MR. FRATTO: Oh, you're talking about, I think, a number of different things. And you're talking about -- I think you're talking about financial markets, but you're also talking about banks. And just to put banks into perspective, when you're talking about depository institutions like banks, those deposits are federally insured. The FDIC has oversight of the depository and thrift institutions with their insurance, and no depositor who had insured deposits has ever lost a dime since the FDIC was created.

Also, I want to put something into perspective. Also, as people talk about failed depository institutions, they are dealing with a challenging environment, but if you talk about those kinds of institutions, some people try to compare it to the savings and loan crisis.

And I'll just remind you, the savings and loan crisis was a very different kind of crisis, especially even in scope, in terms of the numbers of banks, where the numbers of banks that were failing on an average year were between 200 and 300, and as high as over 500 banks in a given year that were failing. And that's not what we're seeing today.

seen at 09:00, 12 September in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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