By Thom Hartmann
Among the various ideas to fix the financial markets, the calls for anyone to step down in the management ranks of bailed-out institutions have been largely ignored. Obama’s thinking seems to be that the folks who got us into this crisis are the ones who can get us out of it. Meanwhile, attorney Ben Pavone told the Bank of America in a letter last week that he will not pay off his credit card debt until the bank lowers his interest rate. And, he added, if they try to ruin his credit, he’ll sue ’em. Pavone said, “They’ve got to have some kind of obligation to not totally extort the public.” The San Diego, Calif. attorney is angry about two things: his interest rate, which has gone up to 27.99 percent, and his credit limit, which has gone down to just above his balance, thus virtually guaranteeing he’ll get hit with overage penalties. The credit card companies are really cranking up the rate at which they’re putting the screws to us in anticipation of regulation, and now, finally, some Americans are beginning to push back.
Thom Hartmann is an American radio host, author, former psychotherapist and entrepreneur, and a progressive, or liberal, political commentator. His nationally-syndicated radio show, The Thom Hartmann Program, airs in the United States.
Have you seen the Move Your Money project? It is advising folks to pull their money out of the big banks and put it into small local banks, and credit unions. Their website even has a program to elp you find the small, safe local banks in your area.
We did this a long time ago when we got tired of our bank being constantly bought out by a bigger bank.
I’ve heard about it, though haven’t read much.
Besides: already done.
The main thing I have read is that often it is painted as if the banks have been bought out, but it’s really that they went belly up. This is something that was developed after the Great Depression to prevent the kind of panic that happened back then. But if we are hiding the fact that banks keep going belly up, and giving them breaks, can that be better in the long run? If it’s really that bad wouldn’t it be better we know, stats if nothing else?
I heard a short while ago that if we were being honest then we would admit we have already started to enter the Second Great Depression. I suspect there may some truth to that.