Finance goes retro: Bank runs are back!

This ran in an Australian paper yesterday:

IN A modern financial system nothing is more frightening than a run on the bank. The US has now suffered a series of them, and they are escalating in size and scope, posing a serious threat to an already reeling economy.

This happened today:

LOS ANGELES – Police ordered angry customers lined up outside an IndyMac Bank branch to remain calm or face arrest Tuesday as they tried to pull their money on the second day of the failed institution’s federal takeover. …

Worried customers with deposits in excess of insured limits flooded IndyMac Bank branches on Monday, demanding to withdraw as much money as they could or get answers about the fate of their funds.

When it was clear some wouldn’t get in before closing, FDIC employees apparently took down names and told them to return Tuesday.

Other customers began lining up at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, and by dawn, tensions escalated because people on the list were getting priority.

Ah, the good old days. Selling pencils and apples on the corner. An impending Democratic landslide. Hobo stew. An environmental disaster — then it was the dust bowl now its … hey has anyone seen the north pole lately? The rise of extremist political movements. Personally I am updating a few old songs. How about “Brother Can You Spare A Gallon”? “Twenties From Heaven”? Fortunately, “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” works just as it is.

Fortunately there is some good news: Oil prices plummet $7 on spreading economic fears

Oil prices plunged Tuesday as worries about the nation’s economic health shot to the fore and OPEC warned that high pump prices are likely to erode global demand for crude.

HUZZAH!

Every time it rains, it rains twenties from heaven
Don’t you know each cloud contains twenties from heaven?
You’ll find your fortune’s fallin’ all over the town
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down

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