Joint statement by the Department of the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC
Yellen and the FDIC is in a tough spot. This is the important line, "Any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks, as required by law."Thus, on one hand, I'm glad they're doing this, as it should help prevent wider bank runs, and it ensures that banks are the ones that are actually paying for it.At the same time, this is yet another example of changing the rules in the middle of the game. Yellen has just broadcast that FDIC insurance is essentially unlimited, as long as you can threaten wider disruption to the economy.I understand part of this is human nature but I really wish we could plan for these entirely foreseeable events ahead of time so that it's not just cases of "selective justice" with regards to who gets bailed out.