Item: The unofficial Problem Bank List is now in excess of 1,000 institutions, 1,002 to be precise, with $417.4 billion in claimed assets. Based on the FDIC reports, I estimate that only $255 billion of those assets actually exist.
Item: One of the Dread Ilk writes of his recent experience with his bank. “I went in to my local [bank] yesterday to withdraw 5k. The fellow behind the counter looks at the number on my withdrawal slip… then whispers to the lady at the next teller station, who rolls her eyes and shakes her head, as if withdrawing that much was a horrible trial.
“I only have $1400!” I hear him say.
They both then departed for the back and came back a minute later with some bills.
“I’m sorry,” my intrepid teller says, “We can only manage $4000.”
He then has me re-write my withdrawal slip… and gives me $4000, of which just over half is hundreds. The rest was scraped together from 50s and 20s.
I said “Huh. You guys are in bank-run territory now, aren’t you?”
He looks up, “Uh… I guess.”
Action Item: If you are living in the USA, you may wish to consider keeping a bit more cash on hand than usual.