We have been robbed by the banks again. They borrowed the money based on restrictions to be named later, and as soon as we name the restrictions they repay it rather than live with the restrictions.
- Citigroup (C), recipient of the biggest U.S. bank bailout, struck a deal with regulators to repay $20 billion to taxpayers and escape government-imposed pay restrictions.
- Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. bank, exited the program last week after paying back $45 billion of rescue funds.
- U.S. Bancorp and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — two banks with a large Oregon presence — are among those that said Wednesday they were returning funds they took last year from the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Did we collect any interest on the billions of dollars or did we just get screwed again by the banks?
Do you still have money in any of these banks and if so, WHY?
WAKE UP.
http://ronaldlewis.com/big-banks-biggest-crooks-ever/
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/dec2009/db20091214_757347.htm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121044996&ft=1&f=1006
http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2009/06/15/daily34.html
INFO ON CREDIT UNIONS: http://www.creditunionsonline.com/
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testing
ReplyDeletetesting again
ReplyDeleteOk, now that I can post to this blog....
ReplyDeleteKaren, why do you feel robbed. Bailing the banks out was the right thing to do at the time. We should be thankful that the loans weren't defaulted on and we're actually getting the money back. We probably made a few bucks on the interest, but averting the collateral damage which would have ensued had we allowed the banks to fail is worth more than any interest we didn't get.
So we should focus now on ensuring we get legislation passed that prevents the reckless behavior which caused the crisis in the first place.
Last thing. Having gone through the process of obtaining an SBA loan, I had two thoughts when they announced the TARP program....
1 - DON'T DO IT!!!!
2 - They'll b paying that money back sooner than anyone realizes.
Taking money from the government is the most onerous and intrusive of processes. They lend you the money and then want to control your life.
I'd rather take money from the mob than borrow from the government ever again.
Thanks for commenting Dean. Just like you went through the SBA loan process and "discovered" that the government is intrusive and onerous, the banks knew that when they accepted the bailout.
ReplyDeleteThe banks knew that the money would come w/ strings attached. They have done very little to help restore our banking and economic system, very little to help the general public, and close to nothing to help the government.
The banks essentially got everything for nothing and in the mean time, raised ATM fees, raised banking fees, tightened credit, foreclosed on more homes, paid their executives, fought for more tax breaks, and did everything they could legally get away with to milk the money cow. It now costs more money to bounce a check (DON'T DO IT) than to feed a child for a month through Save the Children. How is that anywhere near acceptable? Where is that money going?
Now that the government wants something in return, banks are suddenly flush with cash and can pay back the money. Where did the money suddenly come from ... certainly not sound investments or profits from the sale of assets.
As for passing legislation, who do you think is writing the banking laws? The lenders and financial institutions that have a vested interest in having regulations passed that deepen their pockets are the ones influencing policy, not the general public.
I'd rather borrow from the mob than a bank. At least with the mob, you have no illusions of trust.
Join a credit union if you haven't already.
Check out what Ronald Lewis had to say back in June 2008.
ReplyDeletehttp://ronaldlewis.com/big-banks-biggest-crooks-ever/
What did the Chinese have to say about out banks recently? Why should we care? After all, then only own a huge percentage of our debt and real estate.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gata.org/node/8117
Karen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pointers. I really enjoyed reading the commentary regarding the Credit River Decision.
But none of this is new news. Anyone who thinks the world financial system is real, or based on anything real is sadly mistaken. Not only is it not real, its not even tangible anymore. Actual physical money represents such an infinitesimally small portion of the monetary system that I don't think there is enough room to print the zeros after the decimal point before you get to the first significant digit.
The vast majority of the worlds money only exists in computers. Pull the plug and erase the hard drives and what do you really have?
Too bad the video isn't there anymore, I would have liked to have seen it. The best line from the Credit River Decision sums up why we are really in this mess: "Only God can create something of value from nothing".
This is the true root of the problems we face today. I said it back in the beginning of the crisis...Our economy is not based on anything tangible. All the money that evaporated never really existed in the first place and was the result of intellectual capital, which is what the banks truly peddle and why the chinese and everybody else got screwed.
Some really smart econometricists (they really are smarter than rocket scientists you know, becasue they get rich even when they fail) made al of this up, sold it to everyone, and cleared out when the scheme eventually collapsed under its own weight.
So the real question is, what would you like to see happen? I hate having debates about what went wrong or what happened in the past or why this ir that was really wrong....sigh!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd rather discuss what you want to do about it.
a - The banks, in collusion with governments around the world, created a huge ponzi scheme based on derivatives of derivatives of derivatives that created a huge pile of intangible nothingness and fooled everybody into believing the stacks of paper which came in the mail each month actually represented something of value.
b - The scheme collapsed. So the banks needed to find new ways to create something out of nothing so they raised fees and continue to screw the sheep.
c - The governments with which they were in collusion helped them cover their asses for a year or so while they scrambled to shore up their books (remember, that's where they create money out of thin air)and begin creating newer, cleverer schemes.
d - and we all seem shocked and amazed!
So what do you want to do about it?
Dean,
ReplyDeleteYou could not more right on so many levels. I'm not taking on the banks anymore. They are too big and powerful and fighting them was killing me. Worse still, the more layers I peeled, the angrier I became at the web of deceit our banks, courts, and other institutions have woven. Angrier still I became at people for continuing to deposit money into Citibank, Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc., bypassing Credit Unions or even forming their own economic co-ops.
What I want is for people to wake up. I want people to realize that:
1. Banks are not your friend. Be a responsible bank consumer. Stop paying them to safeguard your money but instead force them to pay you for using your money. You do that by shopping for the best interest rates, not paying ATM fees (I've paid less than $10 TOTAL in ATM fees since their inception), stop kiting checks, stop paying for overdraft protection ... be fiscally informed and responsible.
2. Credit cards are your enemy. I'll concede that we need one for car/ hotel/ airline reservations, but use it, pay it off, out it aside. Avoid annual fees like the plague they are. No one needs a department store credit card. That's a want, not a need.
3. Understand that your credit rating isn't what you think it is. How many Americans w/ great credit saw their credit lines dropped and credit scores drop as well through no fault of their own ... too many. I'm meeting folks w. 800 credit scores that can't qualify for a home loan. I'm meeting folks who pay bills they did not create in order to protect their credit ratings. Stop playing the credit game and play the asset game.
3. Trying to revive materialism is the wrong answer. We can't spend ourselves out of this recession. We need to get back to creating value. We need to get back to educating our children, taking care of our bodies, caring for our sick and elderly, tending our gardens,and visiting our neighbors. (My apologies to those of you who don't live in Orange County and probably do those things anyway!)
4. Get financial priorities in order. Last week I counseled a woman who is losing her home to foreclosure. Despite her dire circumstances, she still feels like she needs the latest cell phone and was actually ridiculing someone else for having an old, poor cell phone.
Lastly, I want them to recognize that all politics is local. I want people to know their local representative and make their voice heard. I want them to complain loudly about what is wrong, support wholeheartedly what is right, and fill in the gaps where things are missing. Instead of trying to amass wealth, let's create value.
Ok, Now you're talking. With you 100%
ReplyDelete- I have an American Express card and a debit card. Full stop, end of story. I have not carried a credit card with usurious interest rates since 1985. The banks actually did me a favor. I failed to renew a credit card they "gave" me when I was in college and the bank dropped me. When I re-applied, the interest rate was like 18%.....from that day on I said thanks, but no thanks.
- I use a debit card for the convenience of not carry cash, but essentially everything is a cash transaction. If I can't pay cash, then I can't afford it and don't buy it. That's why my cars are each 8 years old, and will make it to 10 before I buy a new set, cash.
- For the flip side of it, please read my note from a while back, The Saga of DeeDee. Should be a case study for this discussion.
- I walked into the bank last week and demanded a refund of $325 in fees they had charged me. It started with them charging me $70 for 2 bounced checks. I had $900 in a particular account. I made a $2000 deposit on a Thursday. I checked to see that my account had been credited on Friday (Balance now $2900, and a printout to prove it). I wrote a check for $1000 on Friday and made a $12 debit card purchase on Saturday. The $1000 check was presented on Monday. On tuesday they bounced the check and the debit card transaction. They said I only had $900 in the account so they bounced the $1000 check, then that caused them to bounce the $12 debit transaction at $35 each bounce.
- So I not only made them refund the $70 in stolen fees, I made them review every account. Turns out they've been doing this to my wife and she hasn't told me. I made them give it all back to me.
Good for you. I would take it one step further and demand that they write letters of explanations on official letterhead to the parties whose checks were dishonored. The bank manager will do it if pushed ... I have the letters to prove it.
ReplyDeleteThe last thing you need is someone you do business w/ on a regular basis refusing to accept your check due to the bank's error.