Quote from PocketChange:
Well... Go visit your local wachovia branch... wait in line for an hour and see how much cash you can withdraw... when the teller states they can only give you a small portion today and to come back tuesday... Draw your own conclusions.
You don't understand. They don't have ALL depositors money on hand... most of it is loaned out to business and mortgages.
If you can't get "all of yours today", it's because they were not anticipating EVERY DUMBASS DEPOSITOR... who doesn't understand banking nor FDIC (nor virtually ANY financial concept for that matter... well, except, "I WANT it... CHARGE IT"), coming in at one time to withdraw all they've got.
If you have to "come back tomorrow", then do so. Unless you've got >$100K on deposit, withdrawing cash confirms you're a TOTAL IGNORAMUS...
Then again, the American political and financial system was built on the concept that we would forever be completely ignorant of financial matters...