Skip to main content

Something new to worry about

As if the economy isn't in trouble enough, now my bank, Washington Mutual (WAMU), has failed. Ok, it actually didn't fail, but it might as well have. Being bought out by JP Morgan for chump change ($1.9 billion), isn't much consolation.

I've been with them over 20 years, ever since they were Great Western Savings. I even owned some of their stock (purchased recently at depressed levels).

Yes I knew there were problems at WAMU, but chose to put them out of my mind. After all, that's my bank! The wife of one of my cycling buddies is even high up somewhere in the organization, so I thought the risk was low. I thought they were "too big to fail". So much for my judgement.

But the little bit of money I've lost, pales in comparison to what comes next. What's to become of my branch office located only about a half mile from my house? And more importantly, what will happen to all the people in the bank I have become accustomed to seeing and talking to during my visits?

Oh well, no sense worrying about something I have no control over. I'm sure John McCain and the Republicans will save the day!
Labels:

Comments

Gerry said…
She had no idea, we were blindsided..... Think about how much we lost in retirement funds!
G
11:17 PM
Mark VanKirk said…
I'm with WAMU too. I have been hearing about their troubles for about 3 months. I wasn't surprised. I only keep a checking account there.

We were with Coast Federal and it turned into Home Savings and a month later, it was Washington Mutual.
12:38 AM
Becky said…
That guy from Metlife (Ken, I think) that does our 401k discussed WaMu last time he was at Arcturus, along with Wachovia and Rabobank (I think) as potentially dangerous in the upcoming months. He has asked if any of the employees banked there and to be careful.
3:40 AM
Marc said…
I never thought Ken was very bright to begin with, now there is no doubt in my mind.

It was that kind of thinking that brought down WAMU.

Unless you had over $100,000 in any SINGLE TYPE account ($200,000 for a joint account), there was no danger of losing any money. And it would have been quite easy to structure deposits in such a manner to insure no loss of money, even if you had 2 or 3 or more times that amount of money at WAMU.

But in the last 9 days depositors withdrew almost $17 billion, artificially creating a liquidity crisis, forcing the Feds to take it over.

As it was, JP Morgan was able to buy WAMU, at a fire sale price, and without a penny's loss of depositor money, even if the depositor wasn't smart enough to structure their accounts to protect themselves.

It never ceases to amaze me, and frustrates me to no end, that in this day and age, with the internet, and such easy access to information, people in this country are soooo stupid.

No wonder the Republicans have easily been able to manipulate so much of the population into adopting their narrow minded, selfish philosophy.
4:22 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fatigue! Part II - Maybe it is real?

Or it's actually Motivational Deficiency Disorder, MoDeD (pronounced Mo-Dee-Dee) for short. In a report this week by Roy Moynihan who reports for the British Medical Journal Austrailian scientists may have come across the reason for extreme laziness . The condition is claimed to affect up to one in five Australians and is characterised by overwhelming and debilitating apathy. Neuroscientists at the University of Newcastle in Australia say that in severe cases motivational deficiency disorder can be fatal, because the condition reduces the motivation to breathe. Neurologist Leth Argos is part of the team that has identified the disorder, which can be diagnosed using a combination of positron emission tomography and low scores on a motivation rating scale, previously validated in elite athletes. "This disorder is poorly understood," Professor Argos told the BMJ. "It is underdiagnosed and undertreated." Who knew? Maybe I have MoDeD, from my attempts to become a...
Post a Comment
Read more

My concerns reaffirmed today

When I was first diagnosed with MCL, I pretty much read just about everything I could get my hands on, I attended various conferences, and I talked to anyone who would listen. One of the most important lessons I learned, and which I've mentioned numerous times before was No one cares more about you than you. But in addition to that, I learned to fear the drug Doxorubicin , AKA Adriamycin, Doxil, Hydroxydoxorubicin, or more affectionately the Red Devil. Besides being a deadly chemical, as is the case with most chemotherapy drugs, it is one of the few chemotherapy drugs known to cause permanent heart damage. I even heard Dr. Sandra Horning , a noted Stanford lymphoma specialist, state at the first lymphoma conference I attended in LA, there was no evidence Doxorubicin provided any added benefit to chemotherapy protocols. This was music to my ears, since Doxorubicin is very common in most lymphoma treatment protocols. And even though Dr. Horning has since changed her tune [which my sk...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tacitly condoning racism?

I learned something very discouraging in my current events class yesterday, there are a lot more racists and bigots out there then you may think. They may not admit it, or they'll claim otherwise, but when someone says they place the blame for what happened in Charlottesville on both sides, or better yet, they don't know where the blame lays, then they are condoning the action of the white supremacists groups, and in my book that is a racist/bigot. The truth is, there should be no doubt where blame for Charlottesville lays. It lays with the white supremacists, neo-Nazi's, KKK, etc, plain and simple! The hatred, bigotry, and misogyny displayed and espoused by these groups, coupled with the tacit approval of President Trump needs to be confronted at all cost, and history tells us so. If only the Jews, in pre-WWII Germany, had confronted the Nazi's in the same manner, Hitler might never have risen to power, and we would not be looking at the prospect of a  third anti...
Post a Comment
Read more