Which brings us back to where we started, the bloomin' gross leverage ratio.
Which is why governments did not trust banks to behave prudently if they were subject to a simple gross leverage restriction.
Whether a so-called gross leverage ratio of 20 achieves the correct balance between risks and rewards is moot: some would argue it should be lower still.
But each of them, on the simpler measure of gross leverage - that unweighted ratio of loans to capital - was a nano-distance away from the cliff edge.
As it happens, the Basel gurus are introducing a 33-to-1 gross leverage ratio - which many would see as a step in the right direction, but British MPs and lords on the standards commission think is too high.
Some firms have much higher associate to partner leverage than others, which lowers the gross profit margin if you count associate salaries.
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Fund managers are copying the success of Bill Gross and the Pimco Total Return fund, which uses leverage.
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The Vickers Commission, set up the chancellor, recommended that there should be a ratio of 4.06% of pure equity capital to gross loans and investments, as what is known as a "backstop leverage cap", for the biggest banks.
What is important, however, is that the amount of capital relative to gross assets that Vickers wanted for very big banks was significantly higher than the proposed new internationally agreed leverage backstop, enshrined in the Basel lll rules, of 3%.
However, we expect that as the industry revives and demand picks up, TI could leverage this additional capacity and consequently increase its factory utilization rates which, in turn, will improve the gross margins.
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