All your bank are belong to us
"Regulators Close Two More National Banks"
Two of the people we can thank for this are John McCain and his chief economic adviser, Phil Gramm, who pushed bills deregulating the Banking industry through -- overturning laws and regulations that protected us from iffy bank practices since the 30's.
If anything in this country NEEDS tight oversight and regulation, it's banks.
(Okay, EX-chief economic advisor...McCain fired him after Phil tried to reassure us that the economy is doing fine, that we're just in a mental recession, and those of us who complain are just a bunch of whiners.)
From washingtonpost.com: By Alison Vekshin, Bloomberg News, July 26, 2008
"First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank were closed by U.S. regulators yesterday, the first institutions to fail since regulators seized IndyMac Bancorp two weeks ago following a run by depositors. [..]"
Okay, that's 2 more...for a total of three?
Should we panic? Maybe not yet...in the 80's almost 750 savings and loans failed.
Remember? John McCain nearly got himself thrown in prison over submitting legislation on behalf of his mentor, Charles Keating, limiting regulation of the S & L industry. (I'll bet McCain's PR team are really working overtime.)
Soooo, this is the type of policy the Republicans want for America? Banks investing in risky ventures, loans -- with little or no oversight?
Let's see...you deposit savings in a bank. Bank takes your money and loans out a fraction of it to a third party...then a fourth party, fifth party, etc. This is done for as many times as the fraction allows. In the end, there are many people with claims to the same money.
Sure, the Federal Reserve can bail out the banks, but doesn't it have to create new money to do it? That dilutes the value of the dollar. Dollar goes down, prices go up. There seems to be no way out of this.
I just wonder if the fat-cat executives who worked at those banks -- whose greed and foolishness caused the problem -- are going to lose their jobs? Or do they get a federal (taxpayer dollars) bailout so they can keep the Mercedes, the country club and the $3-million house?
