First Republic (good sized regional bank) has been sold…
Regional bank stocks plunged heavily on Thursday as turmoil in the banking system continues after JPMorgan Chase’s purchase of the failed First Republic Bank.
First Republic Bank was seen as the most likely next domino to fall amid the chaos of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure about two months ago. On Monday, it was announced that the bank was being taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and sold to JPMorgan in an effort to calm markets, but now the stocks of other major regional banks are facing fresh turmoil.
From the Washington Examiner, HERE.
I know we’ve mentioned Central Bank Digital Currency before, and I’m really beginning to wonder if these ‘failures’ are a move toward 2-3 major banks that control all banking in the US…
I, for one, don’t favor that. I don’t want everything I do tracked by ‘digital’ currency, much less have someone ‘control’ what I can and can’t buy.
Am I overthinking this? What say you?
I don’t think you are overthinking this. While it may not come to pass in our lifetime, if there is a possibility that there is any chance that someone could use a financial system for evil, someone WILL eventually try it.
Ray no disrespect, but I think the powers that be fully intend to have a Chinese style social score driven Central Bank E-Dollar system in the next two years.
The POWER it offers the current power mad crazies is a massive lure.
Yes, they have evil intentions “For the BEST Reasons” to use this control system. what’s that proverb about better a rapturous Baron who may get tired than a “Do Gooder” fulfilled by “Helping those poor little people” who never tires.
Michael, I believe you’re thinking of a quote of C.S. Lewis regarding the cupidity of the robber baron and the omnipotent moral busybodies.
George Soros has already trashed central banks (Bank of England) for fun… and profit.
The system refuses to enforce controls to safeguard the “little peoples” money. That’s so the people in control can continue looting the country. It’s the last act of a failing government… looting the treasury. None of what’s happening is by accident. It’s all part of the plan to destroy America.
Okay, my comment didn’t go through, going to try again…
“Operation Choke Point” and the damage it did to a bunch of FFLs and firearms manufacturers demonstrated quite nicely that having too few, too large central banks is a really really bad idea and antithetical to financial freedom and individuals having control of their own lives.
“We don’t like your perfectly legal business, it’s icky, so you don’t get a bank account or any lines of credit from the banking cartel. Good luck to you.”
Now there’s a push for digital currency and to go cashless? That gives them massive control over everyone.
Digital currency can have access controls, including granular ones on it. It’s a perfect tie-in to the nightmare of “social credit”. Do what the state tells you to do, otherwise you won’t be able to earn or buy the things you want. Yeah punk, we can shut off your ability to buy food. Now be a good little subject and go along to get along, or else.
A BBC article already talks about people getting “chipped” with an RFID chip so they can conveniently pay for things without having to use a card:
https://is.gd/jR1bvs
Putting all this together:
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Okay, tried to comment twice, and the blog ate my comment… twice. I’ve flagged OldNFO in an mail and hopefully he can get things unstuck.
Agree. Digital currency seems an easy way to get a Bank Holiday for the duration. They can always claim they are working on fixing the problem as fast as they can.
Well, China Joe keeps telling us the economy has never been better, and the media keeps parroting him, so it must be true. 🤬 We’re running the world’s economy like a giant Ponzi scheme and nobody notices, or cares.
Once control is established in a few banks that control what you buy and sell the next step will be either a chip or some other way to control the peoples economic way of doing business. Do I believe this is all leading to the mark of the beast? My answer is yes. Do I want this? No, but then not my will be done,but Gods in Heaven. It all will lead to the return of Jesus Christ to set up His rule on earth. No one knows when but it will happen and the earth is in for a lot of rough times before that occurs. So fasten your seatbelts and hope we can get out of here before the real bad times begin!
While I tend to agree with all this facilitating a China style control by the government — although the people in charge may not be quite the ones which the current crop of wannabe autocrats think (they won’t be ones we’d like either…), I suspect that the folks pushing in that direction are more taking advantage of the greed (and stupidity) of the present crop of big money types, particularly in the tech sector, than they are directing the show as puppet masters. Not that it really matters in the end.
Think of all the ways you use cash. Now think of all those ways taken from you.
Add to that the tracking of your every expenditure. From there it becomes easy to imagine that it won’t be you in control of the purse strings of your own money, or how it 8s spent. Indeed, why shouldn’t we also imagine there will be prohibitions on how, why, where you spend your greenbux.
Who should ever have that power so contrary to the ideals of liberty.
All- Interesting comments, thanks! And some ‘avenues’ I hadn’t considered.
Ag- Put your comment back in. Sorry…
Third time’s the charm?
“Operation Choke Point” and the damage it did to a bunch of FFLs and firearms manufacturers demonstrated quite nicely that having too few, too large central banks is a really really bad idea and antithetical to financial freedom and individuals having control of their own lives.
“We don’t like your perfectly legal business, it’s icky, so you don’t get a bank account or any lines of credit from the banking cartel. Good luck to you.”
Now there’s a push for digital currency and to go cashless? That gives them massive control over everyone.
Digital currency can have access controls, including granular ones on it. It’s a perfect tie-in to the nightmare of “social credit”. Do what the state tells you to do, otherwise you won’t be able to earn or buy the things you want. Yeah punk, we can shut off your ability to buy food. Now be a good little subject and go along to get along, or else.
A BBC article already talks about people getting “chipped” with an RFID chip so they can conveniently pay for things without having to use a card:
https://is.gd/jR1bvs
Putting all this together:
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
And now the old copy shows up along with the 3rd attempt at posting. WordPress Delenda Est, indeed. *sighs*
Ag- LOL, no problem…
No, I don’t “got a little list”.
Yet. :-》
This is why the government passed that law last year that allows them to monitor ALL financial transactions.
Time to stock up on silver dimes. President Michelle is coming. Digital currency will only increase the black market/bartering and gold has too much value. So will ammo. So will silver dimes for that matter but …
Gonna be a long dark ride.
A friend managed a local airport. He purchased a Beech Baron in Washington State. The owner of that aircraft had been killed when he fell into the propeller after hand cranking the aircraft. The engine was running when he was found, but the FAA told him he couldn’t fly the aircraft back East until it had had a “sudden stoppage” inspection, (even though the engine didn’t stop.)
He waited until the FAA Inspector left the airport, then flew the Baron back to the Midwest. They tracked his trip via his credit card purchases, violated him, and suspended his license for 90 days.
Big Brother LOVES us… remember that.
“They tracked his trip via his credit card purchases, violated him, and suspended his license for 90 days.”
If you’re doing something the government won’t like, always pay in cash.
All- Good points… GB- That’s NOT the only time the FAA has pulled crap like that, or DOT, or some other agencies!
Discussion on another blog about are people oblivious to what is coming. For digital currencies, I think it is worse. To many it is progress and convenience, especially the younger generation. It is like they are incapable of seeing evil or how such an invention might be misused by TPTB. They’ve all been trained not to ask “What’s the worst that could happen?”
As a long time SF reader I do remember stories with digital currency, but now on the eve of having same I now understand what a weapon it is against the little guy. Any system relying on the inherent goodness of man is doomed to failure
There are 4100 Banks in the US.
That is down 30% on the same figure 12 years ago, which could be considered worrying.
HOWEVER… trends are not guaranteed to continue, either in rate or direction (as SVB found out).
A 30% drop is far different from the 99.9% drop that would be required to reduce the number to the four largest. I’m sure that the largest players would love to have the extra business that would come with such a reduction, but keep this in mind.. Conditions that make small Banks unprofitable, also make large Banks less profitable.
Too many of us whine about business being focused on profit, then throw that idea out the window when it doesn’t support their favourite conspiracy theory. (I hear that regularly from vegans who think I can make money from sick, starved and “tortured” animals. 🙄)
Big business often like change and regulation when they are better situated to deal with the changes and compliance costs than their competition… but at the end of the day , Politicians are the ones who make the regulations and they are not giving up that power.
Sure hope that Wells Fargo is not dragged into this financial mess that is going on with the banks.
Where would I transfer my money to?
Any suggestions out there to help me and a lot of other people?
Have a Merry Mother’s Day out there.
Belated addition.
If I sometimes appear either contrarian or “apathetic”, put it down to me being sick and tired of people telling me that I should be scared of the boogers.
I got far too much of it during the Great Covid Panic-demic, and I think there is far too much truth in the claim that keeping up the scare is one of the prime tactics of politicians. Just because I prefer a particular political philosophy, doesn’t mean that those who make their living by publicly promoting it, don’t share that attribute.
It’s why when somebody tells me that we are all going to starve, roast or die of the latest fashionable plague… I go looking for trustworthy sources and historical comparisons.
Apply the common-sense test.
If we are running out of food – as some claim – then explain to me why the price of grain is going down and the forward pricing for next-year’s crop is well below what it was this time last year. What do you know that everyone who actually makes a living from growing, buying and selling grain, doesn’t?
Idiots can talk about greenhouse and nitrogen-fertiliser as much as they like, but they are going to run into a brick-wall of voter resistance when enough people start getting even moderately hungry. Not “starving”, just moderately hungry.
I talk about grain because that’s my industry and I know something about it.
My knowledge of Banking is far less, but it’s not hard to understand that banks are businesses. Not only have Banks been failing since they were invented, but in every business there is someone who would *like* to have a monopoly, but actually making it happen occurs very, very rarely.