Most weekend editors failed to pair two developments focusing on the U.S. economy: Nine banks failed on Friday --- the most in a single day since the financial crisis began --- followed by President Barack Obama, a few hours later in his Saturday address, praising recent economic developments, notes Grumpy Editor.
Strangely, most newspapers and broadcast outlets from Friday night to Sunday did not carry even a one-line mention of the nine banks.
With Friday’s failures, the number of shuttered banks this year has risen to 115, highest annual level in 17 years.
Included was 2009’s fourth largest bank failure --- California National Bank, Los Angeles, with more than $7 billion in assets and 68 branches in Southern California.
Others folding were BankUSA, Phoenix; Citizens National Bank, Teague, Texas; Madisonville (Texas) State Bank; North Houston Bank, Texas; Pacific National Bank, San Francisco; Park National Bank, Chicago; San Diego (Calif.) National Bank, and the Community Bank of Lemont, Illinois.
U.S. Bancorp, Minneapolis, picked up all nine, acquiring $18.4 billion in assets and $15.4 billion in deposits in the process.
Meanwhile, a few hours after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) action closing the nine banks, Obama, in his Saturday address, pointed to GDP growth after four quarters of declines and cited economic stimulus saving or creating at least one million jobs “is certainly reason to believe that we are moving in the right direction.”
Some experts --- not media --- were raising eyebrows on the oft-repeated “jobs saved” reference.
Among them:
Carnegie Mellon University economist Allan Meltzer said, “One can search economic textbooks forever without finding a concept called ‘jobs saved.’
“It doesn’t exist for good reason: how can anyone know that his or her job has been saved.”
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