Call to Decision

From Kimberly Dawley

5-10-8

The collapse of ANB Financial National Association is significant.

Population of Bentonville, Arkansas is 19,500 people .... And Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Bentonville IS Wal-Mart !

For the past four months, Wal-Mart (Bentonville, Arkansas) has been canceling (Tip of the iceberg:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-Norman/wal-mart-cancels-45-super_b_94112.HTML) almost all of their (major) corporate projects into the future. We know the magnitude of Wal-Mart's financial dilemma directly from its internal (attorney) legal "dropped project memos" and "Real Estate Committee reapproval memos."

Wal-Mart press releases and media news reports to the public are disingenuous.

Over 700,000 Chinese exporters / manufacturers (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/95f406ee-fc69-11dc-9229-000077b07658.HTML) are now refusing to accept U.S. Dollars as payment for products for retail sales. Wal-Mart's on-shelf stock numbers have been significantly reduced. Merchandise quality is now marginal to bad and in many cases becoming unavailable as prices skyrocket with broad spectrum factors coming together to create an uncomfortable sales environment. Wal-Mart's total overhead is becoming unsustainable we believe.

August 2005: Two years ago -

Wal-Mart estimates that utility expenses rose by $100 million in its second quarter (one three month period), when it also spent $30 million more to truck merchandise from its U.S. Distribution centers to stores. Those additional costs add up to almost 5 percent of Wal-Mart's second-quarter profit of $2.8 billion.
http://wakeupwalmart.com/news/20050825-reut.html

Bank Failure In Arkansas

May 9, 2008
ANB (Arkansas National Bank), Financial National Association, 706 S Walton Blvd, Bentonville, AR 72712-5751
Federal regulators close Arkansas bank ANB Financial
Friday May 9, 8:45 PM ET
ANB Financial banks closed by federal regulators over 'unsafe and unsound' practices

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- Federal regulators says they've closed ANB Financial National Association banks after discovering "unsafe and unsound" business practices there.

David Barr, a spokesman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Says many customers served by the bank's nine locations had accounts under $100,000, which will be fully insured by the government. Barr says customers can continue to write checks and draw money from ATMs through the weekend.

Barr says Pulaski Bank and Trust Co. Agreed to assume control over ANB Financial's bank locations, which will be open Monday.

As of Jan. 31, federal regulators say ANB Financial had about $2.1 billion in assets and $1.8 billion in total deposits.

It was the third closure this year of an FDIC-insured bank. Douglass National Bank, a Missouri bank with $58.5 million in assets, was shut in January; another Missouri institution with assets of $18.7 million, Hume Bank, was shut down in March.

Both were dwarfed in size of ANB Financial, where regulators found lax lending standards, mostly for construction and development loans for projects in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, as well as Arkansas.

Observers have been watching for signs of bank distress resulting from the mortgage crisis. Profits at federally insured U.S. Banks and thrifts plunged to a 16-year low in the fourth quarter as institutions set aside a record-high amount to cover losses from sour mortgages.

The FDIC is planning to beef up its staff, including temporarily hiring up to 25 retired FDIC employees who worked in the agency's more than 200-person division that handles failed banks. They will handle an anticipated increase in bank failures.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080509/bank_closed.html?.v=4
www.rense.com/general81/ark.htm