Record withdrawals at U.S. banks as Americans lose trust in financial system

Thursday, January 31, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: fractional reserve banking, withdrawals, economic collapse

(NaturalNews) You probably haven't heard much about it from the mainstream media, but the latest figures released by the privately-owned Federal Reserve (FED) indicate that America's largest banks saw record cash withdrawals during the first full week of January 2013. As reported by Bloomberg Businessweek and scant others, account holders withdrew a record $114 billion in just one week, which represents the largest one-week withdrawal sum made in America since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The data, which accounts for all cash withdrawals made from the nation's 25 largest banks, has reportedly shocked many financial analysts who say they are unsure exactly what sparked this minor bank run. Some have speculated that the December 31, 2012 expiration of the Transaction Account Guarantee (TAG) insurance program, which was designed to protect smaller banks from insolvency, may have played a role in triggering what appears to have been a wave of panic withdrawals.

But since the bulk of these withdrawals were made at larger banks that were not covered by TAG, this explanation hardly suffices. Another more likely explanation is that Americans are simply unsettled with the current state of the financial system, and for all intents and purposes are trying to protect their own assets from insolvency. This is further reinforced by the fact that a similar run on "physical" gold escalated around the exact same time, suggesting that depositors are anticipating rocky times rapidly approaching.

"[W]hat surprised analysts is that the withdrawals are from larger banks that were considered safe," explains a report from AllVoices.com about the issue. "Expectations were for depositors in small and medium banks to put their deposits in the bigger banks when the insurance program ended," it adds, noting that TAG's expiration would have logically induced the opposite effect of what actually occurred.

Though many so-called experts are reluctant to admit it as a possibility, this ongoing trend of massive withdrawals of federal reserve notes and physical metal assets from banks and vaults just might be the people's way of responding to the ominous writing on the wall, which does not appear to spell any type of real recovery for America. To the contrary, a perfect storm of attempted gun control legislation, ever-increasing taxes, inflation, reduced wages, and job cuts may finally be getting the attention of a critical mass of Americans, who for too long have ignored the progressive downfall of the financial system.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.businessweek.com

http://www.washingtontimes.com

http://www.allvoices.com