Letter to the Editor: FDIC's Credibility Crisis

To the Editor:

With a long weekend and likely bank closings approaching, the FDIC's $10 billion cushion could be eroded to a level where the threshold of credibility is pierced. The Wall Street Journal editorialized Tuesday morning that an FDIC fix should be made.

As a shareholder of small-bank stocks, I'm scared that they might be asked to bear the costs of the mammoth FDIC losses to come.

From a public interest point of view, small businesses, farmers and consumers would be ill-served if large FDIC assessments weakened the core of healthy community banks in this country. It also seems unfair given the colossal bailouts of large banks.

Continuing the sort of emergency morality decision-making that has been necessary in this financial crisis, the wisest course would be to immediately inject $100 billion into the FDIC to undergird its credibility beyond doubt and eliminate the uncertainty overhanging the core community banks.

Bradford M. Johnson
President, Heron Hill Corp.
Shawnee Mission, Kan.

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