U.S. Bank Closures Now Stand at 106 For 2009
Like a thief in the night, the FDIC waits until Friday evenings to announce its latest list of bank failures. This propensity for stealth news on America’s crippled banking system is based on fear that if the information was released to the public in the middle of the week, with news rooms fully attentive, panic might result. This week’s quota of Friday bank follies courtesy of the FDIC is that seven more financial institutions have failed and had to be closed.
This streak of bank collapses posted on late Fridays is occurring with monotonous regularity. Yet, the bank stress tests stage-managed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner last spring were supposed to assure us that the banking system of the United States was solvent and well capitalized. This mythology is increasingly being ripped apart by this never-ending stream of nocturnal end-of-the-week press releases, courtesy of the FDIC.
Despite the record profits being posted by bailed out financial institutions, and the vast bonuses they are awarding to their top executives, I believe the growing list of bank closures, and the depletion of the FDIC`s fund for paying depositors of these same banks, is a more reliable indicator on the state of banking in contemporary America.
