Almost two weeks since the last bank failure

Although there is still plenty of bad financial news to go around, U.S. banks do not appear to be in as bad shape as the media and popular opinion would have you believe. Besides the fact that both Citigroup and Wells Fargo are still fighting over buying Wachovia, it has actually been 12 days since the most recent bank failure (WaMu.) Almost two weeks. But for some reason the media leaves you feeling as if U.S. banks were failing every single day.

Maybe the ongoing contentious presidential campaign is also taking its toll on public perception of our financial system.

Sure, a lot of bad news is also coming from overseas and is likely to get worse on those fronts, but the simple fact is that the U.S. is now actually ahead of the curve and more likely to lead the rest of the world out of the financial crisis.

-- Jack Krupansky