That fact that John McCain's son served on the board of the Silver State Bank until recently should not matter much to customers. The bank is gone.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "The lender, the 11th bank to fail in the U.S. this year, was overexposed to risky real-estate loans, a problem that's vexing many banks amid the worst financial crisis in a generation." Silver State had $1.7 billion in deposits the shut-down will cost the FDIC several hundred million dollars.
The FDIC has already indicated that it may need to go to the U.S. Treasury for more capital. Some experts think that dozens of banks will fail. At the pessimistic end of the spectrum economists believe that number could go into the hundreds, if housing prices stay in a free-fall.
The problems at FDIC-insured banks raises the question of how much capital Treasury has to spread around. In theory that amount is nearly unlimited. That is, off course, because U.S. tax-payers send the U.S. government so much money every year.
Those are the same tax-payers who are losing jobs and can't make their own mortgage payments.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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