bankdecay

Let's stop blaming the victims of predatory lending

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:27:13 -0500

This is important.

The primary cause of the subprime collapse—which heralded in the Great Recession was bad loans not bad borrowers. At the peak of the subprime boom lenders structured loans in a way that virtually guaranteed that those loans would fail because it was profitable. Borrowers—particularly minority borrowers—were steered toward these designed-to-fail loans even when they would have qualified for a prime loan. It doesn’t matter how good your credit is or how high your income is. I can write you a loan with terms so bad that I know you won’t be able to pay it back. I’m afraid this post may require tossing around some numbers—but please bear with me. Even if correcting the banks efforts to shift blame isn’t sufficient, this stuff is worth knowing if you plan on someday getting a home loan.

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Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:10:29 -0500

Stevie NYC: Dear Fucker from Kansas that tried using my Debit Card today,

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:27:17 -0500

Stevie NYC: Dear Fucker from Kansas that tried using my Debit Card today,:

stevienyc:

I WILL FUCKING DESTROY YOU.

I had my card declined today while trying to get lunch and was confused because for once in my life I actually have money in my account. I don’t carry cash with me because I’m a NYer and this is 2012, so I wasn’t able to get my lunch. Now I am hungry AND angry.

Did…

youngmegadethite: OFFICIAL POSITION EVERYDAY

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:46:07 -0500

youngmegadethite:

OFFICIAL POSITION EVERYDAY

The siren call of austerity

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:29:39 -0500

The siren call of austerity:

The United States government, which has a monopoly on its currency, is $15.2 trillion in debt, roughly the same as the entire output of the economy for a year.

That figure has been sung in a refrain about massive debt threatening to bring down the economy and cause inflation. Facts, however, show otherwise.

The country was much deeper in debt, relative to the size of the economy, in 1946 than it is today and yet what followed was decades of prosperity. The 1946 debt remains and, after six decades of growth, it is inconsequential.

In Japan, government debt is roughly twice annual economic output and yet the country continues to function because real interest rates are at or below zero.

To be sure, conditions can change and interest rates can rise sharply, though central banks have ways to limit that. But that is not the problem today. The problem today is shrinking incomes due to shrinking spending.

Austerity budgets, by reducing government spending, will only make incomes fall more. The only way to make incomes rise is to make spending rise, which in the short run means more borrowing by governments to enable more public sector spending.

"Some banks have gone in the seemingly wrong direction. For example, Bank of America caused outrage..."

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:06:23 -0500

“Some banks have gone in the seemingly wrong direction. For example, Bank of America caused outrage recently when it announced it would be charging monthly fees for customers to withdraw or use their own money in checking accounts with debit cards. This attempt to generate profits led to a mass exodus from customers, who instead opened banks with smaller financial institutions. It wasn’t long before BofA announced a cancellation of the plan.”

- Banks on Facebook: Any Hope to Build Trust? | Pronet Advertising

mohandasgandhi: STUNNING Facts On Income Inequality and Bank...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:44:43 -0500

mohandasgandhi:

STUNNING Facts On Income Inequality and Bank Bonuses

Stunning facts about bank bonuses on Wall Street, average compensation and homeless kids are shared by The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur.

From ThinkProgress:

In the United States, the top 1 percent controls roughly 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. According to the study, which examined Roman ledgers, previous estimates, imperial edicts, and Biblical passages, Rome’s top 1 percent controlled less than half that at the height of its economic power, as Tim De Chant notes at Per Square Mile:

Their target was the state of the economy when the empire was at its population zenith, around 150 C.E. Schiedel and Friesen estimate that the top 1 percent of Roman society controlled 16 percent of the wealth, less than half of what America’s top 1 percent control.

Of course, the millions of Romans at the bottom of the empire’s class structure — the conquered and enslaved, the poorest Romans, and the women who had little civic or economic empowerment — would probably disagree with the study’s conclusion. Still, it serves as yet another highlight of how large the income gap in the United States has become over the last three decades.

Still, it’s unbelievable that the wealth of the bottom 60% in the U.S. is less than the Forbes 400 richest and that the 6 heirs to the Walmart franchise have the combined wealth equal to the bottom 30% in this country. Give the bankers their record bonuses anyway. They’re doing a fantastic job.

"These material misstatements occurred during a time of acute investor interest in financial..."

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:29:05 -0500

“These material misstatements occurred during a time of acute investor interest in financial institutions’ exposure to subprime loans, and misled the market about the amount of risk on the company’s books.”

- Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement division director Robert Khuzami • Discussing the civil fraud charges that the SEC filed against six former top execs at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, charges that came about due to alleged misrepresentation of investors’ exposure to the subprime mortgage crisis. Lawyers for the six officials claim that the executives acted in the best interests of investors despite the allegations otherwise. (via shortformblog)
So…Fannie Mae mis-stated risks. The banks mis-stated risks. The originators and servicers mis-stated risks. Borrowers mis-states risks. The entire value chain of the mortgage market was founded on fraud.
And the SEC let it happen for decades, which is why it gets to sue everybody.
(via thecallus)

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Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:33:23 -0500

pancakenation: Well, hot damn.

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:29:37 -0500

pancakenation:

Well, hot damn.

"The U.S. Treasury Department is investigating whether Bank of America, Wells Fargo and eight other..."

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:42:05 -0500

“The U.S. Treasury Department is investigating whether Bank of America, Wells Fargo and eight other major banks may have illegally foreclosed on about 4,500 active-duty servicemen and women.”

- Did banks illegally foreclose on active-duty troops? | McClatchy

shortformblog: Here’s Bank of America’s stock over the past...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:40:02 -0500

shortformblog:

Here’s Bank of America’s stock over the past five years. Steep freefall, yes? Well, it looks like it might suck even more, because the company’s stock is right near the $5 mark for the second time since 2006; it it goes below it, investors would see extra restrictions placed on the stock. Bad things come in fives for BofA.

Examining the big lie: How the facts of the economic crisis stack up

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:05:19 -0500

Examining the big lie: How the facts of the economic crisis stack up :

blissandzen:

Before you have to go face the Fox congregation again, go study up.

Should We "End the Fed"?

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:20:17 -0500

Should We "End the Fed"?:

The U.S. Federal Reserve System [the Fed’s primary functions are carried out by a system of 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks] is a study in obfuscation. It appears in the organization chart of the U.S. government and presents itself to the world as an independent government body, but its highly complex governance structure assures its operations are in fact controlled by the big banks whose interests it faithfully serves. It piously reports that its accounts are subject to extensive internal and external audit, but only the special one-time audit ordered by the U.S. Congress in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010 under vigorous Fed protest revealed the amount and the beneficiaries of its $16 trillion post-crash handouts.

There are angry calls from both left and right to shut down the Fed. The anger is justified. The call to shut it down, however, ignores the reality that a national money/banking system requires oversight and management by a central bank or its institutional equivalent. The choices center on that institution’s degree of transparency, to whom it will be accountable, and what its priorities will be.

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Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:40:52 -0500

An interfaith coalition of clergy in LA are removing $2 million from Bank of America and Wells Fargo

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:04:26 -0500

An interfaith coalition of clergy in LA are removing $2 million from Bank of America and Wells Fargo:

squashed:

Thoughts?

Your Next Credit Card Is Your Last

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:55:40 -0400

Your Next Credit Card Is Your Last:

infoneer-pulse:

You may remember when credit card machines weren’t so reliable, so stores sometimes used that little aluminum contraption with a roller over your card, and you had to sign the printed copy hard enough to ink onto the carbon paper. This is one of the reasons some cards still have those raised silver numbers on the front alongside your name and expiration date.

Even in spite of innovations like the magnetic strip, embedded data chips and early NFC offerings, the tech behind credit payments in stores hasn’t actually moved far beyond those raised plastic numbers. Until now. It looks like your old plastic might spend more time in your desk drawer than than your bag or back pocket.

» via Fast Company

catasters: Bank Robber

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:52:16 -0400

catasters:

Bank Robber

Joke

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:02:06 -0400

abloodymess:

An investment banker got hit by a car and killed the other day. When I first heard about it, I thought to myself, “That could have been me!”

Then I remembered I can’t afford a car.

clavicula: deep fried dollar

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:33:03 -0400

clavicula:

deep fried dollar