What’s In A Name?

I have been a bit tense these last couple of weeks.

Was it two weeks ago or one that I heard on TV that the bank called Wachovia was going under or being bought or something to that effect.  I would not have batted an eye or cared an iota about that but for the fact that Carol and I have our savings in that bank.  We were impressed by their customer service, and Wachovia, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, was at least the forth largest bank in the country and one of the 50 largest in the world.

I went into a panic because I wasn’t sure what that meant—I mean Wachovia being bought out.  So Carol emailed the person she knows at Wachovia and he reassured us that our savings were completely covered FDIC wise and also SDIC wise. 

So I guess nothing has changed really, just the name for the place that has our money.  I am not sure what that name is yet.  First I heard Wachovia was being bought by the Citi Group and then I heard it was being bought by Wells Fargo.

So no damage done so far.  But I reflect now with some nostalgia about a simpler world and time when I kept my money in a savings account or in a can under my bed.

But still unsettling and befuddling in the context of other banks and lending institutions just disappearing…

And I was upset to hear that the FDIC which is supposed to cover our money in the banks is way short of money necessary to cover everybody’s money and in fact that a month or so ago had to borrow 200 billion or something like that from Europe.  So the institution that is supposed to make sure we all don’t lose our money, should our banks disappear down the debt hole, is itself up to its neck in debt to some strange European people.

The more I read about economics the less I understand and the little I do understand I don’t like. 

Meanwhile the mountains I look at every day look very strange.  The fire burned off everything, and fearful of flooding this fall and winter the authorities brought in some little planes that buzz around the face of the mountains and deposit stuff—a compound I am told of mulch and seed and nutrients that will produce grasses should rain ever hit it.  But we have had no rains and the deposits leave odd yellow, white, and greenish streaks across the face of the mountains.

And, damn, I just saw an article by the BBC about people losing their jobs and living in their cars right here in good old, super-affluent Santa Barbara.

 Things seem odd.

One Reply to “What’s In A Name?”

  1. I’m afraid most of us don’t know when to be afraid. We have no idea what all of this economic “downturn” stuff will do to us, personally. I know I don’t. I’m too busy trying to keep “a roof over my head and food on the table.” I THINK my work is protected but is it? Scary times, methinks.

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