Bank Stress Test

A bank stress test shows how well a bank will do if times get tough. It's a financial EKG of sorts. A whole bunch of fictitious scenarios are created, and your bank is put through the ringer. Banks that hold assets of $50 billion and up must submit to stress tests run by the Federal Reserve on an annual basis. The stress itself would come from a run on the bank where some form of panic makes its holders run to the bank asking to withdraw all their deposited cash. It's this panic that almost killed the banking system in the 20's and set off the Great Depression, when everyone lost trust in pretty much everything. The Fed stimulates the economy by loosening stress tests for banks, and fights inflation by tightening those stresses.

They're kind of the Richard Simmons meets Equinox of financial health.