Most Americans Still Don’t Trust Banks and Here’s Why

Six years after the near melt down of the United States banking industry in 2008, more than half of all Americans still lack confidence in both the banking system and the government. Interestingly the United States with some of the biggest banking institutions in the world and the implicit backing of the United States Treasury […]

Two U.S. Banks Included In “The World’s 20 Strongest Banks”

A short number of years ago the “too big to fail banks” had to be bailed out with trillions of dollars in financial aid from both the taxpayers and the Federal Reserve.  At one point there were serious discussions about nationalizing the entire U.S. banking industry. As a sign of how rapidly America’s largest banks […]

What a Collapsed Banking System Looks Like

In the 1930’s the collapse of the banking system propelled the world into an economic collapse.  Depositors lost their savings, confidence was shattered, companies starved for capital went out of business overnight, borrowers defaulted en masse and unemployment soared.  A collapsed banking system guarantees an instant economic depression. A mere generation later, the world is […]

Housing Market Unlikely To Boost Economic Recovery In 2013

Although the economy grew in the third quarter, data continues to show a “sluggish recovery overall” according to Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group.  Total growth in U.S. gross domestic product since the lows of 2009 has been 7.2% compared with average growth of 16% for previous economic recoveries since the 1960’s. Despite the […]

Owning Bank Stocks Might Be Better Than Keeping Cash In The Bank

The financial meltdown that began five years ago resulted in widespread financial devastation for millions of Americans.  Retirement and stock portfolios were decimated while real estate values declined by 50% or more in many parts of the country.  The American middle class was shocked as trillions of dollars of wealth suddenly disappeared. The collapse of […]

Banks Are Powerless Against The Biggest Threat To The Financial System

Just when it appears that the banking system is beginning to stabilize, a new ominous threat to financial stability has become a serious concern among the nation’s top bankers. In a speech at a Berlin conference, Dennis Lockhart, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, talked about the serious threat of cyber attacks against […]

Citizens First National Bank, IL, Founded In 1865, Closed By Regulators

One of the country’s oldest banks, Citizens First National Bank, Princeton, IL, was closed today by the Comptroller of the Currency.  The FDIC, acting as receiver, sold the failed bank to Heartland Bank and Trust Company, Bloomington, IL. Citizens First National, a large bank with 21 branches and almost $1 billion in assets, becomes the […]

Is The Federal Reserve Destroying Us Or Saving Us?

Most Americans have only a very limited understanding of how the Federal Reserve affects every aspect of our lives.  Neither the Chairman of the Federal Reserve nor the twelve members of the Board of Governors are elected by the American public.  The Federal Reserve operates independently in secret and has the power to make financial […]

Regulators and Government Activism Are Prolonging The Housing Crisis

Banks never seem to learn as they lurch from one lending crisis to the next. In the early 1970’s the largest banks in the country lent recklessly to Latin American countries under the theory that sovereign nations would not default.  The ensuing Latin American debt crisis  and sovereign defaults shattered that complacent theory and many […]

Connecticut Home Values Plunge As Banks Cut Jobs And Bonuses

Banking industry woes are translating into major price declines for high end residential real estate in Connecticut.  For those who believe that real estate prices has bottomed out, please consider Connecticut Homes Biggest Losers As Wall Street Cuts. Prices in the Fairfield County area, home of the banker bedroom communities of Greenwich and New Canaan, […]