Big Banks Trying to Eliminate Credit Unions

For obvious reasons, millions of depositors have been transferring their money from large banks to credit unions.  With their devotion to free-enterprise laissez-faire capitalism, the banking cartel’s response to this new competition has been to compete with credit unions by offering better deals and better customer service using their political muscle to tax and regulate those pesky credit unions out of existence.

Here are some more links.

(The linked article was written last July, but I didn’t know anything about this until yesterday.)

The Banking Syndicate is lobbying Congress to eliminate the federal tax exemption that credit unions have been receiving since 1934.

Frank Keating, president of the American Bankers Association, wrote to President Obama:

“Many tax-exempt credit unions have morphed from serving 'people of small means' to become full-service, financially sophisticated institutions.  The time has come to abolish this exemption.”

With Congress getting ready for a major overhaul of the tax code, this is the perfect opportunity for the Banking Cartel to destroy their competition once and for all.  They’ve been bombarding the Washington DC area with print and radio ads as well as bribing their prostitutes in Congress.

The credit unions’ federal tax exemption ends up costing taxpayers roughly $1.6 billion a year.  Let’s see, a multi-trillion dollar bailout for Wall Street vs. a $1.6 billion tax exemption for credit unions…

Credit unions depend on this tax exemption, since — unlike banks — they can’t raise capital through public stock offerings.  The president of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions said:

“They'll have to convert to banks, which is what the banks want.  Then they'd have, for lack of a better term, a monopoly.”

Mission Accomplished.

Banking Industry Appalled at Bailout for Homeowners

This story isn’t from The Onion or a Saturday Night Live skit. It’s for real. WTF???

Two national banking organizations — the American Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable — are having a tantrum because some of their $700 billion bailout package might actually go to regular people so they can keep their homes.

You can almost picture the stomping foot and the thrust-out lower lip. “It’s My bailout! My money! All Mine! MIIINE!!!!!”

“Pleeease, I need a handout. My Learjet needs some repair work, and there’s a problem with the sauna at one of our vacation homes. Whaddya mean some lowlife working person is whining about his mortgage payments? Get a job! Oh God, please help me.”

Citigroup Inc. has reached an agreement with several Democratic senators that might help some mortgage holders avoid foreclosure and keep their homes. (This legislation hasn’t been passed yet.) Before you start patting Citigroup on the back — this agreement was part of the “strings” attached to their $45 billion handout from Us. From YOU.

Citigroup (like most other banking VIPs) had previously been against that socialist idea of helping homeowners with their mortgage payments. But when they saw the size of their gigantic gargantuan welfare check, and were told they might have to actually do something in return…

And in other Absurd But True stories: Sarah Palin is lashing out at the media. Again. Still. This time it’s because “the media” is giving kid glove treatment to Caroline Kennedy, compared to the harsh scrutiny that Mooselini got. Let’s see, Vice President of the United States for four years, maybe eight years, and a stepping stone to the presidency; versus the last four years of a Senate seat. Yup, same thing.

And now the U.S. Navy’s newest fighting ship: the USS Willie Horton. It’s a kinder gentler aircraft carrier.

cross-posted at Bring It On!