Power Breakfast: Bank troubles grow, Toyota recall, Delta, AirTran, job losses, China and US chicken

The state’s banking crisis keeps getting worse.

The number of troubled Georgia banks grew to 64 at the end of last year, AJC staffer Paul Donsky reports.

That’s up from 57 in the third quarter and 49 in the second quarter, based on a measure of bank health known as the “Texas ratio.”

The Texas ratio measures a bank’s problem loans against its capital on hand to absorb losses. While regulators don’t release an official list of troubled banks, the Texas ratio serves as an informal misery index that circulates widely among bankers and analysts, Donsky writes.

A ratio of 100 or more means a bank has more problem loans than capital on hand to absorb losses. Topping Georgia’s list: tiny McIntosh Commercial Bank in Carrollton. McIntosh had a ratio of 884, one of the highest in the nation, according to Atlanta-based FIG Partners, a bank consulting firm.

In all, 16 Georgia banks joined the list in the fourth quarter and eight others fell off because they failed.

Also in the AJC:

• Toyota to recall Prius hybrid
• Delta’s traffic is down while AirTran’s is up
• Delta announces pay raises
• Georgia’s export surge bolsters Obama’s trade initiative
• Land in McCar subdivisions could go to auction
• Loews hotel checks in at end of luxury wave

In other media:

• Job losses during this Great Recession to total about 8 million
• China announces anti-dumping steps on US chicken
• Investors fear Europe’s woes may extend global slump
• Top forecasters saw bad times