Posts
The banksters are going off the rails. Now that the federal treasuries of the US and other countries have saved their slimy butts, they are deciding they are entitled to get away with everything. Here are some examples:
USA Today 10/21/09:
Latest bank fee is for paying off credit card on time every month
Bank of America is leading the way on this one, charging between $25 and $99 for some customers who pay off their cards on time. Citigroup is charging people who don't use their card for a minimum amount of $2400 per year.
The banksters even have a way of retaliating if you decide to get rid of their cards: you get punished with a lower credit rating if you do it.
From the Left 10/21/09:
Credit Card Offer Comes with a 79.9% Interest Rate
This is a true story. How can the banksters get away with it? A while back, the US Supreme Court ruled that regulations on credit cards only could be applied by the banks' states, not the customers' states. The banksters responded to that ruling by moving to places like South Dakota and Deleware where they don't have any rules on maximum interest rates. Congress still hasn't passed national credit card regulations that stop these astonishing interest rates.
Guardian 10/21/09
(Hat Tip: Citizens for Legitimate Government)
Public must learn to 'tolerate the inequality' of bonuses, says Goldman Sachs vice-chairman
Here are two truly infamous paragraphs:
In remarks that will fuel the row around excessive pay, Lord Griffiths, vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs International and a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said banks should not be ashamed of rewarding their staff.
Speaking to an audience at St Paul's Cathedral in London about morality in the marketplace last night, Griffiths said the British public should "tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity for all".
Why didn't that asswipe bankster just say, "Let them eat cake"?
British banksters can be just as repugnant as ones here in the good old USA.
The Question of Nationalization
There was a time when I was strongly opposed to bank nationalization. But, we have taxpayer bailouts and exorbitant fees going towards grotesquely large and completely unearned bonuses for banksters whose base salaries are astronomically and undeservedly high. How can people can money shoveled at them for almost destroying the world economy through their greed, incompetence, and stupidity?
Is nationalization the only way to finally put a stop to all of this disgusting corruption?
Photo: wot nxt
The banksters are the pirates of the new millennium.
The corrupt (the rich, Wall Street, bankers--whatever you want to call them) hold all the political power, by buying off politicians, and we don't seem to have a way to stop them. Democracy has failed because of capitalism gone wild.
Goldman Sachs is preparing to pay out $21 billion in bonuses this year alone.
Yes, that's "billion" with a "B."
Meanwhile, 19,000 financial jobs are being lost on the Plantation each month.
What the hell am I missing here?
I'm not sure that nationalization is the best solution, but at the minimum, the banksters need to be broken up into much smaller banks and heavily regulated. Too big to fial = too big to exixt.
The financial industry has taken over our lawmakers. It's really quite sad to think about. The people who make our laws in this country and who are supposed to protect Americans from irrational greed are also being paid by the very same people they are supposed to protect us from. How sad indeed.
and cheney talks about dithering - how about the entire congress dithering about bank regulation.
this all started with Phil Gramm (who truly might be the most repugnant person ever born in this country) pushed through the elimination of glass steagall.
charging for paying off on time. fuck the FICO score - i am tearing up all the cards. Chase just sent me one - I DIDNT EVEN ASK FOR IT!!!!!
Of course. The bailout went to pockets, not people. Unreal.
Lew: Yeah, they are like pirates.
Liberality and Rene: You make a great argument for public financing of campaigns.
Christopher: There are so many examples of bankster corruption it's tough to keep track.
TomCat: I'm not sure about nationalization either. The counter argument to what you are saying is that private banks become so inherently powerful that they get around any kind of regulation. I'm not sure who's correct.
Distributorcap: Thanks for bringing up Glass Stegall. Just don't forget Bill Clinton's role.
phil: Yep, they should have bailed out the mortgages, not the mortgage paper. It would have been a cheaper way to save the banking system, and it would have helped ordinary Americans too.
TomCat: I'm not sure about nationalization either. The counter argument to what you are saying is that private banks become so inherently powerful that they get around any kind of regulation. I'm not sure who's correct.
Neither am I Libhom. I would hope that if we break them up into small enough banks, they would not become that powerful.
Pitchforks and torches... like in all of the Frankenstein movies.