Nothing saves you like money

Bloomberg.com has an article by Ari Levy and Scott Lanman about American Express, not being satisfied with making money off credit cards, becoming a bank. That will, of course, allow them to cozy up to the gummint and ask for money, just like all the other banks have been doing:

The Fed waived a 30-day waiting period on the application because of "the unusual and exigent circumstances affecting the financial markets,'' according to a Fed statement released yesterday in Washington. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues unanimously approved the plan.
With defaults rising in the U.S. along with the unemployment rate, October marked the first month since 1993 that card companies were unable to sell bonds backed by customer payments. New York-based American Express said last month that credit-card holders failed to repay loans in the third quarter at almost twice the rate of a year earlier.
American Express, the largest U.S. credit-card company by purchases, joins securities firms Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley in gaining "increased liquidity support" as part of a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. American Express said its conversion won't require "significant divestitures".
At least 42 regional banks have received preliminary approval or said they're interested in participating in the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Wall Street Journal reported today that it isn't clear whether American Express applied for financial aid provided through TARP.
American Express rose 16 cents to $24.14 in German trading, after dropping 5.3 percent in New York yesterday. It has tumbled 54 percent this year, the fourth-biggest decline of 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Rico says maybe the Dow will bounce back now, too...