Major banks and brokerage houses like Goldman Sachs trade below net tangible assets per share.

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Wells Fargo ( WFC) and US Bancorp ( USB), however, trade far above their tangible book value, and their non-deposit liabilities make up just 21.7% and 23.2% of their total liabilities, respectively.

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It was a bogeyman made real in 1993 when it unsuccessfully attacked the World Trade Center and terrifyingly tangible in 2001 when its operatives succeeded in destroying the twin towers and expanded their attacks to the Pentagon and the air over Pennsylvania.

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Trade is obviously not all that counts, but it can be a tangible way to make progress.

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