Banksters Feeling Pain from “Move Your Money” Campaign

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Back in January, the Allen School Online Blog featured a post called, “Move Your Money – Beat the Greedy Banksters”.  In that post, I outlined options for people disgusted with their treatment by big Wall Street banks who survived the economic collapse thanks to taxpayer bailouts only to jack up credit card interest and withhold loans for school and small business.  In essence, I advocated for others to do as I and many others had; “voting with our feet” by closing accounts held with Citi, Chase, BofA and other biggies and reopening them with local community banks and credit unions.  At the time, many doubted this small action would have any significant impact on the “too big to fail” crew on Wall Street.  Follow me past the jump to see just how successful this idea has been. Continue reading…

Know the New Credit Card Rules

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If you’re like me, you probably rely on credit cards to some degree to plug gaps in cash flow between paychecks.  Most Americans are in the same boat.  US banks have been taking advantage of Americans’ reliance on credit though downright usurious and predatory practices designed to juice as much money as they can from their customers through sneaky fees and unrealistic rules.  Finally, Congress took some legislative steps to rein in the worst of these abuses and passed the the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009.  It takes effect on February 22, 2010.  As you might expect, the credit card companies have been finding new and creative ways to sidestep these restrictions on their ability to rape their customers.  Read this article at DailyFinance.com to acquaint yourself with the new rules and to learn how to avoid the banksters’ new methods for fleecing you.  Also, as I wrote about in an earlier post, consider moving your credit accounts away from Wall Street companies and into local, community banks and credit unions.  Visit www.moveyourmoney.info for more info on how and why to do this.

Ben Bernanke TIME’s Person of the Year

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s-ben-bernanke-time-largeSo, TIME magazine has selected Ben Bernanke as their person of the year. Two posts down, I make my personal case for or against all the contenders. I wrote that I believed that Bernanke and others in the top echelons of the banking industry ought to be in prison for what they did to destroy the economy and the savings of so many average Americans; all while paying themselves record bonuses. I admit, I haven’t yet read the issue to see what about this man was worthy of the recognition. Nonetheless, I doubt anything they write will change the contempt I feel for the man. How about you? What do you think of Ben Bernanke and his recognition as “Person of the Year”? Sound off in the comments.

Follow the Money Redux

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goldman_sachs_logo_0411A while back I posted several pieces here and here about how an observer could gauge the relative chances of significant healthcare being passed by Congress, simply by looking at the share prices of publicly traded health insurance companies like Cigna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Humana, United Healthcare and others. Well, if anyone doubted that Wall Street was actually in a position to influence these things, follow me over the fold for iron clad proof that Wall Street wants reform to fail. Continue reading…

Following the Money Part Deux

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follow-the-moneyBack in July, before the screaming town hall silliness of Congress’s August recess and before the slow as molasses delivery of Max Baucus’s Senate Finance Committee health care bill, I wrote a piece about how to gauge the progress of health insurance reform legislation.  I pointed out that insiders on Wall Street, who have paid for unfair access to our legislators, would know ahead of the curve which way the reform would go.  This way they could nearly guarantee that they would not lose money from their investments into the healthcare sector whether reform passed or was defeated.  If it looked like reform was imminent, Wall Street would sell their holdings in healthcare companies driving stock prices of insurers down.  If the “Street” figured reform would go down in defeat, they’d buy more of the insurers’ stocks as it would be a safe bet that the gravy train would continue for the highly profitable insurance companies.  Back in July, the prices of insurance company stocks were surging.  The bankers on Wall Street seemed convinced that the public option – the only serious reform device being considered – was all but dead.  What does the insurance sector look like today three months later and weeks from the bill’s eventual passage?  Follow me over the jump to see. Continue reading…