Banks Declare War on America

"F.U., USA!"
New Coalition of Bankrupters Launched:
F U, U & U & F the USA

Where is the fury now? The populists with pitchforks who screamed bloody murder at the A.I.G. bonuses are not saying nearly enough, or screaming loudly enough, about an even more outrageous action by the recently bankrupt banks that have now had the impudence to hike credit card interest rates sharply, even on customers who have always been current in their payments.

The banks have joined together to form an offensive alliance that has, in effect, declared war on the United States, its people, and its economy. An accurate name for this coalition of bankers would be "F U, U & U & F the USA."

Or, more simply, this Bankers Axis of Evil, which includes Citibank, Amex, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Capitol One, could be called by a variant of the name of another of its members, not The Bank of America, but The Banks Against America.

We, through the government aid they received, gave them a helping hand; now they give us The Finger.

I called Citibank when I saw the increase in my rate. The customer representative said to me, "Oh, that was nothing aimed at you personally; we did it to everyone, because of the bad economy." I burst out laughing.

These rate increases--some to as high as 29 percent--are exactly the opposite of what the bad economy needs for recovery. They mean that much larger shares of the income of many people will have to go into interest payments, rather than the new purchases that would help bring the economy back.

Weapons of Mass Depression

These obscene interest rates are the latest in a series of the banks' launches of their Weapons of Mass Depression at the American people and our economy.

By these actions, the perpetrators reveal themselves once again to be not bankers, but bankrupters. Through their greed in the past, they brought their banks to the edge of bankruptcy; through their greed in the present, they are pushing many middle-class Americans to the edge of bankruptcy.

This is class warfare with a twist. It's not a war between the rich and the poor so much as it is a war by the rich against the middle class.

The ridiculous rate increases are probably not even in the selfish interests (the only interests that concern them) of the banks. They are likely to force many more people into bankruptcy and default on their balances.

Their attitude seems to be that if the economy is going to go under, they will go first-class on the Titanic.

The Fed effectively lowers the interest rate that banks pay to zero and the banks respond by raising the interest rates they charge to levels that used to be charged only by organized criminals. We can draw the appropriate conclusion about what the organized bankers have become. The criminal loan sharks of the past have been displaced by "legitimate" loan T-rexes of the present.

The banks' policy is MAD: Mutually Assured Depression. They must be stopped. NOW.

As the American people bail out these bankrupters in their sinking yachts, they throw the water back on us, submerging our lifeboats and drowning us: Soak the middle class. Beat the fingers of those clinging to the sides of the lifeboat.

While Republicans and the Faux News faithful were holding their silly "tea parties" (those who think that spending during a near-depression is a bad idea may also be so deluded that they will think that raising interest rates on consumers in a near-depression is a good idea), the banks have been holding their pee-parties.

This is trickle-down with extraordinary vengeance. What's trickling down on us establishes us as peons--or, rather, pee-ons.

We, the people, through our taxes, have poured sustenance into the top end of the bandit banks, and they have thanked us releasing excrement on us from the other end.

Succor the rich and tell the rest of us to suck on it.

These irresponsible banks tell their responsible customers that an "increase is necessary because times are tough" and that what they euphemistically call "re-pricing" is needed to "reflect current economic conditions."

Do they think we are that stupid? Are we?

Rise up Americans! Open your windows and shout (or, much better, telephone, email, or write the President, your senators and member of Congress, television and radio stations, your newspapers, blogs--and your friends and neighbors) and shout:

"We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore!"

Americans vs. Predators: Demand a Strong Federal Usury Law

President Obama and Democrats (one would hope a number of Republicans, too) should join together to say to the bankrupters what the first President Bush did to Saddam Hussein after the invasion of Kuwait: "This will not stand!"

Let us insist that laws be enacted that establish a federal usury standard at a reasonable rate and that such rates be made retroactive for all credit card accounts. (There will, of course, be howls about the sanctity of contracts, but the fine print that allows one contractor to change the rules whenever he feels like it and to do to the other essentially whatever the hell he wants to should not be considered a valid contract.)

We can call the battle Americans vs. Predators.

A federal usury law with real teeth will be tough on South Dakota and Delaware, but they chose to legalize larceny and they have benefitted long enough at the expense of millions of others.

As we protect our commerce from seafaring pirates off the African coast, let us also reclaim our country and our economy from these land-based American pirates.

{Historian Robert S. McElvaine is Elizabeth Chisholm Professor of Arts & Letters at Millsaps College & author of:

The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941 (Random House) and

Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the "Forgotten Man" (North Carolina).
His latest book is Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America (Crown).}

Comments

[AcitizenNJ]

i have a friend who borrowed money from b of a at zero interest rate. what he just found out that now his loan is at 20 percent. a 513 percent increase above the prime rate. due a oversight of when the contract expired they contacted b of a within 24 hrs and were treated like trash.

b of a in my view is allowed to operate as loan sharks, but when dealing with loan sharks you know what your dealing with. i like to see a run on b of a to shut them down.

[dsws]

"The Fed effectively lowers the interest rate that banks pay to zero and the banks respond by raising the interest rates they charge to levels that used to be charged only by organized criminals."

Are you suggesting that the banks aren't organized?

[mommadona]

WHY won't journalists call this what it is - it is the LARGEST ROBBERY of public funds in our history.

This was BUSHCO's reason for existence.

It was planned.
It is well on its way.

The facts will show this.

[dynwitch]

Suggested reading: Harper's Magazine, April 2009, "Infinite Debt: How Unlimited Interest Rates Destroyed the Economy," by Thomas Geoghegan. The author (a labor lawyer) explains exactly why banks DON'T WANT us to pay off our credit cards: because it's a never-ending oil well for them, of course. The only thing that can rein these arrogant SOBs in is government, and so far the politicians are just sitting around moaning about the "lack of regulation" and doing absolutely nothing about it. For Pete's Sake, propose some laws, already! Where are the new laws???? Are you telling me you can write and pass a 1500-page stimulus budge in one week and yet you can't come up with just ONE law--just ONE!!!--that will put some strings on these guys? Un-freaking believable. A monkey sitting at a typewriter could have done more than this by now.

[marinara]

if usury laws were passed, the banks would have to shrink in size. There could still be thousands of banks, but wall st. would be severely affected, and wouldn't be able to spray money around 24/7.

[grooveygrover]

and so??????

[JPHR]

The Netherlands simply acquired a bank at its very low market value (so indeed shareholders suffered big losses) replaced management, recapitalized and forced a much more conservative style of banking. In a few years that bank will be gradually privatized. Oh and by the way such predatory (credit card) fees are outlawed. Looks to me that in the US ideology and vested (thoroughly corrupt) interests are hampering the implementation of sound policy. Wish you luck, you will need it..

[schatsie]

Wow, a real conservative bank, is that an oxymoron? So sad that will never happen here... we are just whistling down a dark street like Tom Sawyer...

[Ruhal Hazim]

Seems to me that CC companies and banks may be engaging in legal loan sharking because they're scared in "the worst economy since the Great Depression". Imagine a world, similar to what was seen after the Great Depression, where people are so scared of the the "D" word and only spend what they make, keep and meet reasonable and responsible budgets and get themselves out from under the massive collective debt that nearly destroyed them and the economy of this country in the first place... Where, oh where do banks fit in a place like that; how would they make their loot - I mean - money? Now, if a bank were to jack up interest rates so high that a consumer could never effectively get out from under the creditor's foot on his neck, that bank would not only survive but thrive in such an economy.
Now, I know this is a pipe dream & the following statement may belie my total ignorance of the banking system in general and debt laws in particular, but: what if: everyone gave these banks the big F. U. and declared bankruptcy on the same day (are few days)? This time, the banks would burn because no one wants to pay their ridiculous interest rates and they can no longer collect on illegally usurious debt. When the banks face bankruptcy because, the "chickens have come home to roost" as it were, the public doesn't bail them out and we finance our economy without

[TJCole]

The Banksters are our new Overlords a new form of American Royalty, whom we serfs are to serve and be indebted from cradle to grave...

That's the change we can believe in alright...right there...!

[schatsie]

just like the good old Company Stores...where you had to go because of the script and where they overcharged for everything.. CAPITALISM AT IT's BEST.

[TJCole]

Why do you think some of these banks are showing large profits..?

It's from the usurious rates they are strangling America with, some folks having their rates tripled by these banksters and not one word from this president who was supposed to bring us a change...some change higher credit card rates and foreclosures increasing at a frantic pace..!

[williia]

we are living in a banana republic and the representative republic is failing as the banking oligarchs truly control both parties. we need to reframe the debate as it is no longer republican vs. democrat or conservatives vs. liberal or steelers vs. patriots or red states vs. blue states. It is simply
BANKERS AND FINANCIAL ELITE VS. US TAXPAYERS.
http://thebarricadeblog.com/2009/04/11/the-top-10-signs-you-are-living-in-a-banana-republic-and-my-favorite-100-billion-omelet/

[Robert Cantor]

Spot on!

[schatsie]

great link, I want to hear more from Black.

[cylindar]

Neither congress or the president seem to want to do anything about this situation. Yes, it is real bad and these bankers are really bad. They will get the butt kick in the long run however as more people walk away from loans and the credit card industry by not using the cards that much. This will depress the industry and they will have to lay off workers and downsize etc.. Don't expect the government to do anything tangible for the average citizen however.

[vippy]

Take a good look at the revision of credit card bill that congress just did and see why they are not on our side but listened to the banks AGAIN. Vote them all out of office, they don't work for us.

[vbscript2]

It's no coincidence that the largest 2-day drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in its history occurred the 2 days following Obama's election or that the DJIA dropped 200-400 points every time Obama or one of his henchmen got on the air for his first 2 months in office. Yes, that's right. The 2 days following Obama's election resulted in an even larger loss in the DJIA than the Great Crash of 1929. The actual economists know that Obama's economic plans are complete crap. It's time those of us in the middle class figured that out, too.

[clarryr]

It's no coiincidence that the largest 8-week expansion of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in its history occurred in the last 2 months once Obama's economic recovery plan started to show some signs of working. It's time those in the low-class mentality figured that out too.

[WRPrintz]

It's is no coincidence that the forces of Wall Street do not want to be regulated, and thus react negativly when any sane person, who takes over after 8 years of neglect, trys to put things right.

[vbscript2]

In other words, quit spewing your ignorant populist crap and actually try understanding the economy before spouting off about it in an article on a widely-read website. The banks are trying to actually dig themselves out of this mess. They underpriced a lot of credit way too much in the past several years and now they're finally trying a be a little more fiscally responsible (much unlike our current government leaders who undervalued risk too much over the last several years and are now trying to fix it by undervaluing it even more.)

Furthermore, your article conveniently forgot to mention how interest rates on lower risk loans are at record lows. A friend of mine just got a home loan at 4.375%. The difference is that it's a low-risk loan that is actually a good investment for the banks, as opposed to giving such an interest rate to fund high-risk loans, such as credit cards or "subprime" mortgages (a fancy term for loans to people that can't actually afford to pay them back, such as our all-wise government continues to encourage them to make and makes itself via Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac.)

[vippy]

Should I believe you or Donald Trump. I believe you don't know what you are talking about.
Banks are slapping us in the face after we bailed them out and the CEOs still have the nerve
to sideswipe millions as bonuses for making bad decisions. Surley, they saw what they were doing when they practiced that fancy accounting.

[schatsie]

Call it what it is. RACKETEERING...

[vbscript2]

Get over yourselves and your populist crap. Yes, credit card rates are increasing and, yes, it is because of the bad economy. No, the banks are not bankrupt (at least not the ones you mentioned.) However, they need to raise as much money as possible ASAP if they wish to remain not bankrupt, hence the higher interest rates on high-risk debt (such as credit cards.) What got the banks into this mess in the first place was, get this, not charging enough for high-risk loans (and, in many cases, making loans that just shouldn't have been made in the first place.) Undervaluing risk is a bad thing. It leads to very large losses like those seen by almost all of the banks (that did indeed take down a few of them) last year. Personally, I would like the banks to become profitable again so that they can repay all of the money that you and I forcibly loaded them via TARP. That way I don't have to pay it in taxes. Furthermore, if the big banks do actually fail, don't expect the economy to recover anytime soon and don't expect to have a job anytime soon.

[mediamarv]

In the interest of full disclosure, which PR firm are you associated with? Your blather can only come from paid spin meisters (takes one to know one).

Your "populist crap" gave you away.

Credit card rates are not increasing because of the bad economy (another talking point devised at some damage control meeting) but because they know they can get away with it, having cried loudly enough in front of Congressional committees ( and with behind the scenes activities of lobbyists) to fuel a public perception that the fate of the world depends upon the banks not getting the punishment they deserve.

Go away. If I wanted to read pro bank propaganda, I would log on to the banking association's website.

[jcorrington]

Good response Marv, great blog Robert.