I am just comparing then to now. What everyone forgets in all their Great Depression of years back comparison to todays recession is credit. In the late 20's and early 30's people made purchases only when they had the money. There were no credit cards to max out, and nobody was "underwater" with their mortgages, or for that matter weren't even close when it comes to loan/equity ratios. People back then put 25-30% down on homes, whereas up until the banking crisis of today, people could buy a home with nothing down. Going into this recession most people were in debt up to their eyeballs. Thats probably the biggest reason of the housing bubble. Some even went as far as refinancing their homes for as much as 125% of their homes value, so they could could use the extra cash for cars,boats,vacations etc. You are right........there is/was a banking glut, just like the Drug store glut where there has to be 2 on every busy corner. Now they are closing the weaker stores too. If the banks would have just stuck to banking, maybe there wouldn't have been a glut, but the banks had to get into securities of every kind, and built more and more branches. Now they are closing and being taken over by other stronger banks, but not without a cost. The 5 that closed this week will cost the FDIC $400 million. Sooner or later the little guys tax money is going to pay for this as the FDIC is almost broke. Just my opinion............thanks. I guess a lot of people ar overreacting. Better times right around the corner. ( I hope)