US Banking Turmoil Now Bigger Than 2008 Financial Crisis – But Real Storm Hasn’t Hit Yet: Economist Peter St Onge

Economist Peter St Onge says the current banking crisis is already larger than the turmoil witnessed about 15 years ago – and it’s far from over.

In a new video, St Onge says fallout in the banking sector has now eclipsed the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 in terms of assets wiped out.

St Onge says that investors should brace for more collapses even though the Federal Reserve is saying otherwise.

“Just hours after Fed Chair Jerome Powell told America the ‘US banking system is sound and resilient,’ it fell off a cliff as major regional lender PacWest collapsed over 50% in aftermarket. 

So paired with the collapse of First Republic last weekend, by assets, the 2023 bank collapse has now officially exceeded the 2008 collapse with apparently a lot more to come from this ‘very sound and resilient’ banking system of ours.”

The economist believes the collapse of First Republic and others is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Using the 2008 banking turmoil as reference, St Onge predicts that hundreds of banks will go under in the next 12 months as the economy feels the wrath of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes over the past year.

“What’s scary here is that going by 2008, the early collapses are only the beginning, the screaming prelude to an extinction-level culling of banks crawling off to die.

In raw numbers, the 25 US banks that collapsed in 2008 were followed by a drum beat totaling 440 banks in the following four years. That’s a 110 (banks) per year, compared to two per year pre-crisis.  So we haven’t even begun to see what’s coming.

Interest rate hikes typically take 12-18 months to really hit the economy, and we’re barely six months in. So lining up against the 2008 crisis implies the real storm is not even hitting for another year. These are the first breezes of a coming hurricane.” 

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