[snakeoil]

Ah, your friendly neighborhood banker. I've been telling you how you are being screwed everyday by government and corporations. Here are a few more “gotchas.” Since bankers have refined “gotchas” to a science, I figured I'd have to put this in a separate post.

Remember when you signed that sales contract for that new car, used car, franchise or other hefty purchase? The simple sales contract was several pages long and written in fine print. Buried deep in that fine print was a section where you agreed to give away your right to sue in exchange for submitting to binding arbitration. Usually in that contract is a clause that says they do not have to take the object back if you lose arbitration; they can take your house. They can also come after your house if the car or other object is not worth what you originally paid for it. This is called “contracts of adhesion.” Binding arbitration was originally designed to allow corporations to settle disputes without going to court; it was not intended to settle disputes between consumers and workers. The law was the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925. The courts have stretched the law to include consumers. This was done to keep the court dockets clear.

Arbitration is usually judged by someone picked by a court officer and the arbitrator often has little to no knowledge of the business or the law. If the case is complex, a professional arbitrator is appointed by the court. Often these arbitrator have a cozy relationship with the corporation and they can charge up to $400 an hour for their services. This is on your dime since you are the one who brought the action against the seller. You stand to lose anyway because the contract is rarely overturned unless the terms of the contract are found to be so one-sided that it “shocks the conscience/”

In arbitration you do not have the same rights as in court. You do not have the right to ask the other party to provide proof. You have to pay certain fees in advance. After the decision is rendered you do not have the right to an explanation of the logic that the arbitrator used to decide your case. Often the arbitrator will hold the proceedings in another city or even another state.

Warning: Buried in the fine print of many sales contracts is a provision that the business many change the terms of the contract if business conditions change or if the courts find any part of the contract illegal. If one small section of the contract is found to be illegal, the business may execute another, even more unfair, contract to which you are bound.

Many years ago a plaintiff was asked by the judge, “If you didn't like the contract, why did you sign it?” Sound advice.

I've got a lot more banker "gotchas."

[snakeoil]

It's time for another installment to my “gotcha” section. For those about to pounce for someone attacking their party; this is happened under the reign of both parties.

Goldman-Sachs started, as they like to say in their ads, 100 years ago as an investment bank. They helped make America what it is today by investing in factories, business ventures, government programs, etc. Today most profits at Goldman come from trading in it's own accounts and derivatives. With a derivative, one side bets that the value of a derivative or bundle will rise and one side bets it will fall. When Goldman sells derivatives to investors it gets fat fees from each side. When Goldman buys derivatives for itself or an investor buys a derivative bundle it usually buys insurance against loss from an insurance company (remember AIG?) Since the ratings agencies worked in collusion with the investment banks on the mortgage derivatives, almost all of the bundles were rated at least A. AIG (and others) looked at the rating and concluded that there was little risk in insuring the derivative bundle. That is why we had to bail out AIG.

It looks like a risky investment strategy doesn't it. Why did no one see it coming? Well, at least a dozen financial journalists did see it coming and wrote about it in their publications. Our government and our regulators were asleep at the switch. Wall Street pressured government to keep their hands out of their business because they were making so much money selling this garbage. The government has several emails between traders asying, “I hope we make ours before they realize that this stuff is garbage.”

When the financial bomb hit in 2008, AIG was made whole (with your taxes) and Goldman got it's $13 billion insurance check. They got paid off a one hundred cents on the dollar. The US Treasury made no attempt to save the taxpayers some money by negotiating a lower payment to Goldman, even though everyone agrees that Goldman's execs were making extremely risky bets and that they knew the day of reckoning was coming. Treasury Sec. Hank Paulson (Bush) arranged this and other deals that benefited Goldman. Then Paulson invested $10 BILLION of US money in Goldman right after Buffett invested $5 billion, but at a much worse deal. Buffett got a $500 million annual dividend and the right to buy 11% of Goldman. The US paid $7 more a share but got the right to buy only 2%.

Goldman claims that the bank paid the money back with interest amounting to 22%. But, they didn't take into account the $13 billion they got by the US bailing out AIG. They got to pick when to pay off the debt to the US (they paid it back while the stock was at it's lowest.) The return was not commensurate with the huge risk the US took.

Goldman really didn't need this largess at all as it is extremely profitable. It made $39 BILLION in pretax profits between 2009-2011. Goldman made a profit of twenty-nine cents on every dollar in gross income (before operating expenses, etc.) Goldman made 1.5% of all the pretax profits made by all of the 6 million corporations in America.

Oh, there's ever so much more about Goldman. Next, I'll take up the bonuses.

[Leroy]

Since the bankers play by the rules created by the politicians, why not connect the bad things you have issues with to the actual politicians that enabled those bad things to happen - you know, complain about the source of the actual problem, not the symptoms of the problem.

[snakeoil]

Ah, Leroy. I was wondering when you would pop in with your negative comment. There are no good guys and bad guys in this mess I've been posting about. Both parties are stained by what I have written. Much of it has nothing to do with a particulat party; the beaurocrats and regulators deserve the blame.

[snakeoil]

Now let's talk about Goldman's infamous bonus system. In the years 2009-2011, Goldman paid bonuses of $44 billion to it's executives and traders. For each dollar of pretax profit Goldman paid out $1.12 in bonuses. Pretax profits and bonuses together mean that 61 cents of every dollar that came in the front stayed as profit or bonuses.

In 2009, Goldman's bonuses equaled 3/10th of all of the salaries, bonuses and wages paid in the USA. The average 2009 bonus equaled more than 10 years of wages for work at the average wage for the 99% of American workers who made less than $200,000 a year.

Eight years after 9/11 Goldman built a new office building that cost $2.1 billion. Goldman took out a mortgage of $1.65 billion. The mortgage was financed by Liberty Bonds that were supposed to stimulate the economy (Remember, Goldman had a huge part in crashing that economy.) Goldman's office building sucked up 1.5th of the Liberty Bond money that was available to rebuild lower Manhattan after 9/11. (Investors who bought the bonds enjoyed interest-free income on those bonds; state, federal and New York City.) The approval for Goldman's mortgage was rushed through in secret.

Greg Smith, a Goldman trader who had been with Goldman for 12 years resigned in disgust in Feb. 2012. He published an op-ed column in the New York Times. It's great reading and you can read it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opini ... d=all&_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In short Goldman is all about Goldman now and the main drive is to milk the customers (investors) for every penny they can.

Immediately after the first plane hit the Twin Towers, Goldman's oil trading desk mobilized to secure oil accounts to maximize profits from the coming world crisis. Trader Nomi Prins resigned in disgust at the callous attitude of Goldman.

Phil Angelides wrote a 545 page report on the financial crisis This report was healded as the complete report on the financial crisis. It has been largely ignored.

http://cybercemetery.unt.edu/archive/fc ... gov/report" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[snakeoil]

One thing to remember is that both Treasury Secretatries (Bush & Obama) are Goldman-sachs alumni.

[Leroy]

Ah, Leroy. I was wondering when you would pop in with your negative comment. There are no good guys and bad guys in this mess I've been posting about. Both parties are stained by what I have written. Much of it has nothing to do with a particulat party; the beaurocrats and regulators deserve the blame.

Snake, there you go again, I didn't mention any party. I mentioned the source of the problem, the politicians that created the regulations/laws that permit what you're complaining about - you only mention the result/symptom, you don't complain about the cause - the cause, without argument, is the politicians that passed the regulations/laws to enable what you're complaining about.

Now, notice how you've tried to distract, making it about party, when I've clearly not mentioned or even hinted at any party.

[snakeoil]

There are no good guys and bad guys in this mess I've been posting about.

Party? This statement would seem to include everyone. I've made a point in above posts to include regulators and beaurocrats in this boondoggle.

Both parties are stained by what I have written.

Yes party is mentioned here but not to single out parties as the sole culprets. Beaurocrats, regulators, Congressmen, Senators and those who blindly follow the one political philosophy that they want in power are all to blame for this mess we are in. It is a sad fact of our electorate that most people do not know who their Congressman is, or that a 40% turnout in an election is a huge turnout, or that money is the deciding force in politics, or that a single issue is the decider of whether we vote for someone or not, or that to win an election we must destroy our opponent,

It is strangle that no one has asked why I am posting these facts (all true) that show how we are being screwed daily by corporations and state and federal governments. The reason is,I am hoping to piss off the readers of these facts so that they begin to realize what is happening and hopefully they will begin to take action to determine their own destiny and stop the above mentioned culprits from destroying the country.

Sadely, I think I am failing. The post that showed that the NFL is tax exempt, (thanks to Congress) although they made billions, didn't even raise a whimper from the board.

[Leroy]

It is strangle that no one has asked why I am posting these facts (all true) that show how we are being screwed daily by corporations and state and federal governments. The reason is,I am hoping to piss off the readers of these facts so that they begin to realize what is happening and hopefully they will begin to take action to determine their own destiny and stop the above mentioned culprits from destroying the country.

Sadely, I think I am failing. The post that showed that the NFL is tax exempt, (thanks to Congress) although they made billions, didn't even raise a whimper from the board.

You're failing because your message isn't pointing at the CAUSE of the problem, only the Symptoms of the problem, and people are tried of hearing about the abuse when nothing is being done. If you want to post facts, then post facts that are relative to the CAUSE, not facts of the results. Everyone knows the results, it's the same all over, all of history, etc... What are you going to solve by crying about the symptoms? Nothing, you have to identify the cause - and that cause is the voters, the people that reward the politicians that make themselves wealthy, powerful, lords, and the stupid voters keep putting them back in office (the reward).

If you want to solve the problem, vote the bastards out and tell them why. The next one will be afraid, and "may" actually do something to correct the problem, and if not, vote that bastard out and tell him why... Oh, and the ones you vote in, keep reminding them WHY they were voted in and the old guard replaced.

[snakeoil]

Leroy-your reply has a lot of good points. BUT...Voters have stopped thinking about the candidates and only vote party. Look at the Tea Party (whether you agree with them or not.) They are heavily older citizens and love Social security and Medicare (although not Medicaid.) yet they overwhelmingly support ultra-conservative candidates who want to do away with SS and Medicare. Where is the rational thinking there?

In my state, Maryland, the electorate is overwhelmingly Democratic. We elect a Republican occasionally but kick them out after one term. We have a Governor now that has been running for President for the past eight years by being a friend to the "down-trodden" and giving the state's resources away. He raises taxes by raising fees. He never passes up a chance to be on MSNBC.

As for not attacking the cause; the cause should be obvious. These rules and regulations and budjets (or lack thereof) don't come out of thin air. Again, the voters have no idea of what their state capital is doing. They have no idea what their federal government leaders are doing. Look at the past Congresses. Would any of us keep our job if our perforemance was equal to what Congress' was. Whether you are Libertarian, liberal (they like to call it Progressive now,) or conservative, you are not being served by your elected representatives and won't be until the electorate learns to force government to do what they were elected to do.

[Leroy]

Leroy-your reply has a lot of good points. BUT...Voters have stopped thinking about the candidates and only vote party. Look at the Tea Party (whether you agree with them or not.) They are heavily older citizens and love Social security and Medicare (although not Medicaid.) yet they overwhelmingly support ultra-conservative candidates who want to do away with SS and Medicare. Where is the rational thinking there?

I don't think you understand that tea-party - Taxed Enough Already - they are fed up with ever increasing and ever wasted taxes. Social Security was never meant to be a means to live, it was something in ADDITION to your savings and retirement planning. Medicare was a bad idea that got worse - it's a massive tax abuse. Tea Party members are not HEAVILY OLDER, they are both Democrat/Republican and Libertarian in alignment, but they are against taxing to the point of abuse. Most of them are people that earn above 30k per year. The largest age range is between 30-64 years with more people under 50 supporting the TEA party than any others. Most of them work full time and have No or Some college.

As for not attacking the cause; the cause should be obvious. These rules and regulations and budjets (or lack thereof) don't come out of thin air. Again, the voters have no idea of what their state capital is doing. They have no idea what their federal government leaders are doing. Look at the past Congresses. Would any of us keep our job if our perforemance was equal to what Congress' was. Whether you are Libertarian, liberal (they like to call it Progressive now,) or conservative, you are not being served by your elected representatives and won't be until the electorate learns to force government to do what they were elected to do.

You have it right, in that the voters have no idea, but, they've been trained by liberal think to not think, to blame others, to depend on government, and that's their own failing - we need to start blaming the voters for this problem, they caused it, they let it continue, and they need to start hearing the true cause of these problems. Constantly blaming the Banks or Businesses is a liberal tactic to distract/mislead the voters, so that the politicians can keep doing what makes them wealthy/powerful.

At the same time, these same moron voters want to do away with the one thing that lets the people control government - the 2nd Amendment. Our founding fathers knew that people become lazy and stupid, and that all governments become fascist, and they wrote the 2nd Amendment to allow the people, when all else has failed, the power to restore honor and integrity to government - but the people don't hear about how stupid they are, they don't see that they are the cause of this corruption, they don't see it because they are blind because of their apathy.

Even some of your tone shows that you accept it, the apathy, by making excuses for them, by posting complaints about the symptoms, by not calling on the source of the problem.

[snakeoil]

For those that wish to keep up with your government, a very good site is VoteSmart.org. It bends over backwards to avoid being partisan and is as complete as any site I have ever visited. It even goes into the voting records of every elected official, (state, federal) the bills presently before the House and Senate, and the complete text of every bill as it goes through Congress and the final version.

http://votesmart.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[snakeoil]

We're getting a bit off-topic here but I had to answer Leroy about the reason for the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment was placed in the Constitution not to prevent the rise of tyrannical government by arming the citizenry, but to maintain an existing brutal police state.

The slave-holding South existed only as long as the slaves were prevented from rising in rebellion against their masters. To maintain control, the states formed armed militias, requiring white men between the ages of 18 to 45 to serve as slave patrollers.

The militias would inspect the slave quarters for weapons and seek out and punish anyone suspected of plotting a rebellion.

The South feared that by ratifying the Constitution to form a strong central government, they would lose control of the state militias. To secure the votes of the southern states for ratification, a compromise was needed.

So at the request of Patrick Henry and George Mason, James Madison drafted the Second Amendment to read: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well-armed, and well-regulated militia being the best security of a free COUNTRY but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.”

The southerners objected, so Madison changed the wording to the present version. “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free STATE, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The Founders did know the difference between state and country, as in the 10th amendment.

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/opinio ... f887a.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Corvalis, Oregon

[Leroy]

We're getting a bit off-topic here but I had to answer Leroy about the reason for the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment was placed in the Constitution not to prevent the rise of tyrannical government by arming the citizenry, but to maintain an existing brutal police state.
...
George Novak
Corvallis

Ah, yes, quoting a far left liberal, from what I've read of his other articles, to try and distract and misdirect. The fact that almost every reference anyone can find, from the founding fathers, contradicts Georges claim seems to have no influence on you.

There was nothing about Slaves in the intent of the 2nd, not in their writings anywhere, it was about what they had just fought for - freedom from an oppressive/fascist government.

Your bias is showing, strongly.

[snakeoil]

Come on Leroy. I am a veteran and the weapons that we had then, although they were considered state-of-the-art then, would be considered stone age weapons to today's military. You really can't think you're going to take on a modern military with hunting rifles and the so-called assault rifles that the gun manufacturers say will make you invincible do you? You're going to stand next to the highway and pick off the professional military? As I said, I am a veteran but I freely admit that I wouldn't last fifteen minutes against today's military.

1. Communications that are available to you are stone age compared to the military.

2. Modern drones have heat seeking capability to find you and can be weaponixed.

3. Our satellites can pick out your facial features from space and pinpoint your location.

4. Our modern warplanes can find you and destroy you from many miles away.

5. Modern militay tactics are much more advanced than even ten years ago.

[snakeoil]

Back to subject.

The latest method of gouging the consumer is the "checkout fee" for using your card to buy items; this is above the annual fee, the usurious interest rates (that we used to send the Mafia to jail for charging). This is an outgrowth if a class-action lawsuit brought by retailers against the credit card companies for price fixing credit card fees to retailers. The credit card companies paid a $7 million fine. The "checkout fee" will be between 1-3%. Never let an extra fee get away from you.

[Leroy]

Snake, you list a bunch of things that show you must have been a desk-jocky if you were actually in the service. What you don't seem to get is that our military is made up, mostly, with people that have sworn to protect the country, not the politicians, and that most of them would not fire on citizens with the intent of restoring the government to an ethical foundation.

None of those things you mention mean much when the people operating them won't fire on citizens that want to RESTORE THE FOUNDATION OF GOVERNMENT.

Oh, and they can only get so many of us, we outnumber the military and hold more areas than the military, not to mention that more than half of the military won't fire on citizens no matter what the liberals/democrats demand them to do.

[snakeoil]

A bit off topic but...

The story told us of a pharmaceutical giant called Amgen and three senators so close to it they might be entries on its balance sheet: Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and that powerful committee’s ranking Republican, Orrin Hatch. A trio of perpetrators who treat the United States Treasury as if it were a cash-and-carry annex of corporate America.

The Times story described how Amgen got a huge hidden gift from unnamed members of Congress and their staffers. They slipped an eleventh hour loophole into the New Year’s Eve deal that kept the government from going over the fiscal cliff. When the sun rose in the morning, there it was, a richly embroidered loophole for Amgen that will cost taxpayers a cool half a billion dollars.

Amgen is the world’s largest biotechnology firm, a drug maker that sells a variety of medications. The little clause secretly sneaked into the fiscal cliff bill gives the company two more years of relief from Medicare cost controls for certain drugs used by patients who are on kidney dialysis, including a pill called Sensipar, manufactured by Amgen.The story told us of a pharmaceutical giant called Amgen and three senators so close to it they might be entries on its balance sheet: Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and that powerful committee’s ranking Republican, Orrin Hatch. A trio of perpetrators who treat the United States Treasury as if it were a cash-and-carry annex of corporate America.

The Times story described how Amgen got a huge hidden gift from unnamed members of Congress and their staffers. They slipped an eleventh hour loophole into the New Year’s Eve deal that kept the government from going over the fiscal cliff. When the sun rose in the morning, there it was, a richly embroidered loophole for Amgen that will cost taxpayers a cool half a billion dollars.

Amgen is the world’s largest biotechnology firm, a drug maker that sells a variety of medications. The little clause secretly sneaked into the fiscal cliff bill gives the company two more years of relief from Medicare cost controls for certain drugs used by patients who are on kidney dialysis, including a pill called Sensipar, manufactured by Amgen.

http://www.nationofchange.org/foul-play ... 1359210633" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[snakeoil]

Leroy:

Snake, you list a bunch of things that show you must have been a desk-jocky if you were actually in the service. What you don't seem to get is that our military is made up, mostly, with people that have sworn to protect the country, not the politicians, and that most of them would not fire on citizens with the intent of restoring the government to an ethical foundation.

Definately not a desk jockey and, yes, I was in the service and proud of it.

[Leroy]

Leroy:

Snake, you list a bunch of things that show you must have been a desk-jocky if you were actually in the service. What you don't seem to get is that our military is made up, mostly, with people that have sworn to protect the country, not the politicians, and that most of them would not fire on citizens with the intent of restoring the government to an ethical foundation.

Definately not a desk jockey and, yes, I was in the service and proud of it.

Then why do you think the Military members would use all of those things against an uprising against the POLITICIANS in a movement to restore the country/government?

[snakeoil]

The Whiskey Rebellion, the abuses of loyalists in the Revolutionary War, Firing on Detroit Union workers, Kent State, Sending US Troops too close to neclear tests and causing illness and death, test LSD on unknowing US citizens, Wouned Knee Reservation Massacre (I & II), annililation of the Indian Nations,

Other than military BUT...not all fired upon but all abused Ruby ridge, Waco, World Trade Center beatings, Occupy tear gasings and beatings, Democratic Convention beatings and illegal arrests, police breaking up and restricting legal protests.

[snakeoil]

I forgot the several use of troops to quell protests by miners.

[Leroy]

You're misdirecting and being dishonest again.

Those instances are National Guard, and they are instances of a very small number of people, and they are mostly about violence that has nothing to do with the foundation of this country.

Do you really liken the OWS terrorists to people that want to see integrity restored to the country?

Do you really liken the Stikers to people that want to see integrity restored to the country?

Again, there is a big difference between National Guard and Military, one was almost always part time, couple weeks a year, poorly trained, the Wanna-Be military types, the other is full-time, doing it all the time, well trained, doesn't mistake a politician for country.

The troops, regular military, have already stated, in mass, that they won't fire on civilians trying to restore integrity to our country by removing the corrupt politicians.

[snakeoil]

A bit off topic again But...for those wondering why gas (oil) prices are so high, there is a pretty good article on The Oil drum website.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/9789#more" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RealJustme]

A bit off topic again But...for those wondering why gas (oil) prices are so high, there is a pretty good article on The Oil drum website.

You’re unlikely to hear any of this from either side of the political aisle, of course. Democrats will mimic the President by pushing “green energy” plans that are mostly Solyndra-like boondoggles. The Obama Administration have more than doubled regulations and restrictions on energy producers while driving there operational cost sky high, which has resulted in gas prices doubling since Obama was elected. In fact all forms of energy including electricity and natural gas continues to break record highs and is one of the driving factors which has resulted in the loss of jobs.

[Leroy]

Just for Snake: It seems that the Obama Administration is far worse than the banks you're complaining about, they approve raises for executives in companies that are failing or still owe the tax payers money:


The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said Treasury approved all 18 requests it received last year to raise pay for executives at American International Group Inc., General Motors Corp. and Ally Financial Inc. Of those requests, 14 were for $100,000 or more; the largest raise was $1 million.

Treasury also allowed pay packages totaling $5 million or more for nearly a quarter of the executives at those firms, the report says.

Also noted: A $200,000 raise was approved for an executive of Ally's mortgage-lending subsidiary Residential Capital LLC just weeks before ResCap filed for bankruptcy protection. Ally was GM's financial arm until it was taken over by the government in the bailout.

[snakeoil]

The Real Story Of How 'Untouchable' Wall Street Execs Avoided Prosecution

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-wall ... ted-2013-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Leroy]

"Worst of all, Obama justice officials both shielded and feted these Wall Street oligarchs (who, just by the way, overwhelmingly supported Obama's 2008 presidential campaign) as they simultaneously prosecuted and imprisoned powerless Americans for far more trivial transgressions."

[snakeoil]

One "gotcha" from our friendly guys down in Washington. Our tax code is 19,000 pages long. Americans spend $60 billion a year to pay someone to prepare their taxes. The operating budget of the IRS (Infernal Revenue Service) is $12 billion. By minor tweeks to the tax code, the need for filing could be eliminatied. The government has all of the information to determine whether you paid what is owed; they could just send you a bill or a refund electronically. Many countries use this system now. Intuit (Quicken, TurboTax) has full-time lobbyists working to prevent any simplification of the tax code. TurboTax has a 70% share of the tax software market.

BUT...Envision this. Say an oil pipeline accident kills several people. Good old Senator Goodfellow proposes a bill to ensure that pipeline safety is enhanced. When the bill is passed, buried deep on page 2017 is a provision raising the tax rate by 10%.

[snakeoil]

Leroy- A post I can agree with. Obama has shielded the Wall Street criminals even though there is overwhelmingly evidence that criminal activity and conspiracy was engaged in. There is a small cry from the people about the lack of prosecution of those responsible for the new collapse of the world's financial health.

[snakeoil]

A bit off the topic about bankers but interesting.

U.S. wireless consumers pay an average 17.18% in taxes and fees on their cell phone bill, including 11.36% in state and local charges, according to a newly released study that identifies and calculates wireless taxes and fees.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog ... tion-.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;