Posted 11/08/2008 01:14:00 PM by Douglas

Two more big banks go teats up.

The tally of failed banks in 2008 rose to 19 as the government announced that a Texas and a California bank had been shuttered Friday night.

Franklin Bank, a Houston, Texas-based bank and Security Pacific Bank, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based bank were shut down by state regulators Friday, marking the 18th and 19th bank failures this year.

Is there some irony in these bank failures? I sure hope so.

Ironically, Lewis Ranieri, the 61-year-old co-founder and chairman of parent Franklin Bank Corp., is credited with inventing mortgage-backed securities two decades ago, the AP reported, back when he worked at Salomon Brothers, where he is a former vice chairman.

Wow, so how's that workin' out for you, asshat? Does this mean he has to pay back some of the millions of dollars he's made over the last two decades? But to get a real indication of how bad this is, keep reading:

Prosperity Bank, based in El Campo, Texas, will assume all of the deposits of the failed Texas bank, including those that exceed the insurance limit and brokered accounts. Depositors of the failed bank will automatically become depositors of Prosperity.

A bank in a town of 11,000 is buying out a failed bank worth $5 billion? Sleep tight, American economy.