The six biggest U.S. banks, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Bank of America Corp., have piled up $103 billion in legal costs since the financial crisis, more than all dividends paid to shareholders in the past five years.

That’s the amount allotted to lawyers and litigation, as well as for settling claims about shoddy mortgages and foreclosures, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The sum, equivalent to spending $51 million a day, is enough to erase everything the banks earned for 2012.

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Projected US debt per taxpayer

The eventual removal by the U.S. Federal Reserve of its monetary policy stimulus should be viewed positively, Bank of Canada Deputy Governor John Murray said on Tuesday in a rebuttal to critics who expect Fed tapering to reverberate negatively around the world.

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I think Peter Schiff is very good at explaining how political economy should operate. But it seems his market and economic forecasts, in anything but the very long term, tend to be similar one-way bets.  Maybe I notice this because often times my bets are opposite his.  (I mention him because he’s calling a spectacular buying opportunity in gold, again.)

David Rosenberg is also very good on political economy. He seems to me more pragmatic than Peter Schiff in that he seems more open to change his market calls as evidence mounts.

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