McCain Confused (again) About Commercial Banks

Swamp: Among the comments Sen. John McCain has been making in response to the Wall Street carnage has been a curious line that leaves the impression that Americans with plain-vanilla bank deposits are at risk.

On CBS's "Early Show" this morning, McCain said: "We need to make sure that every person whose bank deposit--has made a bank--a deposit in a bank is insured."

On ABC's "Good Morning America" this morning, McCain told Chis Cuomo: "...And we're going to fix -- make sure that every American who has a deposit in the bank that they are -- that they're deposit-insured."

McCain may be leaving the impression with some voters that their deposits in commercial banks aren't insured.

But bank deposits are insured, of course. An individual saver can have up to $100,000 in a single institution and it's insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. This was one of the most important New Deal initiatives. The savings of those with money in commercial banks aren't at risk.