So, Washington Mutual just failed. Perhaps you do you're banking with them, and you were wondering how their closure affects you? I was. My wife keeps most of her savings in an account with them. So we looked up the answer on wikipedia.
And guess what? If you're an ordinary Washington Mutual customer, nothing changes. Your account has been already transferred to JP Morgan Chase. But your ATM card still works. Your money is still there. Your old checks still work. This isn't your grandfather's bank failure.
And do you know why? Because government works!
This is exactly what the FDIC always does when a bank fails. They seize everything, and sell off the business to other banks. Today, they had a buyer ready the moment the seizure happened. That's how it usually goes. No body gets their account closed. No one has to wait for an insurance check in the mail. Customer service doesn't get interrupted. Hell, the name on the bank building doesn't usually get changed for a few months.
So, please: Don't talk trash about government inefficiency, or withdrawing all your money. It sucks that WaMu went down, but no one has to worry about losing our savings accounts, or not having access to them. The FDIC has that shit under control. So just sit back, and decide at your leisure: Do I want to do my banking with Chase? What are my other options? And take a minute to appreciate the wisdom of the men who wrote the Glass-Steagal Act, and the fellow who signed it. Isn't it amazing that we can have the largest bank failure in US history, without so much as a service interruption?
Government does work, if you do it right.
[Edit: I may have gotten a crucial detail wrong. There are conflicting reports in the press about whether this deal was brokered by FDIC or the Office of Thrift Supervision. The latter was established by the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, passed in the wake of the Savings & Loan Crisis. So you can thank FDR for the general security of your bank accounts, but you'll have to acknowlege Tip O'Neill & GHW Bush for this particular act. So, no nostalgia-muffins for you!]