Washington Mutual

Here I sit in 1929.....wait.....I mean 2008 and happen to be a customer of WaMu. I wake up this morning to find WaMu is the number one new story as the largest bank failure in U.S. history. Needless to say, that made my day. But all is not doom and gloom - JPMorgan Chase bought WaMu on the cheap for 1.9 Billion. Since the government seized WaMu and sold it to Chase, Chase did not have to cover investor losses, which amount to millions if not billions. And, they are going to unload around 31 billion in mortgages as well. This purchase will actually go in as a positive for Chase in 2009.

Now I am not an investor in WaMu, just a little bank customer that has his paycheck put in twice a month by direct deposit. WaMu/Chase is stating all is well for us little guys and the banks opened today business as usual. The point is I really did not want to be a Chase customer. Chase has been in my area for several years and I have checked out their services. I decided to stay with WaMu. Chase is not bad but now I have to decide if I want to stay with them or find another place to bank. WaMu had excellent services and maybe Chase will also.

It is sad that WaMu floundered. My wife and I wondered about WaMu over the last few years as it seemed that there was now a WaMu branch on practically every street corner. Within 2 to 3 miles of where I live, I can bank at 4 different branches. Pretty convenient to say the least. And there are 2 Chase branches just as close. Now you know some of those will have to shut down. More people out of work.

My wife and I opened our joint account over 19 years ago when it was Home Savings of America. Then the named changed to Savings of America. 17 years ago Savings of America was bought by WaMu. Our account just kept moving along with the changes. In all those years we have had great service. I do a lot of the banking in person even though I could do it over the internet. I like the interaction with the bank personnel. Another great advantage was when a mistake was made or I made one, I had a personal relationship with the Bank and could get things worked out. Even on errors I made I could get some compassion and have charges reversed.

With the debate on the Great Bailout going on, this is just another part of it to me. It seems like America has gone crazy concerning finances and now we collectively are going to pay a huge price for national greed. I follow the news and commentaries very closely and it is obvious that the bailout is a split issue. Many voice yelling do it, many voices yelling don't do it. I don't know. We obviously have a huge mess going on, my bank being just a part of it. You know something has to give - we already saw that in the home mortgage industry and a couple of large insurance companies go under. WaMu is the second major bank to fall.

No one is saying this in the news, but I think one of the major factors of this crisis is that this country no longer honors God. God has blessed this nation richly and today's culture is doing everything it can to exclude God from all aspects of our lives. And don't forgot the American Holocaust being perpetrated against the unborn. How long will God bless a nation that behaves as our does? Did not Israel receive judgment for their line of corrupt Kings? Something to ponder.