Commentary

Who bails out the? bailoutors?

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s (FDIC) pool of money is slowly going away. In fact it is at the lowest level it’s been at since 2003 and below the minimum level set by Congress. Eleven FDIC insured banks have gone under this year (ex. IndyMac) and additional failures of such large banks are likely. With the Treasury continuing to shell out money to corporate firms they want to stay afloat, its possible we just might run out of money in the insurance fund. Christopher Whalen, senior vice president of Institutional Risk Analytics says “We’ve got a … retail bank run forming in this country,” However, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said his Monday press briefing that the country’s commercial banking system “is safe and sound…the American people can be very, very confident about their accounts in our banking system.” The FDIC says 98 percent of U.S. banks still meet regulators’ standards for adequate capital. Still, if the government runs out of money, who covers their backs? That’s right… YOU! More from AP Business Writer Christopher S. Rugaber here.