Louis,

Thank you for posting your comments. This is exactly the kind of response that causes the reaction you so fear. For those reading, please consider, a run on banks the way Louis describes it, would have to be en masse all at once, with all of our leading institutions going down. With the first round of stress tests on banks behind us, there are sound banks out there. Example: KeyBank. Let's keep things in perspective.

I commend you for your strong contribution of facts about what HAPPENED in the past but I would ask you not to be like so many others: we need solutions, suggestions, ideas and advice not cut and run strategies.

Last I would also comment that you speak more about the economy and wealth than you do about the real purpose of the article, whether you view it as Pollyanna or not, fear and blame are for those who are not serious about solving our problems.

I believe dialogue is the key to the future; this forum allows dialogue. Let's keep it going

@Darrell, no, I didn't see the story you're referencing, is it on Biznik or can I find it someplace else?

@Joe, would be great to catch up, let me see if I can get over to the Fish Cafe tonight. any chance the function will go longer?

@Deb, Betsy, Madeline - thank you for your nice remarks. Please pass the article along - the real purpose is to help people remain focused and informed.

@Betsy Moore - I just attended a meeting with some folks from DC on the economy and the effects housing, credit, and the stimulus plan will have. Good news - there are a few of us that believe that by the 2nd or 3rd quarter we could be seeing some clearer skies. But we will also be seeing a much higher level of regulation coming back, and most likely we will look much like Canada when this is all over with....whew! what a ride.

@JR - very interesting perspective on the bankers left behind when a bank fails...thanks for lifting this up.

Hey, Joe! That's awesome! I've been watching everything you're doing with Eastside Entrepreneurs, and I'm awed! Really, because of you we have pride, thank you!

Hey Rick. Weird. It just happened to me too. Try going directly to the treasury website: www.treas.gov and then click on the right sidebar, called Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, and a bunch of additional links should come up. You're looking for the one called Transactions, scroll down til you see it....

Let me know if this works.

@Betsy - you are such a dear. Thank you for the nice words...Kel

Wow, great information everyone...here's some more.

@Peter - great point about acquisitions, some banks are hoarding the cash for this very reasons. There's been a lot of talk around linking a bank's lending growth to a satisfactory/ non-satisfactory rating for acquisitions, like a CRA rating, where a bank can't acquire anyone if their rating is poor. Also, the fine print on the TARP requires that the government be checked in with on acquisitions. One of the things I didn't mention here, is to be aware of whether your bank has massive amounts of lending in the construction real estate arena. Banks are taking gobs of write-offs right now and more to come in this stuff. This is a part of the reason for the acquisition alert, it is widely believed that come the second quarter of this year more banks will be on the chopping block because of those loans. Most banks have just announced earnings in WA state, so do go check it out with your banker to ascertain the health of the bank.

Last comment here - the good news is that we have another $400 billion in TARP to dole out. And lawmakers are very well aware of your comments, Peter. Watch for an accounting measure to be imposed shortly. Here's the listing of banks that received TARP money:

http://www.treas.gov/initiatives/eesa/docs/transaction_report_02-02-09.pdf

@Kate - Thank you so much for your helpful comments. Kate is absolutely right. If you have NO other credit or the little credit,16K, she referred to, or just got your very first line of credit, do not cancel those cards. I'm really grateful for the clarification. Many of us have the regular MC, VISA, AMEX, with pretty high limits, and have really old $1k or $2k limit credit cards. If that's your case, my advice holds. Cancel 'em and help the US liquidity system.

Regarding anyone who is a homeowner looking for support, I found this terrific website, but it was too late to put it in the article: www.hopenow.org

@Rick, I can't stress enough how important it is to find an SBA lender who does ALOT of these loans. They get it and you won't get the run around. Either they can do the loan, or they can't and you'll know pretty quickly. Right now, US Bank leads the pack across the nation and was one of only three banks to report a growth in their lending in the last quarter. The others were SunTrust and BB&T. These banks are open for business. Good luck.

Alas, Jim, you are correct. Far less likely to get help if you have a huge equity base. Although there should be some refi ability that maybe can get the cash outlay down to a reasonable base... argh! Maddening isn't it?

Words of insight, wisdom and courage, Jack. It's just wonderful. I wonder how many of us are 'falling apart' right now?

Is it pride that holds us back from asking for help? Is it denial?

Let's be a community of givers...in whatever form we can

Happy New Year!

I love the sentiment of the post, and can join you all in creating those positive thoughts that will carry us through. I wonder, though, isn't it so easy to place blame? The moneychangers, the rulers of our exchange, are not the only group of people worthy of a 'shout out.' Indeed, every single one of us that watched as 'normal' behavior - 'responsible' behavior lost its appeal, and riskier choices were made, we all jumped in, feet first, and deserve to be called out for our complacency. Just my 2 cents.

Hi there. Thanks for this post. What was helpful to me is how you used each platform. What I've just begun to develop for myself and you mention in your post is a strategy for using and interacting on each one. Didn't know I needed a strategy, but between time suck and low ROI, a strategy was definitely needed. Thanks for sharing yours.

Be well, Kelleen

Scott,

Thanks, I too think your article is packed with some great advice. However, I'm still waiting for the article Dan called for, HOW will the current situation affect small business.

I'm a 20 year veteran of the banking industry. I was a consultant and small business banking expert for the last 5 years and consulted with banks all over the world. The first thing that's happening, and we predicted this 5 years ago, is that our banking institutions need to consolidate. NEED to consolidate, we didn't know how that was going to happen, but we knew that there wasn't enough business to go around. So something had to happen. The greediness of some in the banking industry catalyzed this process making consolidation inevitable, and the weakest links fell.

Ray of sunshine: Nobody's talking about how strong Wells and JP Morgan are, how giddy Bank of America is to be gobbling up these former competitors. But they are. I'm not saying that they're happy this crisis is falling on the shoulders of the American population, they're not, but they are delighted to pick off competitors like it was a Thanksgiving Day turkey shoot! (apologies to animal lovers) Look for more of that to happen.

In 5 years we will look like Canada's or Australia's banking systems - 5 or 6 major national banks, about 30 in the next tier down, and then a drop off in numbers.

Why is that important? Massive amounts of cheap credit have been available to Small Business all the way through to Medium sizes then to large corporates, because there are so many options to getting cash. It's been our fuel, the engine behind this country. When the availability of cash dries up, the growth of the system dries up. If you can't borrow it, you can't create it or grow it. Basis tenet of finance: cash is king.

Case in point, when the regulators changed a capital definition in 1990 requiring huge amounts of additional capital be held in reserve, that sparked off a chain reaction throughout the whole economy, lenders couldn't lend, borrowers couldn't borrow, and those of us who are old enough remember we went into a - you guessed it - major recession. Major credit crunch.

Same thing here. Banks, all banks, are taking write offs right now, are struggling to adjust their capital calculations, because of this rampant and somewhat irrational fear. By adjusting capital allocations they no longer have as much money to lend as they did just yesterday. Credit crunch. (WaMU went down NOW, because people took 16.7 billion dollars of deposits out of the bank between Sept 1st and Sept 15th. There is NO WAY a bank can cover that capital call, so by design, by law, they had to be seized.)

Okay, so, if the businesses I mentioned above can't get their juice, in the form of a line of credit, a revolver, or term debt, they can't grow. If they can't grow then the people on this list, in what is referred to (by bankers, mind you) as the micro segment, mom and pops, or SOHO market, will feel the pinch IF their major market is to these types of companies.

If you're a solopreneur, who's "store-front" is a talent, like consultants, contract workers, massage or other therapists, technology workers, you're a knowledge worker and you'll be fine. Not rich, not taking extravagant vacations, but fine. You may be impacted by a lower home value, or less money in your stock portfolio, but you're fine. Same for bakeries, retail stores, anyone focused on the consumer. You'll see a pull back, and Scott's article is great advice to help make it through, but you'll be fine. Remember banking is the second oldest profession - it ain't going anywhere.

If however you sell up the food chain, there should be a re-thinking of your strategy over the next few years.

Not a panic, a rethinking.

There is so much mis-information out there, I wanted to jot down a few comments quickly and hope this helps.

If anyone wants to discuss this further I'm happy to share what I know from a banking perspective.

Be well, Kelleen

Didn't know about Stumbleupon! Thanks for that, and Josh, great post as well. I don't Twitter yet, but it seems like many of you do. I'm off to figure it out. Thanks, Kaya. Be well.

Fabulously! You've done it again. I would add to your comment about 'what we need now: an awareness that we exist.' I absolutely agree that WE need to be aware that we are here, but corporate America has already been tracking this growing segment partially, by following the LOHAS market, as Alana mentioned. 10 years ago the stats showed the LOHAS market accounted for $226 billion, and that was only for natural and organic products. Services weren't even included. So what's that number today, $500 billion, $700 billion - maybe the size of the whole financial services bailout package! That's an impressive powerful group. Not woowoo, not crazy, not "fallen off the track"....Concerned, consciously living citizens.

I LOVE this! Tara, thanks for shining some light for all of us in service. I discovered the LOHAS market definition quite by accident about 5 years ago when it was mentioned in a strategic business plan for a client. I was amazed; I completely identified with it. Fast forward to today, I've morphed my own personal coaching company around the concept. Thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention. Be well, Kelleen

Apologies, I have been away from Biznik for about two months, mostly because I've been ill. I'm now jumping back in and I'm concerned over this chain of comments.

Has flame become the norm here? I joined Biznik about four months ago because it reflected the type of people described in the innerpreneur articles.

I hope that hasn't changed.