How 37 banks became 4 banks in less than 20 years

[Ichingcarpenter]

[Le Taz Hot]

1. And most of this hapened during the Clinton administration

when the banking laws were greatly reduced or eliminated.

[Armstead]

5. Unfortunately Obama and Dems in Congress haven't changed -- so it is still going on

[DirkGently]

2. And they've become dumber, dirtier AND more

powerful with each consolidation.


Not a good trend.

[Armstead]

3. We are Morons for letting this happen -- And our Politicians are assholes

Many of us on "the left" have seen this coming and trying to warn about it for decades.

It is just common sense that this should have not been allowed to occur. We could have stopped it many times as these Mega Mergers and Acquisitions were going on over the last 40 years. Not just in banking but every sector

But the Weenie Public and the asshole politicians (including "centrist democrats&quot allowed and condoned it. And they told the people warning against it that they were naive and a radical fringe who didn't understand the "real world."

Now we have banks that hold us hostage because they are "too big to fail." And every other industry is lso under the thumb on Monopoly Corporate Empires.

And yet, even though the evidence is in of what disaster this has been, the assholes in DC -- including too many of our fine Democratic leaders -- and too many of us in the general population still allow these Mega Mergers to continue unchallenged.

[nationalize the fed]

7. Exactly. It's the people's fault. "We" (not me) and US let it happen.

It's a New World Order of the 1%

[Enthusiast]

25. No, WE'RE not morons

We were busy raising families and working.

And there was no internet for most of us to gather information on these candidates. Some markets have no left wing newspapers.

Do you think the complicit Democrats wanted us to know they were betraying our interests? The first time I was aware that we were being betrayed is when Clinton signed NAFTA and Gramm-Leach-Bliley. Clinton still denies these were bad acts. But he's a fucking liar.

Now when we say we won't support Democrats that betray our interests, hoards of DU sockpuppets descend on us saying we will lose in 2014 if we don't vote for DINOs.

[Armstead]

28. I'll amend that to Ignorant

I'm sorry if I sound harsh about it, but I remember this happening over and over again over many years. And I remember banging my head (symbolically) feeling like "Why are we letting this happen?" .....And we're STILL allowing this process to continue unabated.

Yes I am extremely critical of the public for allowing this. It was a matter of collective self-sabotage. There was enough publicity in the mainstream media about the biggest of these mergers as they occurred that people should have known, no matter how preoccupied with life.

And this is not esoteric. It's just Basic Common Sense that you don't want to allow a handful of Giant Corporate Monopolists to take over the entire economy. That's not liberal or conservative. It's just plain stupid.

In many respects we have ourselves collectively to blame. Accepting responsibility is the first step towards recovery.

[marmar]

4. And actually you could add a few more branches to the Bank of America tree......

Standard Federal, LaSalle .......

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. This doesn't even touch what they gobbled up

internationally that now control world economies and governments.

[FarCenter]

8. You are missing the 2005 acquisition of Cazenove by JP Morgan Chase

Cazenove, founded in 1823, was thought to handle the investments of the Queen of England.

[The2ndWheel]

9. E pluribus unum

[homegirl]

10. Walk away...

to your local Credit Union. Only qualification is to be a resident of the county in which the Credit Union is based.

[Armstead]

15. That's wht I did many years ago and am glad I did

They treat you right, support the local economy and feels much better doing business with them.

[lovemydog]

17. Most definitely

And don't have any credit cards with big banks.

Welcome to DU homegirl. Have fun!

[Go Vols]

24. The credit union here charges for checking,

and can't/wont match what I get on CD's at my local bank that only has two branches and been in business since the late 1800's.
I do agree on keeping your money local.

[dickthegrouch]

11. First Interstate was bought by Great Western /nt

[dbackjon]

18. Nope - Wells Fargo. I was a First Interstate customer at the time.

[dickthegrouch]

19. I looked at my statements before posting to make sure

Why I still have statements from that long ago is a different discussion

[dbackjon]

30. What state are you in?

Arizona and other western states went from First Interstate directly to Wells...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Interstate_Bancorp

[dickthegrouch]

32. Apparently I bailed from First Interstate in Oct 1995

I was in Campbell, CA (suburb of San Jose) at the time. IIRC First Interstate sold that branch to Great Western. I see now that was probably independent of the merger.

[dbackjon]

33. Or a condition of the merger

My branch was sold to Compass Bank (but I kept my account at Wells - transferred it).

Of course, Great Western was bought by WaMu, who was bought by Chase

[Supersedeas]

12. PNC has accululated a few smaller fish along the way

[Efilroft Sul]

14. My PNC bank branch changed names six times either by mergers or buyouts.

My first account at the branch was opened when it was West Penn Bank. It then became Equibank. The Equibank then became Gallatin, then Integra, and then National City. Now it's PNC.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. One thing that amazed me while all this emergency bank gobbling was going on in the late 00's...

...was how even then around my area banks were building more and more physical bank buildings. Anywhere you saw an empty lot, all of a sudden there was a new bank going up, and often as not for a brand I'd never heard of before.
Then they'd get gobbled.
Really weird game going on.

[dbackjon]

16. Your graphic needs to add Valley National Bank of Arizona

Arizona's biggest bank, swallowed up by Banc One in 1992

[erronis]

26. +1 - And let's look at State Banks

I'm in Vermont and this is under active consideration (once again.)

[xchrom]

21. du rec.

[Indydem]

22. National Bank of Detroit (NBD)

Was bought up by First Chicago and then Bank One.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

23. Chase. ugh. Bought out my Mortgage and upped my house payment. Want to refinance. NEED to.

dirty rotten shitstains.

[MadrasT]

27. I used to work for one of the 37.

Got out right before they were gobbled up by someone else.

Glad I am out of banking completely now.

[JackRiddler]

29. These are oligarchs - nationally and globally.

Don't let anyone tell you this is less of an oligarchy, or less of a criminal system, or less exploitative, or less murderous than the less refined, more obviously brutal oligarchies -- by virtue of its scale and reach and impacts, it's worse on all counts. Many of just happen to be among the less disadvantaged within this system by virtue of living in the imperial core, so we think we have it good because we're "middle class" and can vote with relatively little impediment.

[fredamae]

31. The Repeal of Glass-Steagall

in 1999 couldn't have hurt the monopolization much, eh?