Bank of America Struggling to Survive

Bank of America is clinging to its spot on the lower end of the major bank ladder. Times have been turbulent for the century-old bank from California.

Recently, the Allstate lawsuit levied against Bank of America for its involvement with the Countrywide scandal has been dismissed based on the judgment that Allstate did not provide sufficient evidence of Bank of America intentionally setting out to defraud Countrywide's creditors. This victory for Bank of America may have a profound impact on future handling of the Countrywide fiasco and the accountability held for the mismanagement by Bank of America there in. It could also be one of the few major victories within the sea of losses.

Bank of America recently reported an earning of $2 billion for the last three months, however, this is largely in part from selling off their China Construction Bank. The running trend within Bank of America's profiting appears to be more related to the selling off of assets that it is actual banking.

In an effort to cut costs, Bank of America has been tirelessly working on selling all major properties with the exception of the headquarters in New York City and Charlotte. On Tuesday, the Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta will be sold in open outcry auction. This withdraw from most of Bank of America's headquarters is believed to result in dramatic negative impact on the cities it will be giving up. Additionally, an estimated 30,000 employees within Bank of America are suggested to be laid off within the next few years.

Amid the 5.6 million people who have collectively withdrawn from the banks in the past 90 days, there has been a 20 percent increase in accounts being closed with Bank of America from the attempt to impose a $5 monthly debit card fee.

Consumers aren't the only people leaving the bank. Paul Morrison, the second among the high-ranking executives in Bank of America to defect to JPMorgan, has been assigned the position of overseeing the compliance for consumer and business banking, credit cards and mortgage banking businesses. David Owen, former head of online banking for Bank of America, moved to JPMorgan as a chief financial officer.

The future of Bank of America is uncertain. Will it share fates with the Lehman Brothers or will the extensive downsizing allow it to recover from being saddled with the straw that broke the economic worlds back?