The banksters are at it again – screwing over the poor
By louisehartmann
As banks have once again returned to making pre-recession profits – thanks mostly to their taxpayer bailout – they’re once again preying on the poor with subprime lending. A new report by Experian shows that credit cards lender handed out 1.1 million new credit cards to people with damaged credit in December of last year. That’s 12% jump from just one year ago.
The banks prefer those with low credit because they can jack up interest rates as high 29% - and charge endless over-the-limit and late fees. Every year – banks make tens of billions of dollars on just fees – not interest payments. Targeting the poor to maximize fee income is not responsible banking – it’s predatory banking.
And today, banking makes up nearly a quarter of our entire economy. That means an entire quarter of our economy now depends on screwing over poor Americans. We need to break up the power on Wall Street – and create an economy with a strong manufacturing base that can once again support a middle class.
Comments
#2
Well Thom, we can ALL manage without credit if we adjust our material wants of life. Many of the poor use credit for day to day living like food and shelfter, as I have many times. What troubles me is Direct Deposit which is over-taking the whole system of payment for Gov't to employers. No bank account - no money - no option. THAT, to me - is the truly dirty deal!!!!!
#3
I'm not sure if I understand what you're trying to say, Nuula. Direct deposit requires a bank account.
#4
Mathboy I think that was Nuula's point.
Anyway since the Daily comments section is still not up, I'll put my general comment here.
In regards to Thom's recent call in which he proposed to the caller that if someone is being chased by someone else, the person being chased has a right to turn around and punch the chaser. I have two problems with this scenario, 1 what is defined as a chase? 2 punching someone is assault, as far as I know there is never a case of initiating justified assault.
Good lord by Thom's loose definition of having the right to punch someone chasing me, I guess I can turn around upon anyone following behind me on a sidewalk and punch them. I don't think there is such a right... at least I hope not.
Though I also don't think Zimmerman should have the protection of law after following someone, intimidating them and then shooting for whatever type of response that brought on. I don't care even if Trayvon did have a gun on him, Zimmerman had already violated Trayvons public safety by tailing him and accosting him.
Frankly I don't think Zimmerman is going to be found guilty of anything since the law does pretty much protect him. Fact of the matter is, the public demand should be for the repeal of this ridiculous law so wack jobs like Zimmerman are held accountable.
N
#5
I just can't parse the incomplete, unconnected sentences. I'd love it if Nuula elaborated a bit. There's probably a good point in there somewhere.
The chase thing is that Trayvon couldn't lose George Zimmerman by walking faster. And the stand-your-ground law is what would let you punch the guy that chases you, because you'd be "standing your ground". I keep thinking of the line on South Park, "He's comin' right for us!", which the hunters always yell so that they can immediately shoot whatever they want.
#6
Wally George wasn't a satirist, he was an extreme right wing nut. If you watch his show, it is easy to see why some would think it might be satire.
Mathboy, is that a legal definition of a chase?
N
#7
Hey Mathboy,
If they find Zimmerman not guilty what happens then? If the facts turn out that Martin doubled back and attacked Zimmerman while he was returning to his vehicle, what then? If Zimmerman stopped following Martin, as the 911 call seems to show, and was returning to his vehicle after looking for an address to spot his location for the police, as he was asked to do by the 911 operator, and was attacked by Martin, as the witness told police, does this not then come under the stand your ground law? If these turn out to be the facts of the case, will all you whack job libs who have jumped to convict this guy before the trial say you're sorry? I doubt it. It's not okay for vigilanty justice against blacks? But it's ok against whites, or white hispanics. What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty with you libs. I thought justice was supposed to be blind, and that means color blind as well. One more question, does that make Obama a white black? Just asking.
#8
"is that a legal definition of a chase?"
No, but it's the argument I would make in court. I might have to include turning some corners, just like in movies when someone thinks they're being followed in traffic. But when the following person pulls a gun against someone who's walking faster and faster away, it demonstrates that they didn't just happen to walk in the same direction.
#9
Wow, Real World, you're really attributing a lot to me that I didn't say. Why are you addressing this to me?
The problem with the stand-your-ground law is that everything falls under it. You and I could pass each other on the street, and I might think you look threatening and you might think I look threatening, so we could pull guns on each other when nothing was really going on in the first place. Mutual suspicion becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. At the very least, the law needs to be repealed.
#10
To Mr "The Real World" what an unbelievable genius you are, I'm truly impressed by your argument, especially the last part where you point out the obvious lack of people being able to apply "Innocent until proven guilty". Your make a very excellent point and a lot of people should take that principal to heart... starting with people like... oh I don't know GEORGE ZIMMERMAN!!!!
N
#11
Yes, we can do without credit. I don't pretend to know much about finance, however, about 15 years ago I decided that paying my hard earned money in the form of interest was a little stupid.
I made a decision to finance nothing else. I also figured out that buying a home was a bad choice. Soooo.... I have not paid a penny of interest in 15 years. I have savings accounts for expensive things like cars, appliances, furniture and electronic gizmos. Just takes a little discipline. If I can't pay cash, I don't buy it. Sure, you can get by without credit and you are better off if you do.
#12
Maxrot, if the scenario I laid out turns out to be true, you know a man is guilty when he's on top of you pounding your head on the concrete, and at that point you have every right to defend yourself.
#13
Then the law in Florida is very different then in my state. To be able to defend yourself with deadly force you must be in a situation where any reasonable person would have a fear of great bodily injury or death. Two people in my town have recently died from being punched in the head, so it's very reasonable.
#14
Well that's a mighty big IF. Like IF George had actually fought back before grabbing a gun he probably would have knocked Tryavon off him. IF he had a hand free enough to aim and shoot a gun, why wasn't he able to clock him upside the head. IF you weren't a right wing crank, maybe you would have some better arguments then someone else's regurgitated talking points.
BTW no matter how you play out the scenarios... they always have to begin with the fact that George Zimmerman initiated contact. I'm sure Zimmerman thinks that the story of being attacked by Trayvon physically is quite a worthy reason to shoot him... probably why he fabricated it. Unless there are medical records or photos of these supposed injuries that have yet to be leaked, and that doesn't even pass the laugh test, such info would have been leaked long ago.
Funny how you didn't address the innocent until proven guilty hypocrisy of your argument.
Well go ahead and just pivot to another talking point, the people who do you thinking are so clever.
N
#15
Without going into detail, yes we could manage just fine without credit, in fact I've never paid a penny in interest on a credit card in my life. This said, I also realize that because there are no real restrictions on how much a job creator can siphon, "steal," from his wealth creators, "employees", especially in non union settings, it's pretty hard for many working people not to rely on credit just to get by.
#16
How did we get from banking to Travon?
I think nobody really understands how horrible fractional reserve banking really is. Do you understand that every bank in the country essentially creates 9 dollars of new currency from every dollar they take in as deposits or borrow. Since we are no longer on the gold standard every time a new dollar get created it lowers the value of every other dollar out there.
If a bank has 10 milloin on its books it can loan out 100 million of money it dosn't have in the first place. Thusly creating new currency that never exsisted before. This means that the value of your $10,000 deposit was just reduced in value by 90%.
Don't even get me started on the ridiculous fees that banks can charge because theres no oversite! They are allowed to regulate themselfs. I recently was awarded $91.00 in a class action law suit against 5/3 bank which was juggling the overdraft order of checking accounts as to maximize the fees they could charge. $91.00 from over $1000.00 they stole from my account.
To big to fail...I think they should be broken into little pieces like Maw Bell. There to big to succeed.
I went to the mall on a Saturday with my family. I didn't spend a lot. No more that $150.00 but it was spread out over 20 charges. $5 here $8 there. Here comes 5/3 and instead of processing the charges against my account in the order they were recieved they switched the bigest charge first (a check I forgot about that hit the next day after all the other charges hit) so all the rest would bounce. $39.00 a pop times 20. Plus a minagery of other bogus fees. All tolled... over $1000.00 in fees.
You can keep big banks.
#17
Break up the banks !!
#18
I believe that we have all been had by the credit, insurance, real estate, and banking system. Most of us could very well do without credit cards and spend only what money we have. Credit, borrowing, is the trap...the spider web..the black hole that entraps us and then sucks us dry with interest.
The credit spin meisters have psyched us all into believing that credit is necessary. In fact, it is not necessary, it is merely a convenience...if you can afford it. If you cannot afford to pay for convenience then you should avoid it. How can it be in one's interest, if one is having such a hard time affording the necessities like food, clothing, housing, etc., to add on to those expenses the 20-35% interest fees? Oh, yeah, I forgot, you just have to have the latest electronic toy...cell phone..or big screen TV! I can't wait to see the long lines waiting to buy the new iPad Phantom...the one so small...it's invisible!
The casino capitalist predators use all the psychology in their arsenals to get people to act against their own best interest by making them want things they can't afford, then to borrow money they can't afford to pay back with exorbitant interest charges. And then they turn right around and blame the victims for being suckers. The whole credit business is a scam...and they get you to believe that you absolutely need to have a good credit score. Problem is that when you have a good credit score they inundate you with junk mail wanting you to invest with them, or sell you something or other.
And I agree that fractional reserve banking system is totally criminal. What a scam! And Thom is correct...we need to bring manufacturing back to the US and I believe we need to slam shut the doors of the FIRE economy...that is the other big scam that is ruining us all. Finance Insurance and Real Estate all based on scamming people.
#19
I wonder what's to doubt here. Thom's and Louise's point here is, banksters tend to tempt low-educated, gullible people. And this leads to more social erosion, we cannot wish!
Here we need strict laws again and BIG GOVERNMENT to regulate banks have to mind whether their customers are solvent and able to pay credits back. Or would you like to see ripped off more houses and people ending up homeless?
We have to stop this erosion, it makes our economical situation worse. We can talk a lot, but basically I'm waiting for a progressive change in Congress after November. And the surest change is by progressive votes.
#20
We're pretty much held hostage by our credit score aren't we? Potential employers can check this and disqualitfy you for a job if your credit is bad. I wonder when this happened. Why should I, a person with an excellent loan payback history, continue to be forced to hold and use credit cards (or take out a loan for a new car, etc.) when my diminished income won't sustain such use? I'm trying to be responsible in lean times, but am being punished instead. I think this is really crazy.
#21
All businesses are profit driven the banksters are no exception.This is because we have an economic system the purpose of which is to generate profit(PROFIT SURVIVAL MENTALITY).
From the duel illusions of Insufficiency and Disunity our economy emerges ,we are all separate from each other and there is not enough to go around ,this is why 5% of the people hold more than 80% of the world,s wealth and resources and greed has allowed us create a society that functions this way!!!!
Right now on Earth we believe that there is not enough to around so we compete and hoard stress and strain and kill and die for this fallacy.
There is enough of everything that we think we need ,to be peaceful and happy upon this planet.There is enough of everything we need to survive,the manufacturing of poverty with the tool,s of greed is a creation of our own devise.
Do you think life could create insufficiency for the continuation of life ,Humans are so arrogant in there beliefs and are so blind by there understandings,we have blinded ourselves with greed and cannot see our own headlong fall into the abyss of our own creation.
There is enough for EVERYONE all we have to do is not abuse the resources and make them available for all of us and provide opportunities.
We can do this were we to LIVE SIMPLY SO OTHERS MAY SIMPLY LIVE.
namaste
#22
Clarissa do you know why we need regulation from a government of by the people ?because in a highly evolved world there would be no government because ,they understand that they are all one,so self govern.
Humans are not sufficiantly enlightened for this so some kind of government is necessary until we do naturally what works .
We cannot legislate morality we cannot mandate equality .What is needed is a shift in collective consciousness not an enforcer of collective conscience .All behavior all laws and government programs must spring from beingness,it must be a true reflection of who we are .
All life is spiritual ,and therfore all of lifes,s problems are spiritually based-and spiritually solved.
The only hope of our planet is that we are not seperate but everything is intrinsically connected,irrevocably interdependent,interactive,interwoven into the fabric of all life.All government,all politics ,must be based on this truth.All laws must be rooted in it.
That is why i keep repeating that we are all one for this is truth and the rest is illusion ,do we wish for the illusion to continue ?
#23
Talk about throwing out wild scenarios based on nothing that has come out so far. You leftist's aren't wired right. Liberalism is truly a disease. You can't discuss things with mentally handicapped people. Have a good day.
#24
So instead of a thoughtful counter argument, you'll end with name calling.
Yeah you're wired to the right obviously.
N
#25
You can't have a thoughtful argument with someone who isn't thoughtful. You've convicted this man already so why waste my time.
#26
Humans invented government to control the chaos of greed and brutality. They had to, since they flat-out suffered too much. People just have to learn, it doesn't work without government. Libertarian dreams of a world without government are childish -- it leads back to nothing but chaos. History shows, humans actually get this by the experience of pain. Americans seem to learn slowly, so it probably takes more pain to make them get it. The question is how much of our own chaos are we able to take...
Other countries are already regulating corporate greed. We just have to look there, it works fairly well. Even in Christian-Conservative governed countries like Germany.
What is "regulation from a government of by the people"?? If people voted for Bush, this was government voted in by the people. You cannot claim the government makes mistakes, but the 99% are always right. No, "we the people" make terrible mistakes too. The common sense isn't always right. And if we vote in the wrong representatives, because we are careless and don't watch out enough, we have to blame ourselves.
Americans have to learn, they're responsible for their votes and non-votes. Non-voters are the last to complain!
A better system as our Congress has not been invented yet. We have to organize the political differences of 313,343,000 citizens, which is impossible to imagine. Don't anybody tell me this is changed easily and they have an idea how to easily reorganize it.
#27
So now you want to devolve to "no I'm not you are" type of arguments 'The Real World'? Well I'm glad you did a good job of convincing yourself of being right... at least that's one.
But go ahead and move on, no one is asking you to waste time anyway.
N
#28
Government is to protect the weak. Your "handicapped people" simply need to be protected by law. Same goes for children and old people who can't help themselves. Anything else leads to a society just as humane as cannibalism.
You know, there are even people out there who would legalize murder. Let the strongest and meanest decide who has a right to live. Libertarian ideas exactly aim in this direction.
The insane presidential candidates are all to see in the Republican Party. Whoever doesn't get these people are entirely insane, need their heads examined. This already proves your queer right-wing propaganda bunch of hooey.
#29
Why does a right-wing extremist wast time on a liberal blog? What do you expect? You guys are really very gullible, naive people. That's why you always vote for those right-wing nuts. LOL
#30
Clarissa, read a book on Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Castro, or any other totalitarian and see how giving government too much power always ends up. We "right-wing extremists" believe in the power of the individual. We also believe that with that concept comes sociatal responsibilities. You "naive" left-wing extremists want us to become subjects, we prefer to remain citizens.
#31
Today's GOP is fascistic -- you're standing for a fascist organisation. So Hitler's not far from you. My campaigning concept very much bases on the Keynesian policy of the conservative Christian-Democratic Angela Merkel. No socialists, just a conservative lady, successfully governing in Germany. You guys are hicks who don't get anything cuz you live under a rock -- that's all.
You phony 'liberty'-braggers. You for example deny MY liberty as woman. You are a bunch of liars and you know that!
You better not go into European history with me my friend, you only make yourself ridiculous. I read original sources.... even German middle-age, which 99% of the Germans don't understand.
Just try..... LOL
#32
Liberal fascism by Jona Goldberg, read it if you dare. Your just a progressive elitist like Thom, (I mean who spells the name Tom with a h for crying out loud, oh yeah, an elitist), who thinks they are smarter than everyone else. What you don't realize is your beliefs don't mesh with the real world. And by the way, this whole "war on women" is a distraction trumped up by the liberals because they know they can't win on their record. It all started with George Stephanopoulas asking Mitt Romney if he would deny woman birth control at a debate when no one was talking about it. He took his marching orders and followed through. When I run into people like you it reminds me of Jimmy Carter, a man who is very intelligent but has no common sense. A fellow serviceman who served with him said he was the smartest man he'd ever met, didn't have a lick of common sense to apply it to the real world. You elitists remind me so much of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, If you had to survive without us "liberty braggers" you'd never make it.
#33
By the way, you have not copyrighted LIBERTY. I'm for LIBERTY too!
People who enjoy LIBERTY are free to be LIBERAL. It belongs together. You right-wingers are just stingy, odd and crazy. More and more Americans start seeing you through these days. It's really too weird and even rednecks with lowest education are getting that.
#34
Your free to be whatever you want, we don't care. Thats what you liberals don't get. We just want to run our businesses and raise our families without progressive government intervention. It's funny but in the real world, the one in which you don't reside, liberals want to control others more than consrvatives. It comes down to people like you who think they are so much smarter than everyone else that you need to tell them how to live their lives. Hence the "even rednecks with the lowest education", comment. The government needs to get out of public education because the their "lowest education" is not education, it's indoctrination. So your for LIBERTY as long as other people live the way you deem necessary.
#35
So Real World, do you home school your kids? You're for liberty, but think schools are indoctrination. TN is now going to teach creationism along with evolution, but that's not brain washing. I think Kirk Cameron approved the text books.
#36
You just read his crazy stuff, douglaslee, this wannabe-The Real World isn't the real world at all -- he's out of touch with the real world. As he's standing for an elitist party. In fact he is an elitist himself.
Quote The Real World:who spells the name Tom with a h for crying out loud, oh yeah, an elitistWell, Thom's father was a Republican, and it's unlikely he chose Thom with h, just to have him acting as liberal media host.
I mean this idea, to pick on Thom with h is insane. Is someone elitist because his parents decided Thom with h? Republicans are just crazy and wannabe-The Real World is just one of their lunatics.
No political ideas, no program, no real platform -- just taking on Thom with h. You're a moron, wannabe-The Real World.
#37
All I know Clarrissa, is the platform of socialism has been tried again and again, and it always ends the same way. So who's the fool, you or me?
#38
You and your stupid Marxism tags -- even Marx wasn't a Marxist and I'm not either. I am a Merkel fan and Merkel is a Christian-conservative. Not MARX! MERKEL!! Germany shows us, austerity is not the way. They've been watching Thatcher's result, then Bush's..... why should they change anything? Works fine over there! Just wait for them to fail 'til ya drop dead......
Any other problem? LOL
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Yes, but not so much by choice. Still, debit card affords the purchasing power, and we still have money in the bank, which is more than we ever had when we had credit cards