• February 14, 2012

It’s Monday, meaning a bank fell. A major bank, felled. Or didn’t fall? Just “sold off” its entire banking operations: “Citigroup will acquire the banking operations of the Wachovia Corporation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said Monday morning, the latest bank to fall victim to the distressed mortgage market.” While the F.D.I.C. chairman says Wachovia customers should expect business as usual, we think there should be a BANK RUN! EVERYONE FREAK OUT! GET ALL YR MONEY! RUNNNNN!!!! [NYT]

{ 79 comments }

jinmoom September 29, 2008 at 10:48 am

Three banks now control everything and will be too big to fail. There’s no way anything can go wrong now.

MrAgro September 29, 2008 at 10:48 am

I’m putting all of my investments into the companies that make coffee cans and shovels.

NoWireHangers September 29, 2008 at 10:49 am

NO MORE CAR PAYMENTS FOR ME!!1!!

columnv September 29, 2008 at 10:51 am

You guys are just elitist chicken-littles. Everything’s fine.

BTW, when do we know if the world is really going to hell and we should quite the snark and actually get that gun we’ve been talking about?

columnv September 29, 2008 at 10:52 am

[re=113231]MrAgro[/re]: don’t forget rope companies! everyone needs some hangin’ rope!

Monkey September 29, 2008 at 10:53 am

This is all happening becuz of that Anti-Happiness, Anti-Jeebus, Muslimist John Hussein McCain

Monkey September 29, 2008 at 10:54 am

[re=113231]MrAgro[/re]: Ha ha! Probably the same company.

Miller September 29, 2008 at 10:55 am

I planned ahead. I’m going to have the nicest pencil and apple stand in the fuckin’ country. No dimes will have to be spared for me, I’ll be raking it in. Try not to stare at my opulent pencil wealth while you’re in the soup line.

http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/

ManchuCandidate September 29, 2008 at 10:55 am

Bank failures aren’t limited to Kaliphornians and NYC eelights. Southerners can ruin a bank just as well.

Upthruster September 29, 2008 at 10:56 am

Oh, and just three days ago Martha Stewart was singing praises on her show about Wachovia Bank to her audience. I guess that’ll teach those homemakers and domestic goddesses a lesson about mixing chocolate chips and personal finances!

4tehlulz September 29, 2008 at 10:56 am

Fuck, they just bought by Citi. A bank run may actually be rational.

Special Agent Jack Mehoff September 29, 2008 at 10:56 am

All those years spent buying crack instead of saving for my future. Who’s laughing now?

ihasasad September 29, 2008 at 10:58 am

I found this:
http://burgess.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=103976
Washington, Sep 28 – Under the martial law procedure, long-standing House rules that require at least one day between the unveiling of significant legislation and the House floor vote on that legislation — so that Members can learn what they are being asked to vote on — are swept away. Instead, under “martial law,” the Leadership can file legislation with tens or hundreds of pages of fine print and move immediately to debate and votes on it, before Members of Congress, the media, or the public have an opportunity to understand fully what provisions have been altered or inserted into the legislation behind closed doors. This is the procedure that the Leadership intends to use to muscle through important bills in the next two days.

I haz a mad!

columnv September 29, 2008 at 10:58 am

[re=113243]Upthruster[/re]: u watch M Stewart???

AngryBlakGuy September 29, 2008 at 10:59 am

…I’m glad “Wachovia” went under! What kinda fukkin name is “Wachovia”!?!

Cogito Ergo Bibo September 29, 2008 at 11:01 am

I’m being a total masochist and listening to the House of Representative floor debate. It’s insane. There are Republitards who seem to think that we should take ANOTHER week to write up something else.

OMG. My OWN representative just spoke said he’s not voting for this. STFU, you moron! Rep. Goode BITES.

grendel September 29, 2008 at 11:02 am

It’s like Bank Highlander: There can be only one!

liquiddaddy September 29, 2008 at 11:02 am

When do the pinned-striped brokers start hopping out of the windows of their posh skyscapers?

Norbert September 29, 2008 at 11:04 am

[re=113250]AngryBlakGuy[/re]: You give them yer money, and they just Walk Ova Ya.

Cape Clod September 29, 2008 at 11:04 am

[re=113232]NoWireHangers[/re]: Well, I’m taking up marathon dancing. Care to partner with me?

natoslug September 29, 2008 at 11:04 am

[re=113234]columnv[/re]: Don’t worry, our great overlard (tardlord? tardlard?) Vigilante will let us know. And now in non-snark: Please tell me investments with Wachovia securities aren’t too fucked yet, as my wife was supposed to get her funds out of there last week, but got busy and forgot. I’m learning that it sucks to actually have a little money sometimes.

Cape Clod September 29, 2008 at 11:05 am

[re=113253]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: Virgil Goode is your rep? I wouldn’t say that too loudly.

ManchuCandidate September 29, 2008 at 11:07 am

[re=113255]grendel[/re]:
But there’s only one problem. They’re all Kurgans!

“Better to burn out than fade away!”

Cogito Ergo Bibo September 29, 2008 at 11:09 am

[re=113261]Cape Clod[/re]: Goode is, without a doubt, THE WORST representative I’ve had in living in four different states. At least we have a great option to vote for this time around. Periello had better crush this partisan idjit. Goode don’t care ’bout no people with 401K’s or checking accounts.

user-of-owls September 29, 2008 at 11:09 am

[re=113250]AngryBlakGuy[/re]: It’s the ancestral home of Polish jokes.

grendel September 29, 2008 at 11:10 am

[re=113231]MrAgro[/re]: I’m thinking of buying as much copper as I can… maybe take out loans to do so… When the 1000% inflation hits, my debts will be roughly the price of a loaf of bread, but my sweet sweet metric ton of copper will buy me Rhode Island!

user-of-owls September 29, 2008 at 11:10 am

[re=113259]Cape Clod[/re]: I’m going with pole-sitting.

Dientes September 29, 2008 at 11:10 am

Sure am glad I bought all those cans of beans last night. I knew the grocery store was trying to tell me something by putting them all on super sale.

columnv September 29, 2008 at 11:11 am

[re=113260]natoslug[/re]: You are a Capitalist Roader.

ihasasad September 29, 2008 at 11:11 am

[re=113253]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: isokay. I’m being a total masochist because I don’t want it to pass. Since getting involved in Sarah Connor Chronicles, methinks it would be really cool to not have to worry about money, just about machines gone wild. It would be nice to see what it’s like to have a life with a purpose. We could all meet up and join together and fight unstoppable robots and come up with snarky things to say to keep our morale up! No more taxes! Woo HOOOOOO!

facehead September 29, 2008 at 11:11 am

awww, I gotta has a serious. It says on the third paragraph that the bank didn’t fail, it got bought out (and this IS a big difference (and yes, I realize our glorious editors know this, but a wonketteer of Wachovian descent might be too busy crapping in the pants to notice)). If it failed, any savings someone had above 100k would be gone. Of course, by next week, 100k will be the cost of three apples, so don’t spend it all in one place.

madtowngooner September 29, 2008 at 11:12 am

Ramblings at the gates of the apocalypse.

Just remember Vonnegut predicted this: USA Inc. Hi ho

Or was it Tolkein?
One Ring to Rule all the Others

Or was it Palin?
Putin Rears His Head? (Is that a new porn flick?)

Cogito Ergo Bibo September 29, 2008 at 11:13 am

I have to brush up on my hobo code. Hope I taped CBS Sunday Morning yesterday. I need to learn the symbols for “Tell the lady of the house a sob story and she’ll feed you” and “Will let you sleep in the barn, overnight.”

loquaciousmusic September 29, 2008 at 11:13 am

If you live in New England, TD Banknorth is solid.

Well, today it is.

jinmoom September 29, 2008 at 11:14 am

[re=113274]facehead[/re]: Well… if you read the Wonkette intro to the article, you might have noticed the following: “A major bank, felled. Or didn’t fall? Just “sold off” its entire banking operations”

JamesMichaelCurley September 29, 2008 at 11:14 am

[re=113250]AngryBlakGuy[/re]: In the classic Wachovia, the dancer is almost stationary with knees slightly bent, although may advance forward and back by one or two small rhythmic paces. The arms, with palms flat in line, are held almost straight, alternately flail up and down in the vertical. The head is kept in line with the upper torso but may bob slightly to accentuate the arm flailing. The dance became popular in the American surf/beach sub-culture of 1960s after the release of the song “The Wachovia” by the Orlons., may be enhanced if one imagines that ones feet are on sand.

Cogito Ergo Bibo September 29, 2008 at 11:14 am

[re=113272]ihasasad[/re]: I prefer a Mad Max future. The clothes are better.

Upthruster September 29, 2008 at 11:15 am

[re=113248]columnv[/re]: I love watching this snob make millions showing people how to wash a plate. Only in America!

DieOnTheTurnpike September 29, 2008 at 11:15 am

There goes my moneyz! Oh noes!!

I knew i should have taken my 2K american dollars and exchanged it for a euro.

ihasasad September 29, 2008 at 11:16 am

[re=113255]grendel[/re]: Now I’m going to keep repeating “I’m Connor McCloud of the Clan McCloud” over and over and over and over and ov and faster and faster and faster and fa

facehead September 29, 2008 at 11:16 am

[re=113255]grendel[/re]: Word. If this means Freddy Mercury comes back from the dead to spread the glorious message of cock rock, I’m all in.

Servo September 29, 2008 at 11:18 am

[re=113276]madtowngooner[/re]:
Nah. It’s a doll. “Peek-A-Boo Putin”

user-of-owls September 29, 2008 at 11:20 am

[re=113282]JamesMichaelCurley[/re]: Mr. Curley does all sixteen dances!

facehead September 29, 2008 at 11:20 am

[re=113279]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: Luckily, the Hobo code got caught in the tubes:

http://www.hobo.com/hobo_code.htm

mr.november September 29, 2008 at 11:20 am

[re=113245]Special Agent Jack Mehoff[/re]: I am at your comment!

grendel September 29, 2008 at 11:21 am

[re=113287]ihasasad[/re]: I’m Connor McCloud of the Bank McCloud Holdings…

Outstando September 29, 2008 at 11:23 am

For $700 billion, can we at least get a little commie WPA theater?

Serolf Divad September 29, 2008 at 11:23 am

When I was a kid my grandmother gave me and my cousins all $5000 in bank stock. That bank was eventually acquired by Wachovia. Over the last year that stock has gone from providing me with a nice tidy dividend to help out with the bills every quarter to worthless paper. I’m out about $40k thanks to Bush and his Laissez-faire fundamentalist buddies (and the Titans of industry and Capitalist Heroes in management who ran the bank into the ground by buying to the sub-prime scam in a big way just before the bubble burst). Who’d think that one day I’d be lamenting the fact that I didn’t follow my cousins’ example and liquidate the stock when I turned 18 and spend it on clothes, rounds of drinks at the bar, and fast cars that eventually wound up as twisted hunks of metal abandoned in ditches by the side of the road. At least they’ve got the memories of their exploits.

facehead September 29, 2008 at 11:24 am

[re=113281]jinmoom[/re]: UGH, you’re being a nerd (in the bad sense). If you had read what I wrote, you’d notice that I said they knew that.

Perhaps I’m being too serious, but I wasn’t incorrect.

V572625694 September 29, 2008 at 11:24 am

[re=113260]natoslug[/re]: A friend of mine saw a $50K WaMu bond drop to $125.00 in value last week.

[re=113256]liquiddaddy[/re]: Yet another modern architectural mistake: tycoon-proof fixed glass in high-rises.

Servo September 29, 2008 at 11:24 am

I think I’ll go put a Big Mac on layaway while they’re still affordable ( $23 adjusted ).

ihasasad September 29, 2008 at 11:24 am

[re=113283]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: Iduno…didn’t their teeth look bad? So far, in my future, everyone has nice teeth.

shortsshortsshorts September 29, 2008 at 11:25 am

I’m so grateful to be a B of A customer, where “hidden fees” is a term so practiced that the bank denies its existence. It simply melds with the banks philosophy, like a societal enigma. ALL OF MY MONIES ARE BELONGING TO THEM.

Kittens September 29, 2008 at 11:27 am

It truly is A Wonderful Life…

Sussemilch September 29, 2008 at 11:28 am

If the house always wins in gambling, and speculation is gambling, then who’s the house and how can I get a jobz with them?

Cogito Ergo Bibo September 29, 2008 at 11:29 am

[re=113302]ihasasad[/re]: I just want to dress like Tina Turner in thunderdome.

[re=113292]facehead[/re]: I was actually looking for something more like this: http://www.worldpath.net/~minstrel/hobosign.htm Memorize ‘em now, while you still have access to fancy shmancy computers!

Serolf Divad September 29, 2008 at 11:30 am

Servo:

My hero will be the guy who works out a way to reheat McDonalds’ fries so that they’re still edible. You realize that one McDonald’s fry provides enough fat energy to lift a VW bug ten feet in the air for 15 minutes? You could totally wait of the impending depression by subsisting on a diet of a small McDonald’s fries per day and a handful of Flintstones vitamins.

sanantonerose September 29, 2008 at 11:33 am

Wachovia has all these fancy signs around town, in SPANISH!, you know, for all the Mexicans. Well, I think their “Bienvenidos a Wachovia” signs now say “Adios y Via Con Dios.”

sanantonerose September 29, 2008 at 11:34 am

[re=113255]grendel[/re]: *cue Queen soundtrack*

Strappo September 29, 2008 at 11:36 am

Ha ha, fuck em all. I DON’T HAVE NO STINKIN’ MONEY. I’ve cashed everything out and am starting — get this — a wine importing business. Not expensive stuff either. Delicious Italian stuff that’s AFFORDABLE so you can drink it while your fucking life GOES DOWN THE SERIES OF TUBES and you MOVE INTO YOUR MINIVAN.

Ha ha. He who laffs last laffs last. Or whatever.

Oh, shit, I’m just back in the USSA and it’s time to plug my fucking blog, and fuck you commie socialist bailout pissants if ya don’t like it:

mondosapore.com

PS– Have a blessed day! ;) )

sanantonerose September 29, 2008 at 11:36 am

[re=113279]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: Nice lady symbol is a cat face, right?

user-of-owls September 29, 2008 at 11:38 am

Looking for somewhere to invest your last two shiny pennies? Buy up shares in whoever owns the rights to the Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Leadbelly catalogs. You think I’m kidding? Check the charts for our last great trickle-downer tailspin under Ron “Pretty Vacant” Reagan.

We’re gonna be hearing alot of “I ain’t got no home in this world anymore” ditties in the coming Hobocalypse.

WagTehGod September 29, 2008 at 11:39 am

I think the ad promoting Tin House to the left has the right idea. I’m horadin’ my scrap metal.

Cogito Ergo Bibo September 29, 2008 at 11:39 am

[re=113342]sanantonerose[/re]: Well done! You will be fed…by a lady with a cat face. Seriously, why IS that symbol a cat?

Carrie_Okie September 29, 2008 at 11:43 am

[re=113242]ManchuCandidate[/re]: Bank of America’s HQ is also right up the street from Wachovia.

liquiddaddy September 29, 2008 at 11:44 am

[re=113300]V572625694[/re]: like a sneeze-guard on a salad bar?

sanantonerose September 29, 2008 at 11:47 am

[re=113351]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: Well, I’m guessing it has something to do with ladyparts. Srsly. I came across this stuff when I was researching Woody Guthrie. Hobo Life, dig it.

Cogito Ergo Bibo September 29, 2008 at 11:51 am

[re=113378]sanantonerose[/re]: That makes a weird amount of sense. Interesting!

qwerty42 September 29, 2008 at 11:52 am

[re=113250]AngryBlakGuy[/re]: yeah. sounds like some made-up german-balkan name, maybe from the same folks who brought you “austria-hungary” That didn’t end up so well.
And there’s this.

Outstando September 29, 2008 at 11:56 am

I’d like to announce that I am acquiring US Bank for some bus tickets and a really good kung pao chicken recipe.

ihasasad September 29, 2008 at 12:00 pm

[re=113295]grendel[/re]: I’m having trouble saying that one fast

Das Storminator September 29, 2008 at 12:01 pm

As long as Citigroup converts the Wachovia location next to my favorite bar into a Citibank, I have no complaints.

ihasasad September 29, 2008 at 12:03 pm

[re=113319]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: Didn’t she have the most awesomest hair? No taxes AND awesome hair, now that’s a future I can believe in!

facehead September 29, 2008 at 12:03 pm

[re=113351]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: don’t try to understand the ways of the Hobo, just live them.

Strangely, ‘ :) ‘ is the symbol for “has bad pokerface and 4 virgin daughters.”

mookworthjwilson September 29, 2008 at 12:12 pm

[re=113289]facehead[/re]: He already has… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnzMN1369W8

mookworthjwilson September 29, 2008 at 12:20 pm

[re=113289]facehead[/re]: Umm…smiley done cover up ma link… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnzMN1369W8

slappypaddy September 29, 2008 at 12:44 pm

wonky, sweetie, bless yer heart, yer periodic cries for bank run is scarin my money, puny as it’s been lookin of late…

Johnetic September 29, 2008 at 1:37 pm

Living in Charlotte, I have found the following interesting:

1. The housing bubble was really small here – house values did not rise nearly as much as in other places. House values have decreased and inventories increased, but at a much lower rate than other large cities (IE, Phoenix, Vegas, etc…)
2. Foreclosures began to be an issue much earlier than in other parts of the country. The Charlotte Observer did a great series of reports about low and middle income neighbourhoods that had serious foreclosure issues over a year ago.

Now, I am sure that there are much more complicated reasons for the above two facts, but it would seem to me that in the place where 50K+ bankers live and work this mess has been much less profound. Sort of like they knew what they were doing, on some semi or subconscious level, would be terribly messy and therefore took steps to not shit in their own backyard.

But now, at $1 a share, the shitbirds have come home to roost.

Naked Bunny with a Whip September 29, 2008 at 1:51 pm

I’m glad I put all of my money into leather bondage gear. I’ll be getting rich any day now.

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