Sheila Bair believes up to 500 more banks could fail

DJ reports FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair believes up to 500 more banks could fail, a U.S. senator said Bair told him in a recent meeting. "She told us that unless something dramatic happens, we could lose up to 500 more banks," Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., said Thursday at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee on the foreclosure crisis. Bunning said Bair made the remarks in a recent meeting. "That means that people who make mortgages in local places .... people that could really help in a foreclosure will not be there," Bunning said.

I bet this will be conservative - I bet it closes in on 1,000 when all said and done.