Farewell, National City Bank

71% of National City shareholders voted to approve a takeover by Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank, thus placing the final nail in the coffin of Ohio's largest bank, founded in 1845. National City survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II, but ultimately could not survive the surfeit of toxic mortgage backed securities on its books. 

As a condition of the sale, PNC-Nat City will be required to sell 61 branches in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. The merger will create the nation's 5th largest bank by deposits. It is also sure to put thousands of greater Clevelanders out of work as the combined bank probably will not need two headquarters a mere 130 miles apart, and sure to rob Cleveland of another Fortune 500 headquarters after having already lost TRW to a merger and OfficeMax to relocation in the past few years. 

I remain outraged by the golden parachutes being paid to the Nat City executives who drove this bank into the ground, and the way that TARP funds are being used to provide the grease for this merger. Our taxpayer dollars are being used to put thousands of Ohioans out of work, and that is something to be pissed about now matter what your political stripe.