A dollar in the hand of a banker is worse than a handgun in the hand of a killer.

[jtuck004]

Because you already know bankers have been responsible for more death and tragedy than any gunman or terrorist has ever aspired to or accomplished.

And they, the wealthy, their own little banks among themselves, didn't work for that dollar. You did. We did. They just worked to take it from us after we built, or taught, or created, or or fed, or housed.... but not from the backs of others. We make half-hearted efforts, at best, to aid their most egregious yet ongoing and profitable victims, and make it possible for them to eat the wealth from the middle of the country. We don't just offer, we insist that they take trillions of dollars of mythical money, created by electrons and tell everyone else they must pay the bill.

Do we do this because we derive some great benefit from their remaining intact while there is so much misery, that they had a leading hand in creating, around them?

Can anyone tell me, please, what they can possibly offer that is worth that?

I just can't remember the last drive by in a really wealthy neighborhood that got much attention, and they don't seem to shoot up their own schools or churches. When is the last time there was a shooting where people who make $200,000 a week go to school? Or church? Am I just missing it somehow, a family crime scene strewn with diamonds and gold? Most of what I see is among those who have no opportunity because the wealthy are taking all the magic money that would change people's lives.

Secure the loose guns, help the people who need help.

But it strikes me that unless we address the economic disparity we might be just treating a symptom and not addressing the disease.

[dkf]

1. Why don't you go to a credit union then?

No one is forced to use a bank.

[closeupready]

2. +1. That's what I don't get. Use a credit union,

write letters to your elected officials, protest against bank bailouts and such, great. It's a free country.

[jtuck004]

3. I'm not sure that's true. The government is paying $40 billion a month to bankers, giving

them free money to loan out at profit, etc. Lot of other ways they take from everyone, and the liability accrues to the pool that everyone else pays for.

Can anyone be free of those grasping monsters? (I don't mean to offend monsters, if any are here).

And is that really your best question?

[dkf]

6. $40 billion a month? The government is paying to bankers? Please back that up.

If you are referring to the fed buying mortgage backed securities, the Fed is a private institution and they buy it from whoever, not necessarily banks.

[jtuck004]

8. Unless people are investing by pooling their food stamps...

Bankers, the wealthy, pimps and other foul-smelling vermin would be the ones most likely to have the assets, the billions to invest in folders of mortgage-backed assets.

[dkf]

9. Try mutual funds and pension funds.

That is where the money is.

[jtuck004]

10. Banks are selling them and are profiting...

Story after story about how they are buying them up to resell because of this "Fed Premium", profit they can't get elsewhere, or avoidance of the risk they would take holding them.

Bank profits from new mortgages have soared since the Federal Reserve began its third round of bond purchases two weeks ago, fueling the debate over the fallout of the latest dose of quantitative easing.
...
Banks have been snapping up MBS backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in recent years because of the assets’ relatively higher yields compared with government securities and MBS’s perceived liquidity. Banks that wait for higher prices from the Fed would also enjoy heftier profits from the quantitative easing program.

Here, but there are many more.

The extra yield on those MBS, money they banks couldn't make otherwise, goes right into their pockets, not pension funds. Even Donald Trump is quoted as saying it helps people like him, those with lots of money taken from others, most.

While 50,000 families are foreclosed on every month, (except they are giving those in some wealthier neighborhoods a break that the rest of us don't get, here), and 50 billion sits unused, money that was supposed to help HAMP.

[reteachinwi]

5. Credit unions and local banks

We use them to advantage. They offer better deals on interest and keep the money in the community, more or less. We have had bank deregulation on an escalating basis for 30 years. The result is that we are all paying rent, either through 400,000,000,000 dollars interest on the national debt or more directly through our homes, businesses, etc. We have to apply anti-trust laws to Wall Street, but I'm not holding my breath.

[dkf]

7. Credit unions are also non profit and are owned by their members.

If you get a better deal from a bank, even a national bank then great. Otherwise credit unions are great alternatives.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. that's not true

I've tried going to a credit union. Because I have unpaid medical bills I cannot join. I use a regional bank that so far I am reasonably happy with but I would rather use a credit union. I just don't qualify.

[Waiting For Everyman]

4. They are white collar thugs.

Banks like trafficking in guns and drugs too, so there is that as well (in additional to their more traditional kinds of robberies). It's been going on since BCCI and I'm sure even before that.