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FDIC again
The Bloomberg news wire has a story that Sheila Bair, chairman of the FDIC, has told House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank that the agency will "be requesting authority to increase deposit insurance limits," says Frank. No details yet, but both Barack Obama and John McCain want to raise the insurance limit to $250,000.
The news article also says that New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, the chief negotiator for the Senate Repubicans on the bailout, is willing to consider proposals not only to raise the amount of insurance but an expanded FDIC role.
I smell a deal coming.
About the author
Christopher Farrell is economics editor of Marketplace Money, a nationally syndicated one-hour weekly personal finance show produced by American Public Media.
It was during another financial crisis. It was raised in 1980 from $40,000 to $100,000 as part of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980. Going to the website of eh.net for its inflation calculatior, it's intriguing to note that in $40,000 in 1980 was an inflation adjusted $104,000 now and $100,000 is $265,690. One way to look at the proposal by both McCain and Obama to raise the insurance limit to $250,000 is that they are keeping the inusrance limit stable, but adjusted for inflation.
