Contributed by Olga Vanucci.
Just the Facts
- In 1984 there were 14,400 banks in the U.S. In 2018, there are 4,800.
- The banking industry got a boost from the Republican tax law, with the corporate tax rate falling from 35% to 21%. Bank of America’s bill to Uncle Sam in the first quarter of 2018 plunged by 26%, even though the No. 2 US bank earned 30% more.
- The tax law boosted bank profits by about $6.7 billion for the first quarter of 2018. Yet banks would still have made record profits of $49.4 billion without the tax cuts.
- Bank of America is worth $293,600,000,000.
- The median net worth of Americans is $68,800, including home equity. The median net worth excluding home equity is $16,900.
Sources: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/USNUM https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/18/investing/big-banks-earnings-record-profits/index.html?iid=EL https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/22/investing/banks-record-profits-fdic-deregulation-bill/index.html https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-average-net-worth-of-americans-at-every-age-2017-6 https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/bac/?p=bac