FDIC won't fail. Period. The healthy banks will cover the losses of those who are not, unfortunately, and shareholder returns will suffer.

When the Bank of Clark County went down a few months back, Washington's own little version of FDIC worked as it should. All uninsured public deposits were covered by other Washington banks within the pool. This did not include credit unions or S&L's, just banks.

We wrote a check for $80,000. B of A wrote a check for $4MM.

The same essential chain of events will occur when/if any bank large enough to threaten FDIC's reserves fails. I think we are at 35, or 37 year to date on bank failures. Banks will pay a special assessement based upon a percentage of their assets, and the fund will be replenished.

You can wring your hands all you want. The FDIC won't fail. Yes, the dollar is going to be taking a hit. Yes, some stupid people will lose money. How much of a hit is only conjecture at this point. You don't know any more than I do at this point. The FDIC is a non-issue compared to the other issues out there.

Some people I know are diversifying their cash into metals, and some foreign currency as a hedge. Not a bad idea in my opinion.

Anyway, I'm not a teller, I don't help folks balance their checkbooks, but if you need a few million bucks, are interested in a particitaion or syndication deal, need to buy or sell a business, or finance a trucking fleet, I'm your man.

Interesting time to be a banker.