The latest BofA ad….
My friend Kirk sent this to me and I thought it was cute, fun, accurate and worth sharing…
Tag Archives: Banking
America’s ‘Brain Drain’: Best And Brightest College Grads Head For Wall Street
Okay, I’ve published enough fluff for today.
Let’s get back to Politics….
This is one of the biggest issues associated with income inequality. And it’s frequently overlooked.
The ridiculous salaries on Wall Street are creating a Brain Drain that draws young people, fresh out of College and many with large student loans, to go to Wall Street to try chase the dream to slave for ten years or so and retire billionaires at 40.
All these ridiculous, complex new financial instruments, like Credit Default Swaps, Hedge funds, etc. are really legalized gambling, market manipulation and frankly, fraud, created by super smart people to make a quick buck. The old, staid Wall Street of yore would never have thought these things up or known what to do with them.
Face it, the guys who used to run Wall Street weren’t that smart…
Now young people who should be attracted to jobs that might make Society better, be more fulfilling and create something positive are all running to Wall Street to try to think up the next ridiculously complex financial instrument to make themselves rich- no matter who it hurts or that it adds nothing to society.
Let’s get back to the basics:
- Banks hold deposits and lend money to credit worthy people and companies-preferably in their local communities. None should be “too big to fail.” If they screw up, let them fail.
- Wall Street trades stocks and bonds for people to invest in companies that survive by respecting their workers and the social contract, create]ing something we actually need or want in the world and don’t give all their money to a few top executives and CEO’s no matter how badly they perform.
- Wall Street Investment Banks should invest in actual entities and not manipulative gambling instruments.
- Young people need to be taught to explore their talents and try to meld them with a career that will give them a decent salary, give something back to the world and thus provide a sense of personal fulfillment.
It’s all out of whack….priorities, salaries, creativity and risk.
It shouldn’t all be about a quick and easy buck-like today’s system encourages….
From Huffington Post:
But what if top students didn’t go to Wall Street? What if, rather than creating complex financial products that collapsed the global economy, they were building bridges and creating new technologies instead?
As America struggles to create jobs and get back on its feet after the recession — caused largely by the financial industry’s recklessness — the country is in desperate need of more entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists and other professionals, a complaint regularly made by non-Wall Street business leaders and members of both major political parties.
Lee Jackson is a senior economics major at Stanford who edits a financial newsletter called The Opportune Time. He has interned on Wall Street and plans to work in finance after graduation, but admits the profession needs reform.
“I think the emphasis is more on making money and making a profit, and there’s been less emphasis … on what the greater societal implications of that are,” he said, pointing to fields like law and medicine that focus on the needs of the client or patient and have outreach programs to help low-income individuals. During the debate over Wall Street reform, meanwhile, bank lobbyists fought a provision in the Dodd-Frank legislation that would require financial companies to operate in the best interests of their clients.
“Over the past few years in the mainstream American culture, the bad side of American finance has come out time and time again,” he added. “But my fear is that the good side of finance and the side that can help people save for retirement, build their own wealth and be able to support themselves [will be lost].”
Yet without a cultural shift and reforms that rein in the financial industry’s sky-high profits and salaries, a disproportionate number of the best and the brightest will continue to head to Wall Street.
“Our financial system remains out of whack in terms of regulation, compensation, and until our economy is stronger, it’s not surprising that young people will be attracted to the place where the money and jobs are,” Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senate candidate and creator of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told The Huffington Post. “In a sense … it’s a demand problem, [as well as] the fact there is not enough demand in the rest of the economy. It’s both problems.”
via America’s ‘Brain Drain’: Best And Brightest College Grads Head For Wall Street.
Filed under Occupy Wall Street, Politics, Uncategorized
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests
Brilliant article in “Rolling Stone” by Matt Taibbi. Finally, someone truly both gets and can articulate the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Here is a very brief excerpt and a link to the full article. I strongly encourage you to click the link and read the entire article.
It’s not very long, so don’t be afraid….
…Occupy Wall Street was always about something much bigger than a movement against big banks and modern finance. It’s about providing a forum for people to show how tired they are not just of Wall Street, but everything. This is a visceral, impassioned, deep-seated rejection of the entire direction of our society, a refusal to take even one more step forward into the shallow commercial abyss of phoniness, short-term calculation, withered idealism and intellectual bankruptcy that American mass society has become. If there is such a thing as going on strike from one’s own culture, this is it. And by being so broad in scope and so elemental in its motivation, it’s flown over the heads of many on both the right and the left.
via How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests | Politics News | Rolling Stone.
Filed under Occupy Wall Street, Politics
Why Credit Unions Are a Better Financial Choice For Us Than Big Banks
I’ve been with a Credit Union for over 20 years and can offer only praise for their services and costs. I can’t imagine why anyone would chose a bank-especially a big bank- over a Credit Union.
With Credit Unions, you are not just a customer, but part owner. Rates are better, service is better and even the smallest Credit Unions generally offer all the same services as big Banks.
My advice: Move your business to a Credit Union today! It’s not just best for you, it’s better for the economy and the country as a whole…..
From Daily Finance:
With big banks adding new fees or increasing existing fees, credit unions have been able to capitalize on the growing discontent with the financial services behemoths. Bank of Americas BAC $5 debit-card-fee fiasco alone is responsible for 20% to 50% of the new accounts at some credit unions — and new accounts have been growing steadily in recent months.Thats because many credit unions are offering cash back or reward points for debit card usage, not fees. There are other perks, too, to get you to move your business. For example, the Co-op Services Credit Union of Michigan has been successfully offering $105 to those who switch to them from a regular bank.
And credit unions are reaching out to business customers, too. FDIC data has shown bank business lending shrinking over the past year or so, while credit union commercial lending is growing.
Dollars and cents arent the only reason people are moving their money to credit unions. The fundamental setup of the system is vastly different from that at big banks. While a bank is a for-profit business, aiming to maximize earnings for its shareholders, credit unions are nonprofits. While youre simply a customer of a bank, youll be a member of a credit union, owning the whole thing along with your fellow members.
via Why Credit Unions Are a Better Financial Choice For Us Than Big Banks – DailyFinance.
Filed under Occupy Wall Street, The Economy
Quote of the Day: Andy Borowitz
“Bank of America is like a man who’s been saved from a burning building and then kicks the fireman in the nuts.”
Filed under Quote of the Day
Citigroup To Start Charging Per-Month Fees On Low-Balance Accounts
Evil.
These big banks are simply evil….
I really don’t understand why anyone would do business with them.
I’m very happy with my local credit union and have been for 20 years. I get all the same services as a big bank, but pay no fees on any of my accounts. I really wish people would wise up and stop giving their business to these big banks. I just don’t understand why anyone would support them…
From The Huffington Post:
Citigroup Inc said it will start charging a monthly fee of $10 on checking and savings accounts with combined balances of less than $1,500, joining a growing list of banks seeking to recoup revenue lost under new financial industry regulations.
The fee will be waived if a customer completes one direct deposit and one online bill payment per month through an account, or maintains a balance of at least $1,500 in checking and savings accounts, Citigroup said on Friday
The change takes effect in December.
Under Citi’s current fee structure, customers are not required to maintain minimum account balances but must complete five transactions a month through an account to avoid a monthly fee of $8.
Citigroup said it will not charge for debit card use or online bill payment.
Stephen Troutner, head of banking products for Citi’s U.S. consumer bank, said free debit card use could woo customers from other banks that are weighing whether to charge for debit card use, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co.
“Customers have told us in no uncertain terms that is a huge source of irritation,” Troutner said.
New York-based Citi is the latest bank to tinker with its fee structure following changes in U.S. consumer banking regulations and laws over the last two years.
New regulations — part of a broad financial sector reform effort — limit overdraft fees and other penalty fees banks can charge.
In response, many banks have begun introducing monthly service fees for accounts, debit card use and visits to branches.
Bank of America Corp, the largest U.S. bank by assets, added checking account fees last year. The BofA changes include an ebanking account, which allows customers to use ATMs and online banking for free but charges a monthly fee of $7 for teller visits or receiving paper statements.
via Citigroup To Start Charging Per-Month Fees On Low-Balance Accounts.
Filed under The Economy
Lost in the 21st Century 