Five More U.S. Banks Are Seized, Pushing Total for Year to 89
Five More U.S. Banks Are Seized, Pushing Total for Year to 89
Bloomberg News, September 5, 2009
Lenders in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Arizona collapsed, pushing the number of bank failures to 89 this year amid continuing fallout from the worst economic slump since the Great Depression. Closing the lenders — with combined assets of $1.1 billion and deposits of $982 million — will cost the deposit insurance fund about $401 million.
“American Casino” Director Leslie Cockburn on Shooting the Financial Crisis
Wall Street Journal, September 2, 2009
Director/journalist Leslie Cockburn has filmed in war zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq. But for her documentary “American Casino” — an informative and emotional look at the origins of the U.S. financial crisis — she encountered a different sort of villain: the greedy corporate banker. Setting up her first shoot in January 2008, Cockburn — along with husband Andrew, who served as the film’s co-writer and co-producer — spent the next year capturing both the financial players who had no qualms about selling complex securities to “idiots,” as well as the families and individuals affected by their decisions. We recently spoke to Leslie Cockburn about her documentary.
Missing Lehman Lesson of Shakeout Means Too Big Banks May Fail
Bloomberg News, September 8, 2009
The warning was ominous: “Massive global wealth destruction.”
That’s what Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. executives predicted before they filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. “Impacts all financial institutions,” read one bullet point in a confidential memo prepared for government officials obtained by Bloomberg News. “Retail investors/retirees assets are devastated.”