US Banking System + Washington Mutual (WaMu)

[mmcookies]

Lol, i like living in iceland (most of the time) XD

I got this bank called "pillow" and i put my monney in it and no one takes it away form me

BEWARE OF THE TOOTHFAIRY!

[Xzin]

BofA has a lot to lose if Countrywide went under though. The deal isn't officially done yet either.

Legal Day one was a weeks ago, Bank of America and Countrywide are running as one business...

Material adverse events... etc.

[Xzin]

One thing to consider it Bank of America is still posting a profit this year (even with Countrywide) Also it was an all stock deal so there is not much real cash out of pocket. They are one of two bank to post profits first two quarters this year.

Not much cash but they still vastly overpaid. And it is easy to massage for a few quarters by hiding toxic junk in level 3s. Will it stand the test of time? My money says no.

[Skuggomann]

Lol, i like living in iceland (most of the time) XD

I got this bank called "pillow" and i put my monney in it and no one takes it away form me

BEWARE OF THE TOOTHFAIRY!

DAM! thanks for the warning.

[Lance]

Lol, i like living in iceland (most of the time) XD

I got this bank called "pillow" and i put my monney in it and no one takes it away form me

A stupid joke but actually has some relevance ironically. If enough people did this then hmmm....

[Sarduci]

Lol, i like living in iceland (most of the time) XD

I got this bank called "pillow" and i put my monney in it and no one takes it away form me

A stupid joke but actually has some relevance ironically. If enough people did this then hmmm....

Then you'd have inflation.

For our Europe friends, don't worry, you're doing the same thing.
http://finance.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:AIB
Down roughly 60% since the beginning of the year...

[Sarduci]

Finding a list of banks that are not likely to go belly up is HARD right now because all of the big boys played by the same rules and most leveraged themselves to the hilt - and then some. If you take a deep look at the top 10 banks by deposits, you get a feeling that most all of them have loaded up their level 3 assets in a "mark to fantasy" type of deal. Without getting into bogus changes in account rules or off balance sheet items, it isn't pretty. In fact, many of them owe more than they have. As much as double, or more. Not only can the FDIC not be relied upon (they only have ~50 billion to backstop against trillions) but the backdrop of the economy is terrible right now. 6+ right now, 7% unemployment before too long does not make houses easier to pay off. This is the stuff that in history has brought down entire empires. So pay attention.

The entire economy is based around fractional lending and sustained growth. When that growth stops, the system fails. Miserably. This is not a crisis of liquidity, this is a crisis of solvency. Think Great Depression or worse. Will that happen? Not sure yet. But derivatives and the like are all systems of financial mass destruction. And once the boulder gets pushed off of a hill, it doesn't just stop right away. Buffett saw it YEARS ago. And he was right. All they are doing right now is buying time. But I don't expect earnings to come around anytime soon. It will be a long and slow recovery in my opinion. I fully expect many bank failures over the next few months, amid a backdrop of slowing economic growth. You think subprime was bad? Alt-A is still shaking out. Next up? Commercial lending and credit cards.

To get a feel for the larger and more solid banks, take a look at the FDIC site: http://www4.fdic.gov/idasp/index.asp
But just because an institution is large is no guarantee of anything. I tend to like larger banks than smaller ones as a general rule though.

Batten down the hatches - a storm is upon us.

Which is great if you are looking to start a new venture. There is always a silver lining.

Making my living directly by support banks, this was obvious 5 years ago to someone who has no exposure to the actual financial side of things. When capital expense budgets dried up 3 years ago we started branching out into completely different fields to apply our systems to. Hearing "Sorry, it's not in the budget to reduce transaction costs by 53%" kinda paints the ugly picture right on the wall.

[Mac]

Which is great if you are looking to start a new venture. There is always a silver lining.

I'm interested in this statement, care to expound on this idea?

[Stabface]

I do most of my day-to-day banking through WaMu, since it's free, they have good service, enough ATMs around, etc... but I carry a pretty small balance there (float only around ~2 months of expenses). I have enough reserve cash in non-WaMu savings accounts to cover ~6 months of essential expenses at zero income. So it would be a hassle if they went under, but not a life-breaker for me.

I'm more concerned about my 401K, to be honest.

[Xzin]

Fur,

Despite the obvious taunting and not completely unjustifiable accusations displayed in your post - believe me when I say I walk the walk. You can either believe it or you don't. I don't wish to engage in talk about matters that I prefer to remain private just to prove my point but I do still intend to post pictures and a lengthy writeup of my last setup once the current one is finished and operational again. I hope to coincide that with the release of my latest venture that I have invested a significant amount of time and capital into. If it gets some press, it would be a nice way to jump start the new venture. Should be quite exciting actually.... I believe it will dovetail quite nicely into the mindset of the common multiboxer although remain distinctly different from multiboxing at the same time. But in the mean time, it is batten down the hatches and prepare to buy some once loved capital equipment at firesale prices as companies struggle under stupid levels of debt load amongst a background of slowing global economic growth. At least for the medium term.

Xzin