Hello all: I picked up our local paper this morning, The Seattle Times and the lead story was about the failure of Washington Mutual Savings Bank. To date, this has been the biggest bank failure in our history.
It's hard to believe it's been a year since this happened. It also added to the meltdown worldwide of our financial system and the loss of trillions of dollars of our assets, most of it tied up in our retirement. The failure of Washington Mutual and subsequent purchase by Chase was preceded by the implosion of Lehman Brothers, the bailing out of AIG and the forced shotgun marriage of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.
What do you remember? For me, the slowdown started in August 2007 with the failure of American Home Mortgage. At the time they were the 10th largest wholesale lender in the country. After this, every lender immediately started tightening the screws and it wasn't soon thereafter that Countrywide was bought by Bank of America as it was failing also.
Here we are in September 2009 feeling a little better about the direction we're headed in. I think we all know that it's still a little tenuous. And I don't think any of us wants to go back to where we were. Ultimately time will tell. In Wa. Mu.'s case, bad decisions were made and they paid a heavy price. Have a great day today!
Paul McFadden
I'm definitely feeling better and am no longer tempeted to move my $$ from the bank to my mattress. BTW, that's a TERRIBLE idea!
Rihcard: That's good to know. Lol! Have a great day and thanks for commenting!
Hello Paul, I still remember the long ago days when Washington Mutual Savings Bank was a friend in the family. It isn't always better to become bigger like they did. John
John: I too remember those days. I knew several people who worked for Wa. Mu. and they were good souls. It just goes to show you when there is a culture change, it's time to move on. Take care.
After WM began taking over S&Ls, greed dominated their policies. A sad ending for the friend of the family. But much sadder ending to their borrowers' dreams.