Last night just prior to going to bed I checked the web and found that the small bank I and wife had chosen to have a little spare cash in checking accounts (Pacific National Bank) had failed. Pacific National Bank’s branch in Oakland, Ca. tucked away in the Mountclair district was a handy place to put a small amount of funds in case our main banking institution, Wells, had the bad loans they have made finally catch up with them. It is no secret that, Wells, wrote a lot of less than credit worthy loans in both housing and commercial real estate and these loans are defaulting. The safe haven I picked for emergency funds, was just seized by the Comptroller of the Currency and Well’s my main worry; seems to be one of the anointed ” to big to fail” banks. There was no panic when I told my wife what happened. The FDIC guarantee means there will be no losses. We will not suffer any losses unlike what happened to my parents when their bank failed in 1932 ( they lost it all). But we have all lost something, the small banks are being destroyed and soon only a few large banks will control all credit. What did Jimmy Stewart say about Potterville Bank: Oh sorry, that was a movie, not real life. Or was it a case of ” art” imitating “real life”. Who would have thought we would see credit card monthly balances raised to 30% interest rates and small merchants being charged 6 to 10 % on credit card purchases. Or that credit card debts would not be discharged in Bankruptcy proceedings. How many credit card issuers are there? God help us when all the small banks are gone. I fear for the Republic.
While yesterday's US stock market close was poor, Asia and Europe didn't follow today as debt in Greece, Spain, Portugal, etc... rallied, their CDS narrowed and stocks bounced. The Greek finance minister said January tax revenues came in above expectations and that spending was below target for the month and said "that means the deficit reduction for January is well within what we have promised." The euro is rising in turn. Also helping is the story that Trichet is headed to the European Union leaders summit a day early in order to address Greece's problems even as the Greek finance...
November 1st, 2009 at 8:08 pm
and another failure, but not a bank…even worse…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091101/ap_on_bi_ge/us_cit_group_bankruptcy_4
November 1st, 2009 at 8:17 pm
CIT RIP. Ripples thru the small & mid size universe. Watch the Russell micro caps lead the way
November 1st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Out of 4,956 federally-insured credit unions, 12 have been closed so far this year. Oct. 28 was the last time a credit union was closed.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Goldman Wins, Taxpayer Loses. Sound familiar?
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/01/news/companies/cit_group/?postversion=2009110118
November 1st, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Yes, Steve…I agree with your thought. Therefore the DOW will probably gain 150 at the open…
November 1st, 2009 at 10:53 pm
BinT’s post was at 10:24 pm? BinT, you could make a mint, having cornered the market on the future (or BR needs to set his clock back).
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:41 am
@Bruce:
Don’t know about the Dow…but CIT closed around .70 on friday. Since its shares are now virtually worthless, the stock should pop to over $1.
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:48 am
Last night just prior to going to bed I checked the web and found that the small bank I and wife had chosen to have a little spare cash in checking accounts (Pacific National Bank) had failed. Pacific National Bank’s branch in Oakland, Ca. tucked away in the Mountclair district was a handy place to put a small amount of funds in case our main banking institution, Wells, had the bad loans they have made finally catch up with them. It is no secret that, Wells, wrote a lot of less than credit worthy loans in both housing and commercial real estate and these loans are defaulting. The safe haven I picked for emergency funds, was just seized by the Comptroller of the Currency and Well’s my main worry; seems to be one of the anointed ” to big to fail” banks. There was no panic when I told my wife what happened. The FDIC guarantee means there will be no losses. We will not suffer any losses unlike what happened to my parents when their bank failed in 1932 ( they lost it all). But we have all lost something, the small banks are being destroyed and soon only a few large banks will control all credit. What did Jimmy Stewart say about Potterville Bank: Oh sorry, that was a movie, not real life. Or was it a case of ” art” imitating “real life”. Who would have thought we would see credit card monthly balances raised to 30% interest rates and small merchants being charged 6 to 10 % on credit card purchases. Or that credit card debts would not be discharged in Bankruptcy proceedings. How many credit card issuers are there? God help us when all the small banks are gone. I fear for the Republic.
Poppabehr
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:03 am
Poppabehr,
C. Whalen, here “Stress Test Zombies: Not Too Big To Fail? Tough Tootsies Little Banks!”, well described the phenomenon, earlier this year..
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/stress-test-zombies-not-too-big-to-fail-tough-tootsies-little-banks/
past that, just remember, in Economy Ramp ‘n Crash, it’s all about ‘Consolidation’..
btw, if you have ‘issues’ w/ Wells, why ‘bank’ there?