"Official bear market", that is what was said on the major news shows tonight. Now a growing number of average American citizens, who have some sort of savings tied to the stock market, are becoming worried. They have witnessed the declines in their statements for many months now, but now it is on the TV.. "official bear market". Now they start to wonder if they should pull their money out of the market. The older the person is, the more afraid they will be, as they have lived through the damage of a bear market before. The younger generation, not being experienced with the markets, thinks that they don’t need to be worried and may just leave everything alone.

The older a person is, the more money they are likely to have invested, or otherwise tied to the stock market. And the older and more experienced people will want to protect their money.  So with the stock market "bear" declaration being one of the top stories of the day, it is likely to create a new wave of selling in the markets, as these people cash out their investments before they lose any more. It will not happen overnight, or all at once, but over time we will be witness to more and more average investors pulling their money out.

I can assure you that all across the United States there are banks and financial institutions biting their finger nails, taking stress pills, and downright afraid of what is to come. For they KNOW that a bear market making the headlines on the major network news will bring more people to their doors wishing to cash out their investment portfolios. And they are already putting together a strategy of how they will convince their customers to leave the money alone, and with them.

Banks are already facing a capital reserve crisis never before seen in history. The chart below shows how much money banks have had to "borrow" from the Federal Reserve in order to meet their mandated capital reserves requirements. It is a scary image.

(Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve)

Banks are doing everything they can right now to get more money from the general public. Everywhere you look now you see advertisements for high yield CD’s, free business checking, $500 for opening a new savings account, etc.