7 banks failed today...total of 103 for this year alone

LIL, first off, banks fail in good times, and in bad times, that is a fact of business. Second, if you look at who is to blame for these bank failures you will see it is The American People and greed. Most of these banks are failing because they got caught up in the mortgage hole, they were lied to by the appraisers, the applicants, the brokers, and they lied to themselves. Greed isn't always Good!!! The economy is actually getting better, if you look at Wall Street which is a leading indicator, not a lagging indicator (like jobs). Corporations are making record profits, and reporting huge surpluses of cash on hand (about $2 TRILLION dollars). The problem is that they aren't spending it here, they are sending it overseas where the economies are growing (some communist countries you Reagan fans out there). You are correct that there will be many more foreclosed houses, and that is do to that big banks that actually make more money by writing off the loan, and taking the tax write off instead of trying to help good people that want to keep their house (another example of Greed NOT being good). The problem is the disconnect between corporations, and the country. These corporations LOVE our spending, and our free markets (which NEEDS to change), but they don't want to employ people here because they can take advantage of cheap labor in third world countries. They also don't like our taxes, so they set up incorporate in other countries, and keep corporate headquarters in the US, thus cheating the country out of money that small businesses have to pay. If you want to be incorporated in the Bahama's than MOVE your entire company to the Bahama's. It will get better, it is just a matter of time. The best thing to do to stop this mess is to force the banks to deal with the people that CAN afford to stay in their houses. Allow for 100% tax credits for appreciation on equipment purchased for all businesses. Then give a one time tax credit for hiring NEW employees with a minimum of two years employment. Then you have to shred all of our trade agreements with EVERY country, and move to mirror trading. Finally, hire the best tax attorneys in the country to work for the IRS, and go after the tax cheats. That should do it!!!!

Hello Lil, It’s hard to answer in short but I’ll try, although I know that some of American conservatives won’t like it. The main reason for this mess is an unintelligent person who was president of U.S.A. for 8 years before the current one…American economy has been on shaky grounds for some decades (at least 5, funny that it has also been her most prosperous period), he only served to hasten the shaking! He managed to bring it to the point that now if Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela like, they can sink American economy in a matter of few years! Good news is that they won’t like to do it as it will only serve to sink their own economies if they do it hastily. American businesses are being bought more and more by foreigners, plus there is phenomenon of American manufacturers moving out of America in search of cheaper labour and materials (only proving against capitalists’ long held view that labour follows investment not the other way around even though it has almost always been the case historically). There are no easy/quick fixes…the best is to bring back manufacturing and intensive development of the same without which American economic future will always be very, very uncertain (America will have to keep Saudi royal family and Russian and Chinese leaders happy, or at least not angry).

Most of these banks have been tottering since 2008. They were on the FDIC watch list. It's the same old problem The bigger the bank, the harder the fall. FDIC couldn't cover insurance for the huge investment banks so the government had to bail them out. Smaller, weaker banks are just allowed to collapse because FDIC can cover the money.. Things have definitely gotten better. FDIC is not scrambling around looking to make deals in the hopes of not going broke themselves. There might be more banks failing but they are smaller and the FDIC insurance is at least there. This is the way it's supposed to work. Banks have failed through the years. The FDIC stepped in and quietly the bank changed hands and the money was replaced. Often, people didn't even know their bank had been taken over. The scary time was in 2008 when FDIC knew that it could not cover the falling giants and started throwing mergers together. Things are definitely a whole lot saner now. Hard financial times will bring more banks collapses (always have) but as long as the investment banker cowboys are not allowed to play their games, FDIC will be able to handle it. Thanks to recent legislature that will be possible. It's also important to remember that small retail banks have remained amazingly stable through this whole financial crises. In fact, in my area, they have gotten stronger. A lot of folks who remembered the depression took their money out of the giants and put it into the small local banks. One little bank here was picking up 3 milion a week in new accounts and they are still there just as they were still there after the crash in 1929.

Hi lilwonders456-- Not long ago I would have said that things will be getting a LOT worse. My son certainly seems to think so--he's been extremely pessimistic. But maybe the disaster in the Gulf won't be as bad as some--especially Michael Ruppert and Matthew Simmons--have said. Here in my hard-hit state, employers finally seem to be doing some hiring again. The alternative energy industry will create some new jobs here. Even if the wind turbines and solar panels are eventually manufactured in China, we'll be the ones setting up and operating them. The coming "peak oil" crisis will create a market for new cars as long as they're plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles, or high-gas-mileage models, and that will create some new jobs in the automotive industry. The funny thing is, though, that most of the best-paying jobs around are with government agencies. With deficits soaring, it would appear appropriate that civil servants be made to accept at least a modest cut in pay. At least here in the "Rust Belt" the cost of living isn't as high as in many other places.

its them time to move to the net and make money there :D I am serious, its an economical revolution! I believe that in 100 more years almost every citizen will make a living from working on net!believe it or not.

I think that we have still not hit the bottom and the problem is not the failing banks, as those will be bought by a more stable bank. The problem is the high unemployment and high foreclosure rates that will not be solved if we stay on the current path we are on. The unemployment is not cured by temporary goverment jobs but by the small businesses that make up the backbone of our great country. We have thrived all these years by capitalism but now it is being stiffled by goverment intrusion in areas that do not need it and no regulations on the areas that do. The collapse was caused partly by the outbreak of foreclosures and the government's (under Bush and then added on by Obama - so no blame here as they were both wrong)over reaction. Look, I know it is harse but some of these people deserved to lose their homes - they couldn't afford it. But no, we had to "save" them and now house values have plummeted and innocent homeowners are now losing their homes because they have lost their jobs and can't refinance because they owe more than the house is worth. The government jumped in and took over General Motors (why?) and left Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac untouched... again, why? They allowed people to buy homes with no proven source of income or too low for the size house they wanted (I know because I work for a bank). Then you add these crooked banks who willingly did these mortgages knowing full well that the low interest rate would skyrocket and these people would be out on the their tushes. But guess what?? These people knew it as well, they just figured (wrong by the way) that they would refinance their way out of it. This stack of cards came crashing down - surprise surprise, but they didn't figure the force of the fall that would take out everything else. They should have let the crooked banks fail, they deserve it; let the unworthy lose their homes, they deserve it; and let Freddie and Fannie fail, they started it. No business is too large to fail and no one is guaranteed home ownership. Let the ugly nature that capitalism can be (survival of the fittest) run it course and the economy would have bounced back. But no! We need to save these pitiful souls and now they have upset the ecosystem of Capitalism and now it is all a mess. Let the businesses thrive through competition and hard work and quit tying the hands of our businesses through massive taxation and OVER-regulation (they all need some rules to play by) and we will come back. That is just what we do!