Senate bank bill could allow 'too big to fail' banks to grow even bigger

The chain grocery store where my wife and I shop has a bank in it. There's the frozen food section, the bakery section, the pharmacy and ... the bank. It's not even a particularly large grocery store, but there it is. A bank. With a vault, a sit-down area and everything.

I'm not sure how common this is, but it certainly represents the trend here which appears to be rapidly nearing a ratio of more banks than people. Or at least, more banks than McDonalds, Subways, Starbucks, Walmarts and Targets -- combined. That's not an exaggeration. Within short walking distance of my very suburban neighborhood, there are four banks not including the one in the grocery store. Two of those banks are directly across the street from each other.

And, by the way, there are fewer community banks and credit unions here.

With that in mind, I had no idea that there were local laws regulating how many branches a bank can open in a particular states. Oh, and, according to Ryan Grim, Congress and the Treasury Department is trying really hard to undermine those laws.