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The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday: Bank branches are vanishing across the country, and San Francisco is having a record-testing year. Twenty branches shuttered across the city through Oct. 28, according to data from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The closures — from the central Richmond District in the west to Mission Bay in the east, from Fort Mason in the north to Bayview in the south — add up to more than the previous two years combined and represent the most in a single year since at least 2000. … All over California, 277 bank...

With news this evening that the Cypriot banks will not now be re-opening tomorrow (as perhaps - as we noted earlier - a little more of those precious deposits leaked away during the closures than expected): CYPRUS BANKS TO REMAIN CLOSED THROUGH MARCH 27: CENTRAL BANK We thought it useful to consider Cyprus in relation to the longest bank closures in history. Cyprus has now shutdown its banking system longer than Argentina, Ecuador, and Uruguay and as far as President Anastasiades comments that capital controls are temporary - we can only hope for the depositors sake - that it's not...

From early 2007 through the end of 2010, the Democrats had strong Majorities in -- and control of -- the US House of Representatives and also the U.S. Senate. Both are chambers where laws and policies that affect the economy are created and shaped. The following table shows how the Democrat Congress performed on average during its four year tenure, vs. the average of the previous four years, 2003 through the end of 2006, when Republican were at the helm: Issue/Topic Democrats Republicans Jobs by Year - Average -1,583,000 +1,672,000 Jobs by Month - Average -131,916 +139,333 Unemployment Rate -...

Regulators shut banks in Maryland, Illinois, Florida and Utah, pushing the number of U.S. failures to 26 this year and placing more pressure on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to dispose of a growing pile of toxic assets.

La Jolla Bank in the San Diego area was among four banks shuttered by authorities Friday, bringing the total to 20 financial institutions closed since the beginning of the year.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/01/14/president-wall-street-we-want-our-money-back-and-were-going-get-it Home • The White House Blog The White House Blog The President to Wall Street: "We Want Our Money Back, and We're Going to Get It" Posted by Jesse Lee on January 14, 2010 at 03:59 PM EST Read the Transcript | Download Video: mp4 (137MB) | mp3 (6MB) Discussing Wall Street executives' reaction to his proposed new fees on major banks, the President delivered a simple message: "Instead of sending a phalanx of lobbyists to fight this proposal, or employing an army of lawyers and accountants to help evade the fee,...

Calif. Bank Becomes 99th in US to Be Shut in 2009 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS October 16, 2009 NEW YORK (AP) -- Regulators shut down San Joaquin Bank in California on Friday, marking the 99th failure this year of a federally insured bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of San Joaquin Bank, based in Bakersfield, Calif. It had $775 million in assets and $631 million in deposits as of Sept. 29. The FDIC said the bank's deposits will be assumed by Citizens Business Bank, based in Ontario, Calif. Its five branches will reopen Monday as branches of Citizens...