There is no FDIC fund. There are only IOUs in it signed by Uncle Sam.

When the FDIC receives its insurance premiums from banks, it invests them in US bonds (what else can it do?). Uncle Sam then spends the money it borrows. It is long gone. When the FDIC needs money, it will redeem the bonds. Uncle Sam will then have to borrow. The budget deficit will then rise.

Shades of the empty Social Security trust fund.

Don't say that!!

Well, I hope that statement is just dead wrong, but I don't think it is. Does it not sound like our loopy system?

There is a difference, as some people are now sadly finding out, between institutions that are FDIC insured and those that are not.

Money markets and stocks are not FDIC insured.

While I am no financial wizard I know that. Life is, as we all know full of risks, people who take bigger risks sometimes reap bigger rewards, and sometimes they fall on their faces.

I guess if you are a big money investor, who greases the rails properly you get bailed out...but if you are a regular Joe trying to keep a roof over your families head you are S.O.L.