1) No, it didn't. Citi bought the banking assets of Wachovia.

2) This has already been posted in the appropriate venue: http://www.newmogul.com/item?id=470

I went to Wachovia on Saturday to withdraw some money and they actually had a mini run on the bank.

They actually ran out of checks to issue to customers! It took them over an hour to actually get more checks so that they could pay people.

It's clear that our financial system is simply unsustainable. What happens when all of the big banks have been rolled up into one, and that one super-bank is on its last legs? Nobody will be around to buy them.

The folks who didn't get into the fancy stuff, such as Wells Fargo and many of the regionals, are doing quite well.

True. I'm mostly talking about the unbelievable amount of money that exists purely as debt, thanks to the investment banks and central banking in general. A return to more conservative banking is all I really expect... but not without some major casualties.

There's always the Saudis, or another rich foreign group...

Well there goes my bank. Oh well, at least it didn't fail or anything and my account is always insured by the FDIC, although I'm not sure how one would go about collecting that insurance.

You won't need to - your deposit will just eventually be with Citi.

FDIC is a joke. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FDIC

Just because you're insured up 100k doesn't mean the 100k will be worth that much when you get it. Printing money and giving it to people doesn't fix the problem. color me cynical