Bank Failure Hub Bub

Watching the nightly news drives me absolutely bananas.  The mis-speaks by supposedly educated people is appalling.  Last night I happened to be watching ABC.  They were of course talking about the bank failure, the Indy Mac Bank to be precise.  They repeatedly spoke about the long lines of people waiting to get their cash, and the fear the people had of losing their money. 

What a waste of a chance to calm peoples fears.  Four little letters - F D I C.  The media 'could' have used the story to calm peoples fears that each account up to $100,000 is fully insured by the federal government.  Unless and until this government fails, the money is insured.  And if you have 'more' than $100,000 in a given bank, all you have to do is have more than one account in that bank.  Very simple English - 5th grade mentality stuff... but noooooo.  No mention of these minute facts.  Just more panic.

I'm eating dinner and a relative with very few assets calls and wants to know if they should take their money out of the frickin bank for crying out loud.  And you think the media is not at fault??  If you don't you are smoking something.  They do have responsibilities and it is not difficult to take those responsibilities seriously. 

And for the record?  If Joe or Jenny had more than $100,000 in a given account, I have zero sympathy for them.  If they have that sort of money they should know the rules.  Now, I'm heading off to the bank and move some money around.  Yea, right.

And one final thought - remember the Savings and Loan disaster back in the 80s????  Over 700 went belly up.  A little historical relevance might just be in order.