My brother is a banker

[scheming daemons]

Pretty high up at a major bank (not naming it here).


He sent me an email tonight bitching and moaning about Obama bashing the banks and so forth... about how he's punishing ALL banks for the mistakes of a few...


I simply told him...

"Good! Your industry, once every 70 or 80 years, does its very best to destroy te economy. When it happened last time, we had a President who put the shackles on you. It took 80 years for you guys to escape from those shackles and damn it, you did it again. Good for Obama for wanting to tie you down again."


He wrote back calling me clueless, etcetera....


I don't give a damn. The banking industry is not able to police itself, so it must be done by the government.

Fuck 'em if they don't like it.

[rufus dog]

1. feel free to send me his email

I will tell him to fuck off too.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Better to be policed by the government

than by an angry mob.


Just sayin'.




Tansy Gold

[GoCubsGo]

11. Yep. Talk about "clueless"

Apparently, he doesn't seem to realize that those regulations are what is going to keep the mobs with torches and pitchforks off his doorstep, does he?

[The Doctor.]

19. Yep. The powerful never seem to realize...

That the laws they despise are there to protect them as well.

When you take away all recourse for the people, they will seek recourse through other means.

[Grand Taurean]

3. If I could speak to your brother,

I would tell him something not nice, to say the least.

[seabeyond]

4. thanks for telling your brother, the banker the cold hard facts and

how those of us outside of his banking world that are getting screwed by the bankers feel about his industry

[mopinko]

5. tell him it's a game.

that it is our turn now, it will be his turn later. maybe that makes sense to him.

[Yavin4]

6. Basing An Entire Economy on Finance and Banking Is Moronic

And it leads to boom and bust cycles that inevitably lead to economic crashes.

When banks were regulated for most of the 20th century, the US economy grew entire mfg and tech industries that were the envy of the world.

[lxlxlxl]

7. agree 10000x...a reduction in bonus is not poverty

i live in new york and amazed there hasnt been a massive protest in the financial district. it makes me sick to think that these guys are getting sympathy...

[whosinpower]

8. You know, it would not be quite so infuriating

If the banks that made mistakes were allowed to collapse under their own greed. That did not happen. I believe that if Joe the taxpayer is asked/demanded for a bailout, then Joe the taxpayer has every right to institute regulations so that the same mistakes cannot occur again.

If there was not the safety net of The United States government, then I am willing to bet that the banks would be far more careful how they handled money.

[demosincebirth]

9. you should have asked him if he was getting his bonus...and how much??

[Telly Savalas]

10. If the events of the last few years were just the bad behavior of a few banks

and not an indication that there are fundamental flaws in the system, why did we need a $750 billion TARP program? Why did we have to shell out over $150 billion to bail out AIG? If the system is fundamentally sound, then the market should be able to take care of itself, right?

[Octafish]

12. You just don't understand...

...without banks there wouldn't be money needed by bigger banks to buy banks to become a bigger bank needed to be in a position to buy bigger banks to become an even bigger bank until there are just a few big banks, minus all the labor made obsolete by consolidation. These are too big to fail.

PS: Going by what you write, scheming daemons, I'm sure your brother is a great guy, apart from his banker's worldview. My family has a Wall Street contingent. I love them, but they don't see things the same way as me -- a Detroit area homeowner who's seen the region's jobs disappear and our property value drop about 50-percent over the past three years.

[RedCloud]

13. Sperm and river banks have better deposits lately!

[proud patriot]

14. if I could talk to your brother I'd tell him

about my life ... I work with disabled preschoolers my son is
disabled and my husband used to be self employed small business
owner now is a car salesman for Dodge . He was for GM last year
but with the Bankruptcy and all got laid off for christmas last
year . Working with the disabled doesn't pay well monetarily .
It's my passion and my gift . some people are gifted musicians or
artists .. Me I'm great with children , and I enjoy it emensly.


Why does he matter more than me ? Why do bankers matter more than
people who do gods work ? How dare he think he's entitled . When
I'm negotiating with my electric company to hold off shutting my
power off today . Why ? not because of irresponsible choices but
because of a dental emergency . I have insurance but I still have
to figure out how my family is going to live with 500 dollars
less
this month when we live paycheck to paycheck .


bankers are pieces of shit , I work with disabled children why do
bankers have it so easy ?

Shoot you'd probably have to pull me off of him . How dare he ?

[Ilsa]

15. In Texas, we had billions in deposits. The east coast banks wanted

our deposits. They waited until most of the Texas bankholding companies got so greedy after deregulation that they made stupid loans. The banks failed. The east coast banks came in and rescued them for pennies. Sent the deposits east and beyond. Tens of thousands of banking jobs were lost over a decade.

[truedelphi]

17. Any time a game is played with the Big players

On Wall Street, the smaller players are allowed into the game much later. Usually right before the game goes south.

Happened that way in the months leading up to the Big Crash in 1929.

[Froward69]

16. Yeah Clueless...

Tell Your brother if he agrees that, "Without restraint, Free Market Capitalism Has fabulous Gains? He would agree. Then say, "as it is an Unrestrained Free market it also has Equally fabulous Losses." "THATS what happened in 1929 and again in 2008. Therefore the Moderate Gain's and Loses between the two crashes were a direct result of Market controls imposed by FDR and soon because of the unrestrained markets from 2000 led to this great Crash in 2008. President Obama will be restraining this sort of thing from happening again.

(Like FDR and Congress during the great Depression hoped we would not be stupid enough to trash their rules. Rules (specifically Glass-Steagall) that kept our Economy realistically and Controllably stable these last 80 years.

[Vidar]

18. K&R.

[Zoeisright]

20. I do hope you refer to him as a 'bankster' whenever you talk to him.

Those assholes are worse than the worst mob boss.

[progressoid]

21. Imagine how pissed he'd be if we actually passed meaningful regulations

So far, I ain't seeing much but a lot of talk.

[H2O Man]

22. We're even.

My oldest brother is a violent sociopath, without conscience.

[closeupready]

23. The banks got off easy. Imagine if they'd done this shit anywhere but here.

Just saying.