Nanoo, have you looked at credit unions (not necessarily local) as an alternative to the big banks?

One alternative, if you cannot keep your money in an independent bank, might be to suffer the larger banks with just your checking $$ (for which it still helps to have a branch nearby) while moving the rest of your savings to other institutions, that you can believe in.

But one of the larger worries about the big banks wiping out the local banks, is that there won’t be locally-savvy lenders willing to bootstrap small entrepreneurial businesses. Which are the job-creating engine of the economy. Part of the national malaise of the past decade (plus) may in fact be that we have too many large banks, and not enough small ones!

Part of me wants to semi-retire and start a bank somewheres, where it could really be useful and doesn’t need to be larger… but I’m not enough of a people person (yet).

I’m using the very last independent bank in my state, the other we use was bought by a regional 3 years ago, albeit a small one. Unlike larger states, we don’t have a bank/branch and many options on every block. Any failure here will result in a big earthquake. This state and its people are historically conservative, not into bling, not into conspicuous consumption. Still, this area did not escape speculative building of CRE, RRE and in RRE it was high end.

What scares me to death is that decades of earnings, savings were hijacked. Those funds used in ways I couldn’t even imagine and now worthless. Its in our pension and extended to robbery of SS. I never played the market because I didn’t understand it except that it was an insiders game. I also didn’t want to die with a ticker-tape in my hand.

Some of us, lived below our means, didn’t want to be uber-wealthy but comfortable, not famous, or to seek attention/envy by our lifestyle. We’re gonna be and are collateral damage, we have no protection or the ability to hedge against what is coming.

So in your coming blog post, which I hope you will continue to link at CR; I hope you will provide some solutions. AS I have stated before, should a TBTF buy these 2 banks, I will pull out my paltry funds as I refuse to capitalize them. I am aware it makes no tangible difference, except it makes me feel better.

Best wishes for your blog

I just saw your reference to this blog over at Calculated Risk. It’s late and I cannot read or comment now, but I took a quick glance at the posts you have up here and I share a lot of your thoughts (although less articulately than you). I look forward to returning and growing my understanding by reading and sharing on this blog.

Great work!