The plot is so familiar that it has become interwoven into the nation's culture — George Bailey saved from committing suicide by a guardian angel, the evil Mr. Potter, the endless sacrifices made by George for family and friends and of course the frantic rush to make things right at Bailey Building and Loan before the bank examiners can find something amiss.

It's a movie filled with old fashioned ideas. The way things have gone in Georgia of late, you have to wonder if the concept of poking and prodding bank examiners might be one of those notions from a different time as well.

Given that the nation has seen its economy fall off a statistical cliff in the past couple of years, it's no surprise that the banking industry has had its share of financial woes. According to the FDIC, 130 banks had failed in the nation this year as of Dec. 4. A disproportionate number of those, 24, have been in Georgia, which leads the nation in this particularly dire statistic.

Of the 24 banks closed in Georgia in 2009, 20 were chartered by the state, which means the assurance of their solvency was the responsibility of Georgia banking regulators.

That banking in Georgia is volatile right now certainly is not surprising, given the phenomenal boom times that many local economies in the state enjoyed for much of the past two decades. Some Georgia counties rode a wave of prosperity that lasted for years, as residential properties escalated rapidly in value and commercial holdings were solid gold for investors.

The rapidity with which the real estate market collapsed left many banks holding commercial property loans and residential mortgages that suddenly were in default, and like dominoes marked with dollar signs bad loans led to weakened banks, with the weakest of those showing up in turn on the FDIC's failed bank list.

But there is more to the story. During those boom years, banks sprouted around much of Georgia like spring kudzu. There was money to be made, and the state regulatory agency responsible for oversight of the industry and the lawmakers whose job it is to author regulatory legislation were more than willing to support a Wild West style financial frenzy.

In too many instances banks were allowed to gamble too heavily on the promise of constantly rising property values, even though there was ample evidence that eventually the bubble had to burst.

Some banks developed too cozy a relationship with specific high rolling customers, and as a result backed too many questionable loans. Others tried to grow too fast, without the underlying financial stability of "old money."

Now local communities are paying the price. Upheaval in the banking world makes it harder for deserving customers to get necessary loans, reduces the amount of competition in banking which can lead to higher fees and poorer service, and, despite the reassurances of all involved, leaves customers worried about their personal financial status.

The problem in Georgia is too pervasive to simply be blamed on a bad economy. Other states enjoyed remarkable economic growth as well in recent years, but they aren't home to 18 percent of the failed banks in the country.

State leaders have to take a hard look at existing regulatory oversight, as well as current state banking laws, to ensure that financial institutions in the future have more solid underpinnings than have some of those of the past. That's the common sense thing to do, but so far those responsible for managing the state have generally been silent on the idea of any serious banking reform.

There are systems in place that prevent bank closings from being the catastrophic events that once destroyed local communities and personal lives. Those banks that have failed in Georgia have been taken over by other institutions that were more financially sound, but even so there are repercussions. With each closure there are lost jobs, changes in customer relationships, revamping of financial obligations and the elimination of competition.

Thanks to the FDIC, most of those who were customers of failed banks had no cause to fear that their money was lost and could not be recovered.

But those smooth transitions can't be allowed to mask a problem that needs to be addressed. Once the economy begins to move again, we need to have faith that the state's banking system is sound, and that those bank examiners so feared by George Bailey are, in fact, doing their jobs.

"Where's that money, you silly stupid old fool? Where's that money? Do you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison. That's what it means. One of us is going to jail -- well, it's not gonna be me," yelled George Bailey at his bumbling Uncle Billy once they realized what the bank examiners might find.

If more financiers in the state felt similar fear for Georgia's regulatory agency and legislative mandates, its long-term economic foundation would be more sound.