Banks are going under faster than extras in Titanic.  Financial institutions are changing hands so rapidly; the only people making money are the companies that print business cards and letterhead.  Every morning the newspaper reads like the opening chapters of Grapes Of Wrath 2: The Wrath Of Grapes. Well, our friends over at Tech Crunch have a great way to make our economy circling the drain more fun.  It’s Bank Madness!

That’s right, simply print out the bracket below and start your own office pool!  JP Morgan Chase scored an upset in Round 1 by taking out Bear Stearns.  And they continued their reign of terror by destroying Washington Mutual.  Well, technically I think WaMu destroyed themselves.  But Morgan Chase was there to claim victory.

That wasn’t the only upset in Round 1.  First-seed “Bail Out” was taken down by the U.S. Congress.  It wasn’t even a contest.

It’s been an exciting time.  Who’d have guessed that the only thing that could run faster than Wachovia were its customers?  Not Wachovia, that’s for sure. 

But don’t rule out the U.S. Federal Reserve.  This time last year they were just a referee.  But even they got caught up in the action.  I haven’t seen the lines get this blurred since the last time the Harlem Globetrotters were in town. 

So print out your Bank Madness Bracket and let the fun begin.  And the best part it, thanks to the sinking value of the dollar it doesn’t even matter if you lose.  Those scraps of paper weren’t worth anything anyway.  You might as well be using Confederate currency.  

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