FDIC Friday Bank Closings Update

Yesterday was FDIC Friday and since it's been awhile, I thought I'd post a new update on bank closings racing across the nation.

In our last update (April ) there were a total of 29...

We are now up to a whopping 36!!

Yesterday, our unofficially nicknamed FDIC Friday, two Illinois banks with combined assets of almost $1 billion were closed, their assets taken over/bought by other banks:

• Strategic Capital Bank in Champaign, and


• Citizens National Bank in Macomb

The above 2 bank failures brings the total bank closings in Illinois to FIVE for this year. Bloomberg reports, "The FDIC estimates the seizures will cost the federal government's deposit insurance fund a combined $279 million."

In an unusual twist, the largest bank closed this month -- namely BankUnited Financial Corp. in Florida -- was closed on a Thursday.

Bloomberg reports:

Regulators are closing banks at the fastest pace in 15 years, including BankUnited Financial Corp. in Florida yesterday, and pumped $200 billion into the biggest banks in a Treasury rescue program. Costs from closing banks in the second quarter climbed to more than $8 billion, including $4.9 billion for BankUnited, from $2.28 billion in the first, FDIC data show. [link]

So, let's update our running "tickertape" on the parade of bank closings:

Total Bank failures in 2005: 0
Total Bank failures in 2006: 0
Total Bank failures in 2007: 3
Total Bank failures in 2008: 25
Total Bank failures (as of May 22) in 2009: 36 BANK CLOSURES!

(As of April 24, 2009, the total was a whopping 29 bank closures... and we thought that was a high number. Whew!!)

Since we are not even half way through the year yet, I'm guessing our total for the year will more than double last year's bank seizures/closings (possibly triple?).

If you are sitting back watching all of this unfold, just as a casual observer, do you see the "glimmers" and "green shoots" of recovery happening here?

Hmmmm... Let's see if we can add a few facts up:

1. Personal incomes fell in March for the fifth time in the past six months. (According to a report on April 30 by the U.S. Commerce Dept.)

2. Bank closures/seizures are at an all time high for the year, not seen since the 1930s.

3. Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities dropped in yet again February. (According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index.)

4. Another 539,000 jobs were dropped in April, extending the decline to 5.7 million jobs since December 2007. (According to the Labor Department's May 8 report.)

5. On the foreclosure front "April was a Shocker!" Foreclosures in April exceeded even March's blistering pace with a record 342,000 homes receiving notices of default, auction notices or undergoing bank repossessions. (According to a Realty Trac.) But I'm guessing the numbers are higher with the new trend in both commercial and residential real estate -- the increase in deed for mortgage swaps to avoid the foreclosure process. [See this on the subject.]

6. Housing starts and the industry in general remains in a state of near total collapse.

7. As for the "bank stress tests" released this month, some experts are saying "the stress tests will go down in history as the world's most elaborate effort to paint lipstick on a pig." It's a cornucopia of deceit that, once the general public wakes up to the real facts, could demolish the Dems in future elections. [link]

There are 11 more points I could add to this list, but I have to dash.

Got things to do.

On a brighter note, here are some unique ways a few industries and entrepreneurs are adapting to the tough economic climate:

Downsizing is Cool in Farming: Farms downsize with miniature cows

Recycling huge Space is another Gamble Underway: A Casino Rises in the Place of a Steel Giant

Innovative ways to Save Gas: 'Termite' Truck on Cross-Country Journey Burning Wood Chips for Fuel

And even Teens are Finding NEW WAYS to help Clean Up: Here's the scoop on skimming trash from waterways

As always, it won't be our Government who bails us out of the financial quagmire we find ourselves in (in most part, through no fault of our own). It will be the unique thinking and risk taking of individuals... the true strength of America... its awesome and highly creative people!

Let's just hope the Government doesn't try to screw that up, too.