COMMON SENSE

by

STEVENSON JACOBS

NEW YORK — The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday she’s “very worried” that the nation’s biggest banks aren’t lending enough and warned the economy could take another turn for the worse without increased access to credit.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said the FDIC’s upcoming quarterly report would show that “not many large institutions are doing a very good job of lending.” Instead, she said, some are taking advantage of near-zero interest rates by borrowing dollars cheaply to buy higher-yielding assets like stocks or commodities – a move known as the “carry trade.”

Addressing the rash of bank failures, Bair said the FDIC had enough funds to shut down troubled banks and would tap its line of credit with the Treasury only as a last resort. There have been 120 bank failures this year, …

The Huffington Post

Technorati Tags: bank, Bank failure, business, FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, financial services, Line of credit, Sheila C. Bair

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By Dave Flessner
Publication: Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)

With seven so far this year, Georgia leads the nation in the number of bank failures. Regulators have closed a dozen Georgia banks since last August, or more than one of every five U.S. banks shut down since last summer. Bank analysts said the same forces that helped fuel Georgia’s growth now are leading to an increase in bank failures.”Each of the banks that has failed has had a huge concentration in residential construction loans that grew for many years,” said Joe Brannen, president of the Georgia Bankers Association.

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Bank analysts said the same forces that helped fuel Georgia’s growth now are leading to an increase in bank failures.

Rex Schuette, chief financial officer for United Community Banks, said many of the troubled banks in Georgia were started over the past decade and a half, when population growth fueled demand for more housing developments, especially in suburban areas around Atlanta or in the retirement havens of North Georgia’s mountains.

“Each of the banks that has failed has had a huge concentration in residential construction loans that grew for many years,” said Joe Brannen, president of the Georgia Bankers Association. Such banks capitalized on Georgia’s population growth — the sixth fastest in the nation — and abundance of investors interested in the financial services industry prior to the past couple of years, Mr. Brannen said.

Because Georgia didn’t allow banking across county lines until the late 1990s, its 159 counties also kept or sprouted many new smaller banks across the state. With a rich tradition of state-charted banks and investors eager to cash in on the state’s growth, Georgia is trailed only by California and Florida — both bigger states — in the number of new banks started in the 21st century, according to FDIC figures.

It seems as if banks in Georgia just can’t seem to stay solvent. This may be turning into a real problem for residents of that state, as many of them could soon have far fewer banking options.

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Technorati Tags: Atlanta, bank, business, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, financial services, Florida, Tennessee, United States

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The following story is pipe dream, sounds interesting, but don’t make too much of it!   Just goes to show how much people really try to analyze the future, and believe they will come out on top.  The entire post doesn’t take into account of real deflation/inflation, market cycles, or the whole mess with political incompetence.   The biggest factor to consider in any short term or long term investing decision is politics!

The idiots we have in charge today, have one thing on their minds, absolute power!  The more people they can make dependent on the government, the better for them to return to political office and retire with more power.  You see money equals power, power equals money.   Anyone with a little bit of common sense, knows, you cannot print more money without inflation and a decreasing your purchasing power.

The future is not predictable! Enjoy the fantasy story….

Posted by

Jacob Lund Fisker

This is a guest post from Debbie M giving a detailed budget for a retirement plan costing half a million dollars. For most incomes, half a million means a less early retirement. Yet, it is still earlier than the “usual million(s)”.

The best part of my story is figuring out my expenses. Since I plan to quit work forever (or at least be able to) once I achieve financial independence, this is vital. It’s much harder to find a job when you’ve been out of work a while, and frankly it’s hard enough for me to find jobs now.

My investment plan is a little less exciting. I prioritize diversification. I used to not include bond-like things because my pension is bond-like, but really my pension fund is also invested in stocks, so if stocks plummet, my pension could be in trouble. So I’m including large cap and small cap, domestic and foreign (including developed and developing), growth and value, and bond funds and REITs.

If I keep up with current contributions to Roth retirement vehicles for the next five years, I will have $155000 in those alone, which would give me $645/month, which gives me some wiggle room in case the pension rules change or I can’t …

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Technorati Tags: business, funds, investing, Investment, Market capitalization, Mutual fund, pension, Real estate investment trust

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By JENNIFER HUFFMAN
Register Business Writer

On Oct. 30, a federal regulatory agency, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, closed all 17 branches of the San Francisco-based Pacific National Bank. All accounts were immediately transferred to new owner, U.S. Bank of Minneapolis, Minn. “Pacific National Bank no longer exists,” David Barr with Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said.  According to Barr, Pacific National Bank fell victim to the same problems many other financial institutions suffer from these days — trouble with commercial real estate lending and loans to developers, as well as subprime Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.

Pacific National Bank was one of nine bank subsidiaries of FBOP Corporation of Oak Park, Ill., acquired by U.S. Bank from the FDIC. The transaction included more than $18 billion in total assets and 150 branches in California, Illinois, Arizona and Texas. The Napa branch is located in the new Napa Square building on First Street in downtown Napa.

Since this crisis began in late 2007, there have been 18 bank failures in California, mostly in Southern California. The FDIC lists 416 banks on its problem …

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Technorati Tags: business, Commercial property, Fannie Mae, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Freddie Mac, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, San Francisco, United States

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