depleted the banks' capital and the government had to come to the rescue.
• According to Marvin J. Miller, Jr., law partner with Winston and Strawn, specialists in bank financing, "the problem hasn't changed."
• There is growing consensus that unemployment will reach 10% next year.
• Banks still hold $1 trillion in commercial real estate loans.
• Corporate loans, credit card debt, and construction loans continue to sour.
• According to Douglas Elliot, a former investment banker, a miscalculation of just 3% in the value of bank assets would mean another $300 billion shortfall in banks' capital.
• With first quarter profits puffing up balance sheets, there is little incentive for banks to sell their toxic assets. If they did, their profits would take another nasty hit.
• On June 3, the FDIC tabled a $250 billion program to buy bad loans.
• An IMF report in April stated that writedowns at U.S. banks will exceed profits by almost $200 billion through 2010.

Banks are still holding trillions of dollars "off the books." How much of this money is toxic is held secret by bankers. Sooner or later all of this will come home to roost. The public is demanding answers and will not let he matter rest.

Should the banks disclose their off-the-books transactions?