Banking on the Future?

Chevy Chase Bank ceases to exist at the end of this month. On August 1st it will become Capital One Bank ... Ugh! The Chevy Chase name will live on for another year to give customers a chance to get acquainted with the new owners; but next year the name will go too. Bank architecture is designed to instill confidence in its customers: brick walls symbolizing soundness, the columns - longevity, the high ceilings - sanctuary. The whole building gives one the sense that leaving one's money here is a safe and wise decision. It's funny how short lived banks actually are. I've banked at: Citizen's Bank, Suburban Trust, Sovran Bank, Nation's Bank, Friendship Savings and Loan, Metropolitan Federal Savings and Loan, Bank of Baltimore, and a couple more whose names escape me. They all seemed so solid at the time - with their brick and stone. How can they all keep disappearing?

Bank failures have surged this year, already doubling last year's total; unemployment is close to ten percent; home foreclosures are setting new record highs. The dollar is falling as the Federal Reserve prints more and more money; and the Fed's zero percent interest rate policy has made our life savings worthless. The U. S. Government is spending money like there's no tomorrow . Do they know something the rest of us don't? (Using the "like a drunken sailor" simile here would be an insult to drunken sailors everywhere) Auto sales have collapsed and new home construction has come to a standstill. Now the commercial real estate market is in a nosedive. It seems the storm clouds are gathering all around us. Are you prepared to ride out the storm?

Banks are turning in healthy profits led by Goldman Sachs. Unemployment improved again last month; and the housing market has stabilized, with existing home sales posting their third consecutive month of gains. Fast action by the Federal Reserve has strengthened the capital markets, and confidence has returned to the banking sector. The Federal deficit - while high this year - is on a path to sustainability by 2015. A new stronger GM will lead the auto industry back to profitability, and the cash for clunkers program is providing the needed jump start. New home construction is expected to pick up by the end of the year; and investors are pouring money into REITs as they snatch up prime commercial properties at discount prices. It seems the worst of the crisis has passed us by. Are you positioned to profit from this new age of prosperity?

Funny isn't it. The two pictures above were taken from the same location and less than one minute apart. If you look closely you will see the same car at the drive-up window in both images. And the accompanying paragraphs are just compilations of the current headlines available for the day. Two almost identical pictures predicting two vastly different futures. How is it possible in this day of supercomputers, PhD'd economists and just in time inventory, that there is no ability to predict or control our economic future?