The New York Times reports:
"Washington Mutual, the giant lender that came to symbolize the excesses of the mortgage boom, was seized by federal regulators on Thursday night, in what is by far the largest bank failure in American history.
"Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan, to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion, averting another potentially huge taxpayer bill for the rescue of a failing institution...."
"Customers of WaMu, based in Seattle, are unlikely to be affected, although shareholders and some bondholders will be wiped out. WaMu account holders are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to $100,000, and additional deposits will be backed by JPMorgan Chase."
JP Morgan Chase does seem to be benefiting from the failure of other Wall Street firms. In March of this year, we taxpayers helped finance JP Morgan's buying of failed investment firm Bear Stearns for $236 million.
Yes, that does seem like small potatoes, compared to the 700+ billion tax dollars that the Bush Administration wants to give (without strings) to Wall Street firms and executives who helped drive our nation's economy to the cliff's edge.
Memeorandum has commentary.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Tim Cunha for Congress, Florida District 6
* Congress Fails to Craft New Bailout Plan
* Executives Skate out of Economic Disaster with Millions
* Bailout: Ignore the Sales Pitch -- Bush Plan is Not the Only Option
* What Could we do with $700 Billion (Instead of bailing out Crooks)?
* FBI Finally Starts Investigating Wall Street Firms for Fraud
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