by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

The balance sheets of America’s banks are packed with bad loans and bad investments, and that is really bad news for all of us because the banks are the beating heart of our economic system.  Without the loans that they provide, we would not even have a functioning economy.  So the health of our banks is of paramount importance.  Today, there are more than 4,000 banks in the United States, and maybe a few hundred of them could be considered healthy.  Most of our banks fully understand that they are in really deep trouble, and they are feverishly trying to avoid the same fate as Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank.  The following are 3 things that troubled U.S. banks are doing as they scramble to survive…