Sexist, Republican Missouri Representative

Breaking news today tells of a certain Republican legislator from Missouri who, besides being deep in the pockets of the banking industry, is also a rabid sexist and misogynist. Here's his latest:

Congressman calls on bankers to ‘neuter’ Elizabeth Warren — the ‘Darth Vader’ of Wall Street

Blaine Luetkemeyer is part of a group of lawmakers identified by the Center for Public Integrity as 'especially solicitous to the banking industry.'

Luetkemeyer, who made the remarks at a meeting of the American Bankers Association, is part of a group of lawmakers identified by the Center for Public Integrity as "especially solicitous to the banking industry," Slate noted in 2014. He has raised significant campaign funds from the the finance, insurance, and real estate sector, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

So congratulations, Missouri. Once again, your elected Republican legislator embarrasses himself---and the entire state.

Opens Today

See this movie.

Missouri bank bailout money not repayed

I just found this video last evening:



Yikes.

Let's put pressure on this clown. Here's the link:

http://paybackthebailout.com/

Let's put into place the Robin Hood tax

To repeat, the Robin Hood Tax campaign is calling for a tax of less than one-half of 1% on Wall Street transactions that could generate hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

This tax on Wall Street could provide funding to kickstart the economy and get America back on its feet by creating jobs and strengthening public services like health care, education and infrastructure at home while tackling AIDS, global health, poverty and climate challenges around the world.

It's an idea whose time has long-since come.

Please support the Robin Hood Tax. Let your representatives in Washington, DC know you're for it.

What Americans don't know about their own economy

Bill Moyers, Matt Taibbi and Yves Smith discuss what the banks do and have done and why it's all so very criminal.
Things Americans aren't paying attention to and, it seems like, won't pay attention to, either.

The new Wal-Mart, Mexico banking brouhaha

In case you didn't see it, there was a big, rather significaant, if not important article in yesterday's New York Times about Wal-Mart's Mexico banking company: Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle Confronted with evidence of widespread corruption in Mexico, top Wal-Mart executives focused more on damage control than on rooting out wrongdoing, an examination by The New York Times found.

There are far too many details for me to go on about it here. Suffice it to say, it should be huge, if it isn't totally ignored. I'd like to know three things: First, are there any charges that need to be filed here in the US against whomever is involved?

Next, are there any charges that need to be filed in Mexico? Personally, I hope this will be pursued by the press and justice systems of both countries and that if they find any wrongdoing, they are prosecuted to the full extent of the laws in both countries.

Finnally, I'd like to see if any international laws were broken, too, as well as any other nation's laws, in addition to Mexico's, and if they're prosecutable. This is, after all, the company that wants to be cleared as a banking company in this country, too, as they've made clear. I think for most Americans, it will be extremely illuminating that Wal-Mart is a banking company, also, in Mexico, besides a retailer. I hope it's fascinating just where these revelations go, in positive ways. Meaning, if laws were broken, I hope everyone liable is held accountable, not the least being corporate Wal-Mart, anywhere and everywhere they may have broken any laws. Keep in mind, that Wal-mart all but owns Arvest Bank here in the States, too. (See last link, below).

Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/at-wal-mart-in-mexico-a-bribe-inquiry-silenced.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120422; http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/22/8-revelations-from-walmart-s-mexican-bribery-scandal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvest_Bank

From a friend today on Facebook, on the banks

His post: 

I would like to congratulate the banking industry for a job well done!



Now we have all the clowns in Washington in the same car. They want to reward you on putting 1 in 5 Americans on unemployment. Taking the whole global economy to it's k...nees. Your unbridled greed in the commodity markets have caused many a parent worldwide to worry on how they can fed their children. Playing with grain futures that is so you after all. Those end of year bonuses do look good, don't they. After all you do have to spend more time in the Hampton's, too get away from all the slums in the city.


Taking peoples nest eggs and a making an omelet out of them.


Now they want to give you total control of the housing market. So here's your reward Fannie-Mae and Freddie-Mac. Come on how can you mess up the housing sector.


Good job bankers keep up your contempt of those around you and I hope that someday not to repay you for your actions.


--From a taxpayer in need
 
My response:
 
AND they're still fighting to be totally, completely and utterly unregulated, as they are right this moment---and they have the Republicans fighting for them so it doesn't happen!! What a great bunch of people!

Wal-Mart, your local banker, redux

I wrote about this last year--Wal-Mart, huge retail everything company, next up to take over cheep banking. Don't say you weren't warned. Wal-Mart Isn't A Bank. Yet. July 6, 2010 by JACOB GOLDSTEIN Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart, will work with a finance company to offer loans of up to $25,000 to small businesses, the company said today. It's the latest in the company's move into the world of finance. When Wal-Mart applied for a bank charter a few years ago, regulators said no. A charter would have allowed Wal-Mart to take deposits and make loans. But that rejection hasn't stopped the company from significantly expanding its financial offerings. The actual lending in the new program will be done by Superior Financial Group, a federally regulated lender. But Sam's Club is promoting the loans, and members will get a discount on the application fee and on the interest rate. And Sam's Club may expand the types of loans it offers through third parties, the New York Times reported over the weekend. One company, over all, indivisible. Shut up and eat. Link to original post: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/07/06/128333221/wal-mart-isn-t-a-bank-yet-but-it-s-getting-there

Banking trivia questions

1) How many banks has the FDIC had to close, to date, so far this year?

140

2) How much has the closing of these banks cost us, to date?

30 billion dollars

The correct answers to the above questions begs the following question:

Should the US more stringently regulate the banks, the banking system and the bankers, here in the US?

It seems the answer is clear.

And yet, check this out:

"The American Bankers Association issued a "Call to Action" on Wednesday, urging its lobbyists and member banks to make an all-out effort to crush regulatory reform in Senate. As part of that campaign, it lashed out at its community-bank rival, charging it with being too soft on bank reform efforts."

"In an unusually frank memo from ABA Chairman Art Johnson, the lobby group congratulates bankers for sending some 300,000 letters to Congress opposing reform, crediting the effort with killing several significant provisions."

What chutzpah.

Contact your Congressperson---Senators, Representatives, both--and tell them we need this regulation back. We used to have it. We need it to return.


Find answers here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/19/fdic-shuts-down-seven-mor_n_398071.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/16/bank-lobbyists-launch-cal_n_394673.html

We've been sold out on reform, health care and otherwise

From a friend--Michael--and "Crooks and Liars", the blog. This is another rare case of wanting to put something up that expresses my feelings, particularly about living in this sick society we call America, where the corporations and their huge profits are far more important than the citizens of the state.

Notes on the Moral and Political Degradation of America

By Ian Welsh Wednesday Dec 16, 2009 2:15pm

The news in the last few days has continued the drumbeat of demoralizing events which started in the Bush administration, and with only a few hiccups has continued through the Obama administration. It is clear that Obama is, fundamentally, Bush's 3rd term.

First we have the health care "reform" debacle, where it has been confirmed that the White House pushed Harry Reid to accept Lieberman's ultimatum, not go to reconciliation. There will be no public option in the Senate bill. There will be no Medicare expansion. There will be no cap on yearly limits. What there will be is a mandate forcing people to buy insurance, some subsidies which can still leave people spending money they can't afford, and guaranteed issue of lousy plans (Plans where only 70% of the premiums have to be spent on care, for example.) Unless progressive Senators are willing to filibuster, or House progressives are willing to vote against en-masse, something very close to the Senate plan is what will pass, because as I noted some time ago, the White House's bottom line is that something, anything must pass, and conservative Dems are willing to kill the bill to make sure it doesn't actually threaten health industry profits in any way, shape, or form. (Thus why drug importation, which would cost Pharma money, will be made illegal.)

All of this was completely predictable. Furthermore the weakness of progressive and liberal legislators, is largely to blame:

Obama and the Democratic leadership's bottom line is they must pass some bill called "health care reform". Unless you threaten to take away their bottom line, they will take away anything that isn't progressives bottom line

This is Negotiation 101, and progressive legislators either don't understand it, or are spineless. As a result they, and Americans, have been rolled yet again. What is depressing about this is that it should be a surprise to no one, but apparently has surprised many.

It is also noteworthy that spending billions on turning brown people into a fine red mist (a.k.a. the Afghan war) is acceptable, but health care (a.k.a. saving actual American lives) is something which can't cost money. What an interesting--and clearly evil--set of priorities that reveals. I guarantee that real healthcare reform would save more American lives than the entire war on terror—assuming said "war" hasn't cost more American lives than it's saved, which is almost certainly the case.

Next we have what Glenn Greenwald is calling the creation of Gitmo North, in which people whom the government judges there is not enough evidence to convict, will be held indefinitely without trial. This is the very definition of tyranny. Any nation which does this is a nation of men, not laws. America has forsaken its fundamental premise and proved its degradation. Yes, this started under Bush, but as Obama embraces this, it because a bipartisan project and the new elite consensus. This is now something which has been confirmed as US policy which is extremely unlikely to change no matter who is in power.

Then we have bankers are giving themselves bonuses larger than the entire economy's GDP growth this year.

As Peter Morici notes:

How much is $140 billion?

The U.S. economy grew at a $89 billion annualized rate in the third quarter. That was the first growth since the second quarter of 2008 and came to $22 billion in actual growth in the third quarter.

The bankers, after causing the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression, are rewarded with six times the growth accomplished so far in the much heralded “economic recovery.”

Meanwhile, seven million families face foreclosure and 25 million Americans can’t find full time work.

To add this sad state, we have the sad spectacle of Obama lecturing the bankers. Meanwhile in Britain, instead of lecturing, the government has imposed a 50% tax on bonuses, and France looks like to follow suit. The British government's response to threats to move employees out of the country? "That's nice, you do that."

The fact of the matter, as I've long said, is that bankers at the big banks are a net drain on the economy. Their venality and recklessness has wiped out the entire economic gains of the last decade and plunged the economy into its worst crisis since the Great Depression.

Now I'm not surprised they have the gall to pay themselves these bonuses. The entire profits of most large banks in the last expansion were based on open fraud. Of course criminals who have not been punished, but have been rewarded for their crimes are going to continue to steal. What is shocking is that the government is essentially doing nothing. Obama's "Pay Czar" is a sick joke, especially compared to just taxing all bonuses at 50%. Heck, even taxing bonuses at 50% is sad—they should be taxed a good confiscatory 90%. A class of people who caused an economic calamity of this magnitude do not deserve to be paid more than janitors.

Why? Because, as a British study noted, janitors actually create value. So do homemakers. So do assembly-line workers. Modern bankers, on the other hand, destroy value. They make the economy weaker. That isn't the way it should be, but when you bail out the banks for trillions and they decrease their lending to businesses and increase their credit card interest rates to as much as 29% it's clear that all they are is parasites, sucking blood from their hosts.

In a healthy, non-degraded society, none of the behavior listed above would be allowed. Not only would there be confiscatory taxes leveled, there would be massive ongoing criminal investigations into what happened.

In a healthy, non-degraded society, saving American lives by making sure they have health care would be a priority. Especially since the US pays twice as much per person as many countries which get far better results. This would be considered much more important than a war in a far away country, because it would be understood that even if you believe that turning brown people into a fine red mist saves American lives, health care would save more lives. And, done right (a.k.a. single payer) it would even save money. But that was never on the table, and even the limp-wristed compromise of a weak public option was too much for the rich and powerful to tolerate. Americans exist to be looted systematically by their elites, and if they die young and live sick, who cares? They are just sacks of money and the goal of government is to make dipping your hand into that sack as easy as possible for industries which can afford to buy government.

And, last but not least, in a healthy, non-degraded society, the government is not allowed to lock up people indefinitely without trial. If you don't understand why this is, I can't explain it to you, any more than it is apparently possible to explain to a plurality of Americans why torturing people is evil, and beyond the pale. The fact that it can't be explained any more to many Americans, of course, is exactly why it is fair to call this degradation.

Moral and political degradation.

Original link:
http://crooksandliars.com/ian-welsh/notes-moral-and-political-degradation-am

Wal Mart, your friendly, local banker

Fascinating news came out today, intertwined with the weekly "Bank Failure Friday".

To wit:

"The last failure of the evening was 122-year-old SolutionsBank [6] of Overland Park, Kansas. As of September 30, SolutionsBank had total assets of $511.1 million and total deposits of approximately $421.3 million. Arvest Bank of Fayetteville, Arkansas assumed all of the deposits of SolutionsBank without paying a premium to the FDIC."

But this is where it gets good:

"Arvest is owned by the family of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton. It has twice bid unsuccessfully for failed banks in an effort to break into the Kansas City market, the Kansas City Star reports [7]. With 220 branches spread over Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas, Arvest is already a regional player that thanks to the misfortunes of others just got a bit bigger."

As any banker would tell you, Wal Mart has been trying desperately and for some time to get into banking. They owned Arvest and now it just grew further, by a little over a half billion dollars.

You see, if Wal Mart can be its own bank, it will save at least millions more dollars on its own banking but then also make more money--no doubt yet more millions--by doing that banking business, too.

So you see, boys and girls, Wal Mart really will one day own and rule the world.

Bwha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

Link to additional information:
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3708382

100 failed banks next week?

Three more banks failed Friday evening, making the total number of failed banks this year here in the US right at 98.

So, any bets on 2 more going down next Friday evening so it comes to an even 100 (or more?).

I'm thinking it's a pretty sad, unfortunate, expensive, unnecessary inevitability.

I hope not but I'd bet on it.

And I try to only bet on "sure things".

But the real question is, where is the bottom? At what point will the bank failures stop?

And no one can even begin to guess at that answer.

Link: http://www.propublica.org/ion/bailout/item/bank-failures-at-98-ytd

Dead-on posting from "A New Way Forward"

Another rare posting I didn't create, but want to enter because it's that good:


This is the age old fight for power between large corporations and regular people

June 3rd, 2009 by tyc

People are starting to wage a battle with the financial companies, but if people don’t really start to see the battle for what it is — a fight for power between the banks who currently control Congress and the public who untimately pays for it — we’ll again lose any chance for real reform that restores our political system and economy in the interest of working families doing better than they are now.

Arianna Huffington argues that we could have had some structural reform happen after Enron, but the way politics are usually played, the fight for reform usually is assuaged by the companies for politeness’ sake and then completely dwindles:

Remember how during the 2008 campaign there came a moment when candidates hoping to win the White House realized they had to declare that, like Obama, they were all in favor of “change”? Hillary did it. McCain did it. So did Romney. Giuliani too.

In the same way, today everyone agrees that we need reform of our financial system. Even Wall Street knows it is inevitable.

So the question becomes: are we going to get real reform or are we going to get the DC version of “reform”?

The citizens who are fighting with ANWF are trying their hardest to not let that happen. We simply can’t lose our chance to create real structural reform that can ACTUALLY put large corporations back in their place. Push for breaking up the banks, please!

As Rep. Brad Miller wrote on Talking Points Memo,

It will be a fierce battle, even with the full support of the Obama Administration. “All of the signature economic reforms the President has promoted…are under siege,” The Nation reports. “Without a grassroots uprising that challenges business as usual in Washington, we aren’t likely to get the change we were promised, much less the change we need.”

We’ve won some battles. A couple of weeks ago the President signed into law the credit card reform bill that Carolyn Maloney introduced. A few weeks ago the House passed a solid bill–not perfect, but solid–to reform mortgage lending that I introduced along with Mel Watt and Barney Frank.
But we can’t possibly anticipate and prohibit every new predatory financial product that the industry claims is “innovation.” Requiring the industry to show that innovative new financial products are a positive contribution to society–and get approval before selling the products to consumers–fundamentally changes an industry desperately in need of fundamental change.

That is the kind of change that we cannot achieve without a “grassroots uprising that challenges business as usual in Washington.”

Link to original post here:
http://anewwayforward.org/blog/?p=344

Back from Mo Rage:

And folks, the foxes who raided the chicken coop--the big bankers who screwed us all, individually and nationally and got us into this financial crisis, Goldman/Sachs, etc.--are the very same foxes who are supposed to be cleaning up this banking mess, now.

And they're getting paid handsomely, now, too--again--to do it.

What The New York Times thinks, anyway

In today's New York Times, it seems very clear what they, at least, think should happen.

First, they covered John Thain's fleecing of his company and the American people, when he was at the head of Merrill Lynch. You probably heard about this guy--he had his private bathroom done for $1.2 million dollars, for starters and then gave away billions of dollars of bonuses, for God's sake, just before Bank of America bought them and just before B of A had to get billions of dollars of your and my tax money to cover all their lossed, these included.

Let it be said now and into the future and in the American history books that John Thain is and was a thief and scumbag.

Second, the Times had an editorial by Paul Krugman, saying we need, as a country, to nationalize banks in the country and the sooner the better.

Third, there was an editorial column saying the same thing.

Finally, there is a fourth separate article pointing out how Sweden's advice to the US in the financial mess we're in would be to, repeat after me--nationalize the banks--or some of them, anyway.

So it's pretty clear what some people and groups in the US think we should be doing.

It will likely happen, too, for a few reasons:

1) It will be called "nationalizing" the banks, not socialism;

2) It will be stated that it's intended to be temporary and finally

3) We're in one hell of an ugly financial crisis and our government leaders don't know what else to do, other than also borrow and hand out trillions of dollars of money.

The banks and their leaders were incredibly irresponsible and greedy, which is why we're in this mess, and that's what the John Thain piggery makes so clear.

One thing is for sure--we need a quick return to good, strong, clear and complete regulation of our banking system, now and forever.

Things we need to do

The economy's a mess.

The world economy is in the same shape.

We're a mess--and in a mess.

So what to do?

What should be done so we clean up this mess, first, and make sure it doesn't happen again?

Here are but a few of the most important ones:

1) REGULATE BUSINESS. (notice all caps, boys and girls). We need to regulate business, period--especially Big Business.

Whether they're banks or oil companies or energy markets or stock markets, what have you. For the last 8 years, no one's been at the governmental, regulatory switch, so to speak, and we absolutely need them there.

We have to keep greedy people from acting on they're desires and greed. Regulating business is how you do that.

2) Make Hedge Funds illegal. They used to be. They should still be illegal. They are "bets on bets". They were unregulated, again, for the past 8 years on top of being just sheerly stupid. They shouldn't even be allowed. Do away with Hedge Funds.

3) Make "short selling" of stocks illegal. This, too, is a "bet on a bet." Short selling is betting, literally, on a stock's rise or fall. A stock, ladies and gentlemen, is, basically, a bet that a stock's value is going to rise. To allow this short selling is to allow a bet (that the stock will rise or fall) on a bet (the stock itself).

It's stupid. It's irresponsible. It shouldn't be allowed.

It makes for wide and wild swings in the market that are dangerous to our economy and country.

Right this moment, the SEC has made short selling on 19 specific stocks illegal so it's clear we can do this.

We can do this. We should do this.

Stop "short-selling."

4) Regulate the energy markets.

I've written about this before.

For 78 years, up until the year 2000, we regulated the energy markets.

Then we stopped.

Since that time, our energy markets and costs have gone crazy wild. That should be enough indication right there of what we should do.

The energy that runs a country is far too important to be exposed to the greed and selfishness of Big Business, speculators and deregulation.

Even if you could disregard that people's lives are at stake--irresponsible enough, I know--then we have to take into consideration business own existence. Business can't afford the wild swings up and up that we've experienced in the last 7 years.

No, regulate the energy markets. Regulate them completely and responsibly, for everyone's concern--the individual and business.

And do it as soon as possible.

(While we're at it, Congress, why don't you look into that GM "Impact" automobile that ran 120 miles on a charge of electricity? For readers, see "Who Killed the Electric Car"--the movie. Very informative, if disheartening).

5) Take profit out of health care in the United States.

Granted, this will not happen for a long, long time--if ever--but this is what we need to do.

It's antithetical to our society and culture and that's too bad but we need to do this just as we need to do no. 4, above (regulate the energy markets).

We want and need people to be healthy, of course, not the least of which to work in our society, right? But if someone should get sick (and we all do, at one time or another, right?), we throw them to financial dogs, by letting our worship of the rich and wealthy and profits and big business instead of making health care available for all, LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES).

6) We need to, as a country, stop worshiping wealth, the wealthy, business, Big Business and profit.

We really do, you know, worship wealth and the wealthy, just as we worship "things".

Can we all just accept that this is not, any longer, a good idea?

We need to fuel our society on something beyond products and items.

How many Ipods are we going to buy, for God's sake? (How many versions of that little bastard are they going to keep remaking?)

Think about it, folks. It's blind consumerism that's gotten us into this mess, in a large part.

We HAVE to stop just buying and buying and buying.

The United States has SO MUCH more retail space than any other country on the planet.

All of us--the United States and all the countries in the world--need to get off this product-driven, production-crazed treadmill. China's environment, and so, their society, will benefit from it, too. (No more melamine- or lead-laced products, for starters).


So there you are. Six easy and, I think, obvious things we ought to do for ourselves, for the planet and mankind.

Some of them I do think we'll do and that gives me hope.

Some of them we won't and that's unfortunate.

Some of them we're not even capable of--and honestly, that makes me sad.

Joe Biden?

That's the best we can do?

Joe Biden?

What is that about?

What is this, the "reassuring old white guy to calm down the racists"?

Let's face it, the racists aren't going to vote for Obama, no matter what.

Who, exactly, does Joe Biden bring to the table, in terms of votes come November, that we wouldn't already have gotten?

Hillary would have brought more votes.

Same with Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas--or any intelligent, capable woman on the ticket.

But Joe Biden?

Don't get me wrong, I think he's smart and capable and, yes, God knows he's experienced and he's on the correct side of a lot of issues. His work has been good and admirable. And, sure, he knows how the system works and yeah, we hope he won't just be a "yes man" in Obama's Administration but geez, what exactly does he add to the ticket?

What, we didn't have the requisite "old white guy" on the ticket so we have to counter-balance the opposition?

I don't get it.

What part of "Change" is this?



On a completely different subject and as part of a trend I've described and discussed here in the past, the nation's 9th bank failure occurred last evening, in case you didn't see or hear of it.

USA Bank: The next one to close?

USA Bank Reports Operating Results for the Quarter Ended June 30, 2008
Saturday August 9, 11:34 am ET

PORT CHESTER, NY--(MARKET WIRE)--Aug 9, 2008 -- USA Bank (OTC BB:USBK.OB - News) reported a net loss of $383 thousand ($0.07 per share) for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, which is a marked improvement compared to the net loss of $481 thousand ($0.08 per share) for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. This marks the third successive quarter of reduced losses by the Bank. For the six months ended June 30, 2008, the Bank's net loss was $1,129,000 ($0.20 per share) as compared to a net loss of $1,995,000 ($0.35 per share) for the six months ended June 30, 2007.

Complete, orginal story here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080809/0423542.html

Stay tuned.

Unfortunately correct and vindicated

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I was correct.

Do you remember last week I said there was a good possibility that we might see a bank--or two--failing each Friday night for a while?

Let me repeat: I was right.

I wish I weren't, truth be told.

According to the news this morning, a small bank in Florida failed last night. It was taken over by the FDIC, of course, and will be quickly sold. See the full story here: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN0136691620080802

It was the 8th bank to fail so far this year. (Wouldn't you think Keith Olbermann--or some news junkie--would set up a weekly "bank watch"? Maybe they don't want to give the public reason to panic, since the American public doesn't want to pay attention, by and large).

The good news? It was a relatively small bank. First Priority Bank had "only" $259 million in assets and $227 million in deposits.

The bad news? Its failure will cost the federal fund that insures deposits--read: you and I, the taxpayers--an estimated $72 million.

Chalk it up to our account.

As I also said earlier here, in the 1st quarter of this year, the FDIC had 90 banks on its "watch" list. This article recounts that and states that they also won't tell which 90 banks they are. It's understandable--can you imagine the runs on those banks if they told which 90 they were?

Still, wouldn't you like to know if YOUR bank were, maybe, in trouble?

Once more, I'd like to take a moment to personally thank, with dripping sarcasm, the Republicans, for deregulating the banking industry.

Oh, well, for now, it's the weekend. Go out, work, relax, enjoy, keep cool.

Let's hope there either aren't any more banks that fail (I'm not counting on it) or, that, if they do fail, they are small and few in number.

Cross your fingers.

A weekly Friday night occurrence?

Okay, campers, last week it was the big Indymac implosion on a Friday evening.

Were you ready for this week's? No, I thought not.

This week, they weren't as big, by themselves, as Indymac, but there were 2--count 'em, 2--banks that "went down": First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank of Newport Beach (both were units of the First National Bank Holding Company, based in Scottsdale, Ariz.).

So the thing is, were you paying attention? Did you even notice this happened? They do these on Friday evenings so people won't notice and panics don't set in, of course, just like political announcements out of Washington, when they're negative. Mind you, this is big news, right? But try finding mention of it now, on your regular search engine. Pull up Yahoo! and see if it's listed there, on the first page.

It's not.

The thing is, there's more to come, apparently. Certainly we all hope not but information seems to lean otherwise. I searched yesterday on the internet and, from what I read, the FDIC was watching 90 banking institutions, that may be on less than solid ground.

So for the foreseeable future, you might want to watch for those Friday night announcements. It's like I keep saying, pay attention.

Oh, and if one or more starts happening mid-week, and they can't contain the collapse of this or that financial institution(s)? It means things have really gone to heck--either for that one institution or, God forbid, for the banking sector in general, and in a much larger scope.

Here's hoping there aren't too many more weeks of this stuff.

new news

So now we learn that we have more houses abandoned in the United States than we've ever had, since they started tracking such statistics--in 1956. 18.6 MILLION homes abandoned. Empty. No one home. Zilch. 2.9% of all homes in the United States. Abandoned. There's some cheery little news on a Monday, huh?


Thanks for not regulating that banking industry much, George!