Saturday, August 13, 2011

Mish's Whopper of the Week

"Bank closings remain elevated. We have had 106 bank failures so far in 2011."

-- Mike Shedlock, here on Friday

The rate of failure this year so far has fallen to 2 per week from 3 per week last year.

Failures year to date number 64, not 106.

Figures reported here in May put costs of failures to the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund through 2010 at $24.18 billion. That estimate is 9 percent more than previously estimated.

Mish thinks this is one among many indicators showing continuing deflation in the economy.

Don't bailouts of this kind get counted as government expenditures accruing to GDP? Counting them as such would make GDP less reliable as an indicator of growth in the economy, but you must admit the number is tiny in a $15 trillion economy, not even 2/10ths of 1 percent.