Unfortunately we have too many reminders of just why this election is so damned important.  Thanks for your diary & I'm glad to hear that you & your mom are unscathed by the collapse.

Yet another reason to work for a Democratic Whitehouse and Congress.

Rec'd.

Thanks for the read, Linfar.
I must say....I thoroughly enjoy rec'ing your diaries.  ;)

I, too, follow my father's advice (and my father-in-law's) when it comes to finances. Thus far, my wife and I have been VERY lucky...both by getting out JUST IN TIME prior to the Tech Crash...and by getting rid of a couple of rentals prior to Housing Crash. For now, and for the foreseeable future, we will holding our cards close and playing it safe.

I have a feeling we, as a nation, are in for a wild ride.

Highly recc'd by a former adversary.

Wow. Great diary Linfar.  The US mortgage crisis has now swept across the Atlantic and the liquidity problems are hitting banks hard. We live in a global financial market, and everyone is watching this election now for some old fashioned US leadership

And thanks for being a great leader of Hillary supporters. The democratic party really needs people like you. Obama too.

Thanks for reminding me, linfar! :-)

I needed that reminder--so happy to pass it along :)

I really like how your diaries educate us about history.

Please recall we defeated the privatization of Social Security in Bush's second term with an engaged citizenry organizing through the Internet, and a Congress held accountable to that citizenry.

I guess with McCain I know where he stands, but with Obama there is no way to prepare. I cannot discern what his principles are. He's supported many public-private partnerships in the past, which funneled taxpayer dollars into private industry. That type of thing sounds nice, but can be worse than no program at all.

Awesome diary...thanks linfar...

...I'm certainly not an advocate of saying the sky's falling--except at times when it truly is--but if you have money in either of these institutions, I would suggest looking closely at your situation (i.e.: any accounts over $100,000, etc.).

By the way, if you have JOINT accounts, each of the people within a joint account are insured for $100,000, so there is a bit of a workaround for these FDIC rules now, although you should check these matters out with a legal professional, first (because I certainly am not one).

And, Linfar, it's usually awesome reading your diaries, except when I see something like this hitting so close to home and causing you so much unnecessary stress. But, thank god, you missed the bullet on this one, huh?

Yes, it's historically been the Dems that have pulled us out of financial hard times in the past century...and, hopefully, that trend will continue come January 20th. There's something to be said about hope saving the day. And, even the "professionals" acknowledge it is emotion, perception, rumor and news that drives the market...and we all know how biased those last couple of drivers are, now don't we? So, here's to  advancing some positive emotions and perceptions with the election of Barack Obama this November!

We have to start somewhere more positive than the place we're in now, right?

Very well written, linfar. I'll confess to not being aware it was FDR that brought us FDIC insurance. Rec'd with pleasure!

awesome. awesome. awesome a million times over. but seriously, awesome diary.

thanks for the good read-

about ready to call our stock broker and tell her it's time to cash in, circle the wagons, and ride it out. The Bush reign of terror can't come quick enough. Thanks for the diary, linfar, and I agree about sore losers. If they can't see that it's the Party not the candidate, then they truly are foot stomping, take my marbles and go home, if I can't win - nobody will kinda people. Truly sad...BTW, I'm glad you and your Mom are OK.

Best writer on this site hands down. You are very talented linfar and your diaries are a joy. Thank you for writing such an excellent piece.

Rec'd.

Wonderful diary, lin!  You are awesome.

Good luck with the FDIC.  Don't forget to wear your flame retardant pantsuit at your meeting.

I hope things are going well with your mother.

Thank for your post Linfar. I am sad to see people so impacted by these problems, and really appreciate you sharing your experience.

When I was a teenager, after we returned to the states, my parents got jobs at a little school in northern North Dakota. I remember a bank failing in nearby Towner and the bank did not have FDIC. Quite a few people lost a lot of money. This was about the time we were studying the depression and the changes that FDR put into place in our government. That incident made an enormous impression on me and I could not understand why people would put money into a bank that didn't have FDIC.

I have never understood the republican love of deregulation. How can anyone not get the dangers of unrestrained capitalism? Anyone can understand this, but they need to study history. There are so many eerie similarities between now and the late 19th and early 20th centuries that I feel like a Cassandra half the time (the other half I feel like chicken little). This goes beyond economics, although that would be enough, but when we seem to be drifting toward another war that seems about profit, I just want to run screaming at the fools that got us into this.

Chuck Schumer's remarks singling out Indy Mac were despicable. Someone with his background in finance--and ties to Wall Street--had to know that his comments would help cause a run on the bank.

Thanks Linfar. So glad you and your mom managed to come out reasonably unscathed here. What a mess!

Thanks for the reminder what we are fighting for.  If anyone thinks this is just a battle between McCain and Obama they are mistaken.  The republicans have talked openly of how they are trying to dismantle the New Deal for the past 8 years.  We need to stop them this year or they will also end Social Security and retirees will be standing in bread lines.

We haven't always agreed here but this is an excellent diary and I commmend you.

Thanks SF--did you know spanish fly used to be used like roofies are today--to rape women. Just curious??

Great post.

McCain's economic adviser Phil(No Whiners)Gramm

http://banking.senate.gov/conf/confrpt.h tm

Yikes! what else can yu say...

Glad that you and your Mom are not going to be too affected by this disaster.

Kudos to your Dad for his wisdom and for teaching you the value of the work of the Democartic party on the behalf of the average American.  Kudos to you for reminding all of us that experience and history can provide good lessons to us all.
We have to take back the White House,and provide a greater base of support in both houses of Congress.

Diary recc'd.  My Credit Union had the bright idea a couple of years ago to pull out of the Credit Union equivalent of the FDIC and go with private insurance.  The stated reason was that the private insurers guaranteed up to $250,000 per depositor, more than the government.  I was leery of this change, and I am glad to say that they have now switched back to federally-backed insurance.  I wonder if some of the brighter bulbs in the C.U.'s management foresaw some of this shitstorm, or if it was just to obtain lower rates.  

Good diary.  People forget all that we owe to FDR.  Glad you are sticking with his party.

and your post provides a great example.  The giants like FDR, Truman, LBJ and Clinton weren't afraid to stand up to the avalanche of criticism in their day for good public policy that built a secure future for everyone.

Each made mistakes and all were subjected to harsh, unrelenting criticism in their day. FDR was vilified for decades by many who thought Social Security,regulation of commerce and funding for infrastructure were wrong. But he and the others had great visions for the country and we're all still reaping the benefits.  You can't name one Republican, save Lincoln, who accomplished as much.

Its sad to see so many of todays Dems who've made the mistake of believing all the bad publicity the GOP has manufactured against the party.  There aren't many left who could measure up to the legacy of FDR, Truman and others.  They should be proud to call themselves Dems and never abandon the pary's core values.

It also reminds us that republicans have actively worked to dismantle every New Deal progam they could over the last 60 years.  They've accomplished a lot in that regard, but we still have social security and we still have the FDIC.

On a bit of a tangent, I cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone would keep more than $100,000 in cash in the bank.  Invest that money, put it into a mutual fund, commodities (both oil and gold have been phenomenal), or create an annuity, something.  It's not insured above that amount anyway, so why not put the excess to better use?

I'm a poor soul, and will probably never have anywhere close to $100,000 in cash in my lifetime, but those lucky enough to have that shouldn't waste that extra money in the bank.