The New York Times:
They may be held in low esteem around the nation, but the country's largest banks still wield considerable influence in Washington.
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I am almost 50 years old
May 09 will be the first time in my life that
that I can not make my house or car payment !
I was horrified ! I feel shame anger sadness and I find my self crying in the strangest places
my heart goes out to all of us as a people . we have all been had
the only thing I don,t understand is why do the men who created this horrible mess still have there jobs
and those of us who had nothing to do with this fraud are losing every thing we have worked for
some thing is wrong ! so very wrong
how about every person who has lost there job,s a home health ins because of this banking fraud
we are talking about million.s of people here!!!!
how about walking to Washington and demanding an investigation !!
in to the biggest bank fraud in our history ! and who was hurt by this innocent people who had nothing to do with it
who,s benefiting the same banks that perpetrated the fraud
WHY !!!!!!! are the American people still sitting down for this where is there will to fight for a future for them selves and others like them
Until the Democrats get a sound majority in the Senate, everything to do with fighting the power of the financial industry is going to be very difficult. There are 19 Republican Senators up for reelection in 2010 just replace half of them with Democrats and we will get somewhere.
Since the baby boomer generation retirements have been squandered,
with those dollars lost or in the hands of the banksters,
by either increased fees or other skulduggery
then where will the money come from to get the economy moving again?
Once this generations' funds are all used up where will
the government and Wall St. turn for more?
they stole from our elderly they steal from the young and every one else in between
I guess they will continue till there,s is nothing left to steal !!!
quick hide what,s left lololo
Right now, any and all benefit to consumers from the weak stimulus bill has been gobbled up by increased fees and interest on consumer debt. NONE of that money has gone back into the economy.
If Washington wants to play footsie with the banks on credit card issues, and not bring REAL, substantive reform to the industry, then Washington can kiss any economic recovery they were hoping for goodbye.
To think that they take our (tax) money with one hand while charging us criminal interest and "banking fees" with the other.
Once receiving money from the government, corporations should not be allowed to lobby because basically they are using the money they just received to further influence congress. In times of crisis like this corporations should not be allowed to lobby at all. Perhaps, for all time. It used to be illegal.
No, I don't think it ever was illegal, nor should it be. Corporations, like unions and other interest groups (NRA, NARAL, Sierra Club, etc.), are associations of people who, under the First Amendment, have the right to petition their government.
And it isn't "government money" being used to lobby, any more than a college student getting a Pell Grant and giving $25 to Obama is "government money" being used for campaigns. Banks have other money than just what the government gave them, and lobbying is a part of their normal budget.
Sean Parnell
President
Center for Competitive Politics
http://www.campaignfreedom.org
sparnell@campaignfreedom.org
Recent history has proven it's absolutely foolish to assume that housing prices will perpetually increase at 20% per annum. Why should banks be allowed to assume that they can collect 20% (in some cases I am told 30%) per annum for credit card debt? Our recent "bubble poppings" have centered around highly unreasonable expectations for wealth accumulation.
At one time there were laws against usury. I think it's time we reinstated a few of them. Our federal government needs to take a close look at what is a reasonable expectation for interest rates, and then set a national usury law. My vote would be for a cap at about 7.5%. Anything above that should be considered usury, punishable by prison time.
There should be no option for fines, or "buying your way out of jail." It should be a mandatory minimum of 12 months behind bars. I believe this would quickly level out the "hills and valleys" in our nation's economic health.
I'm certainly willing to read alternative views. Any one willing to offer one?
I like yours. If we must lend at interest, which is bad enough, let's cap it at something people can reasonably be expected to pay. This business of deregulating everything led to usury. Our government needs to be responsive to the people, not the profit seekers. To that end we also need to ban corporate lobbyists and corporate donations to candidates by mandating that all elections be paid for out of a common pool and mandating our elected officials earn nothing more than their specified salaries during their term in office.
But, back to the original point, I'd support a 7.5% cap for any and all indebtedness in the United States. Indeed I would.
Whatever the cap, should interest rates legally be cranked up retroactively? The deal is fixed today and the consumer can't win. This needs to be repaired. This is loansharking, isn't it?
Do I understand this correctly? The banks are fighting tooth and nail AGAINST the ability to change the terms of existing mortgages at the same time they fight FOR retaining the ability to change the terms of existing credit card debt.
That, to me, is a Three-Alarm Hypocrisy!!!
The bit about increasing the price of mortgages also strikes me as odd. Isn't a restructured mortgage with a better chance of repayment more valuable than a defaulted mortgage, especially since many houses are now worth less than their mortgage amounts?
Democrats are not shoveling bailout money at them fast enough.
What are they to do? They need the money.
Nationalize the banks. Tax the rich.
Why are democrats still seding boatloads of money to the rich banksters and corporations?
If we tax them, we'll now be taxing our own money that we gave them!
Thank makes a hell of a lot of sense.
Maybe not the most direct route, but it puts a sop in an economic revolution.
if we could get over 50% of the american people to file for bankruptcy within the next 6 months over credit card debt....that would be brilliant.
It's called a "General Stike".
I loved the idea that someone came up with for everyone in the U.S. to not use credit or debit cards for one day to show our displeasure with the banks. If that doesn't work, then let's go two days and more until they get the picture. I'm already using cash only. It is time to get militant about this. Anyone know someone who can get this moving?
General strike!!!! Pick a day. I am so there.
This is exactly what we need.
The Credit Card Act - www.TheCreditCardAct.com
This is what we have needed for a long time. We are sick and tired of bailing out the banks to only be abused by credit card companies. I'm happy to here that Obama is going to have a meeting with their executives.
The banking profits are simply a smoking mirror. New accounting rules changed everything.
Next quarter, they will be in the red again and everyone knows it.
Why can't the change in the ru;ekeep them out of the red?
Just about everybody I know in the investment business thought the banks would look much better in the first quarter. It was virtually impossible for them to not look better. The accounting change had little to nothing to do with it.
But you are right that going forward could get messy - because of rising commercial defaults and credit-card defaults.
People are getting notices in the mail that their credit card interest rate percentages are doubling. And this is after these banks receive billions in taxpayer bailouts. There's no doubt that the banking system in this country is corrupted beyond repair. We need to start over. I hope it's nationalized for a short time, or that several large banks are allowed to fail. These bankers are criminals.
Yet we keep shoveling boatloads of money over the banksters who are doing this.
Why?
Screw the banks - screw the credit card companies - it's about time the American people has some strict legislation to protect us......
This entire thing with the credit card companies and also the banks refusing cram downs for chapter 13....is turning on the heat. These people just don't get it, with so many people out of work and so many people with no place to live there are going to be huge demonstrations and civil unrest. It doesn't take an idiot to figure it out. I guess that's why they have the army stationed here in the U.S. for the possibility of civil unrest. I was never a conspiracy theorist, but it's all coming true. Very scary.
Yet we keep shoveling boatloads of money over the banksters who are doing this.
Why?
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| 04/22/09 03:43 PM