Washington Mutual employees maintain that their bank was still solvent
until after the news media caused the run on bank deposits that
ultimately destroyed the company. I saw it on television myself.
Before the Run on Washington Mutual there was the Senator Charles
Schummer inspired run on Indy Mac. For years and years the FDIC
deposit guarantee was spelled out on signs in bank Lobbies across the
nation and every account opened at every US FDIC insured bank had the
deposit guarantee printed on forms to open accounts. Watching CNBC and
Bloomberg I was amazed that even these financial new experts seemed to
be encouraging bank runs as if it were some new fad or popular sport.
The more thought given to what happened in the collapse of Washington
Mutual the more the blame seems to point to the news media. I am
wondering why there is no lawsuit against the news outlets on behalf
of Washington Mutual share owners who lost money. Watching Bloomberg
and CNBC it seemed their reporters and journalists seemed to have some
idea that there was some time limit that Washington Mutual would need
to sell itself off to another financial institution. Why a time limit?
Since when did the army of international short sellers have a cause to
destroy a financial institution if it did not sell it self in less
than 7 days? The whole exercise made no sense. Some might call it
existential absurdity.