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BANKING SYSTEM COLLAPSE IGNORED
In August 2008, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced that
the Integrity Bank in Alpharetta had failed.
That was the beginning of a tsunami—caused
by the bursting of the real estate bubble—
that has swept away a large portion of
Georgia's banking industry. In the 32 months
since Integrity Bank collapsed, the FDIC
has shut down 60 other state banks, mostly
because of bad loans made to developers and
contractors.
When the wave of failures began in 2008,
there were about 300 banks chartered to do
business in Georgia. In less than three years,
20 percent of those banks—one in every
five—has failed.
The General Assembly has done
very little to address this crisis.
There have not been demands
from legislators to create a
special commission that would
investigate the banking morass.
There has been no push to beef
up the budget of the state bank
ing department so that it can do
a better job of identifying problem
banks.
In the district of one legislator, at least
four of the local banks have been closed since
the failures started in 2008. You would think
that such a development would be troubling
to any lawmaker. This legislator has the power
to do something about it—he's House Speaker
David Ralston.
In the most recent legislative session,
Ralston co-sponsored resolutions commend
ing the Georgia Peach Festival and observing
the anniversary of Mary Mac's Tea Room. He
did not introduce any bills or resolutions
that would have launched an investigation of
Georgia's bank collapses or required the state
banking department to be more diligent in
monitoring bank activities.
No other legislator or executive branch
official has shown much interest either in
getting to the bottom of the banking crisis.
Of course, several of our elected officials are
compromised on this issue. Gov. Nathan Deal
borrowed $2.4 million to invest in his daugh
ter's failed business venture in Habersham
County. One of the banks Deal borrowed from.
Community Bank 8< Trust of Cornelia, subse
quently failed.
Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers and
Congressman Tom Graves are being sued over
allegations that they defaulted on a $2.25
million loan from the Bartow County Bank.
That bank was shut down by regulators less
than a month ago.
Sen. Jack Murphy sat on the board of direc
tors of Integrity Bank, whose collapse was the
first of the wave of bank failures. Murphy
is being sued by the FDIC, which has
accused him and other bank insiders
of gross negligence and breach of
fiduciary duty in approving risky
loans.
Murphy currently sits as the
chairman of the Senate Banking
Committee, which has not called
any hearings into the state's bank
ing crisis. When the FDIC lawsuit
was filed last January, it was sug
gested that Murphy should step aside as
banking committee chairman. He refused.
On other issues, legislators have been
quick to act. There have been numerous com
mittee hearings held and bills introduced to
crack down on undocumented immigrants.
Lawmakers who want to get tough on immi
grants cite the figure of $2.4 billion as the
amount of money that undocumented immi
grants have cost the state. According to FDIC
data, the 61 bank failures in Georgia have cost
the deposit insurance fund an estimated $8.6
billion. That's more than triple the economic
impact cited as the reason for cracking down
on immigrants.
The banking mess represents a massive
leadership failure by our elected officials, but
few people know about it or seem to care. It's
as if it never happened.
Tom Crawford lcrawford@gareport.com
THIS MMIIH WiKLI
THE TOP
SECRET
100% TRUE
STORY OF
GEORGE W.
BUSH: TIME
TRAVELER!
WHERE IS THE •■TICKING TIME.
BOM3"? X WANT ANSWERS NOW.
I GO NT KNOW WHAT
YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.'
BUT I 00 KNOW WHERE
OSAMA IS PLANNING TO
SET UP A SAFEHouSE-
IN FIVE OR TEN YEARS'.
AT A CIA "BLACK SITE" IN 2002
GEORGE W. BUSH?? WHAT—?/
THE ovAL OFFICE, APRIL, 2011,
i r «->STEW CLOSELY! I‘M
FROM THE YEAR 2002 —
AND THANKS TO THE
! L UNAMBIGUOUS SUCCESS oF
my INTERROGATION
, POLICY, X KNOW WHERE
YOU CAN FIND BIN LADEN.'
by TOM TOMORROW
SHORTLY THEfCEAFTER...
EXCELLENT WORK, EVERYONE.' BUT
REMEMBER--NO ONE CAN EVER
KNOW THAT X WAS HERE.* DONT
LET THAT STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER IN
THE ROOM UNTIL THE TEMPORAL
DISPLACEMENT SUBSIDES!
NEXT STOP: THE U.S.S. LINCOLN
APRIL, 2003/
HEH heh; IF YOUR VIEW of TIME
WASN'T SO PATHETICALLY LINEAR,
YOU'D UNDERSTAND HOW TRUE
THAT BANNER REALLY IS!
6 FLAGPOLE.COM-MAY 11,2011
T*M 1«MeRR«W©20ll ...www.thlsmodennworld.com.,.twlttor.com/tomtomorrow
