Bye Bye WaMu

I came home from a mediocre film finance seminar only to learn that one of the banks Matt and I have a secondary account at has completely collapsed in what is being considered the largest bank failure in American History. In American HISTORY. Not just "since the Great Depresssion" or "in the last 50 years", but the biggest IN HISTORY.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune: Washington Mutual, the giant lender that came to symbolize the excesses of the mortgage boom, was seized by federal regulators on Thursday night in what is by far the largest bank failure in American history. Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual to J.P. Morgan Chase. The remainder of WaMu, the nation's largest savings and loan, will be operated by the government. Shareholders and some bondholders will be wiped out. WaMu depositors are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. up to the $100,000 per account limit.