In the latest effort to prop up a sector of the finance industry, federal regulators on Wednesday guaranteed $80 billion in uninsured deposits at the powerful institutions that service the nation's credit unions -- a maneuver that shows how the economic crisis continues to ripple across the U.S.
Regulators also injected $1 billion of new capital into the largest of these wholesale credit unions, U.S. Central Federal Credit Union of Lenexa, Kan., after the firm on Wednesday posted an unexpected $1.1 billion loss for 2008. U.S. Central serves essentially as a main clearinghouse for the others in the network.
Peacenik's memory is slightly longer than a couple or hours, or days. Peacenik remembers when credit unions were safe. Peacenik remembers when credit unions were immune to the financial meltdown. Peacenik remembers when the financial pundits were saying credit unions were ok. It wasn't that long ago. Peacenik now wonders if there is any segment of the economy that can survive without a bailout. And when politicians and pundits say some part of the economy is ok.....Peacenik thinks they are lying. Does this make Peacenik a bad person?
