kane

The little mom and pop types banks that didn't allow themselves to get into the sub-prime mortgage game are doing just fine. I bank at a small credit union that never issued even one sub-prime mortgage and they are doing better than ever. The problem with the little mom and pop banks is that many of them tried to jump into the sub-prime game and got burned and unlike the big banks they don't have a lot of assets or credit lines or big powerful friends to fall back on.

But in a sense you are right. The big companies are buying up all the small companies in every market, not just banking. When I was a kid the town I grew up in had 2 doctors offices with 2-3 docs in each. They were a small town privately owned thing. There were also two pharmacies in town and they were owned locally as well. Now the town has grown and there is another pharmacy and another doctor's office, but all of them are now owned by big chains. Near me a local Chinese food place just closed down then re-opened a few months later as happy panda ( a Chinese fast food chain.) The town I grew up in also had 4-5 little convenience stores that also sold gas. I worked at one of them when I was in high school. They used to all be independently owned and now every one of them is owned by a major chain. It is kind of sad to see the big companies taking over everything in the country and making it one big generic strip mall.