The following cutting comes from a recent Bloomberg article (here: goo.gl/ngVjc ) reporting on the real amount of money the Federal Reserve “loaned” to banks back when the financial shit first hit the fan (seen in the above screencap from last Thursday’s Daily Show which was running footage from CNN):

“The amount of money the central bank parceled out was surprising even to Gary H. Stern, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 1985 to 2009, who says he “wasn’t aware of the magnitude.” It dwarfed the Treasury Department’s better-known $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Add up guarantees and lending limits, and the Fed had committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year.”

What is also disappointing to me is the Daily Show’s reference to the Federal Reserve as part of the USG. Effectively, it is not. It is run by a board that is appointed by the POTUS (read more on Wikipedia here: goo.gl/DICqs ) and we all know how money-smart recent Oval Office Inhabitants have been (they usually take advice from industry insiders and are never critical of Fed policy or behavior). So if you have an effective idiot deciding who runs an agency of the government, it’s a bad idea to act like said agency can actually be controlled by the USG or, even less likely, by We the People.

While the Fed must appear at hearings in front of Congress (Wikipedia: goo.gl/fIQhk ), it must only do so twice a year and, as with the POTUS, one must wonder how said Congresspeople would be qualified to oversee such hearings. These are the same group that counted Ted “the Internet is a Series of Tubes” Stevens as a member. And even if there are people in the Senate and the House that do have a clue about money, remember the Fed only has to show up TWICE year. In odd years the Fed Chairman appears before the House and in even years, the Senate.

That really doesn’t sound like a lot of control the USG has over the Fed, does it? No wonder they could slip $7,770,000,000,000 by the USG. That’s about half the National Debt! What the fuck is wrong with our leaders? When that much money is loaned out, don’t think it has no effect on the value of the dollar. I can’t imagine that much new money getting paid back, either.

Of course, calling these “loans” at all is a joke since, as the Daily Show reported, the $7 trillion+ was loaned out with an interest rate of 0.01%! (go to the Bloomberg article here: goo.gl/ngVjc and find this fact underneath the “Below Market” heading.)

Saying this indicates a serious logical disconnect between what our leaders’ priorities are and what they should be is an understatement. But allow me to explain how:

So, to keep these banks afloat, they basically give trillions to banks like it’s candy. Meanwhile, how many people die from a lack of adequate health care that they can’t get because they can’t afford it? Beyond that, how many people died this year of cancer, a disease that saw the USG throw less than $2 billion at it in 2010 (goo.gl/eHdOR )? This is a disease that one in three women will get and one in two men will get. I don’t know about you, but I’d happily trade huge banks for small ones and not get cancer, but hey, that’s not where the USG’s priorities are.

AMERICA: Where we save the banks, save the corporations, indefinitely detain suspected terrorists and let the citizens die.

The Associated Press brings us a helpful roundup of fees charged to customers by major consumer banks.

Bank of America: “A new $5 fee to replace debit cards took effect in September; a rush overnight order costs $20. Previously, both services were free.”

Chase: “In February, Chase introduced a new basic checking account with a $12 monthly fee, up from the previous $6. The fee is waived for customers who make direct deposits that total $500 a month or maintain a minimum balance of $1,500.”

Citibank: “Starting in December, Citi said it will raise the fee on its basic checking account to $10 a month, up from $8. Customers will have to maintain a balance of at least $1,500 or sign up for direct deposit and online bill pay to avoid the fee.”

Wells Fargo: “The bank also plans to test a $3 monthly debit card fee starting Oct. 14. The fee will be applied to checking accounts opened in Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. The fee would be in addition to the fees ranging from $5 to $30 that Wells Fargo already charges.”

It’s a real shame banks have completely lost sight of what they’re core job is: to take our money and loan it to other people with interest.  That interest is supposed to be how they make money.  They’re not supposed to charge us so they can make money off of our money.  It’s that sense of entitlement that the rich always accuse everyone else of having.  So blatantly hypocritical.

But not all banks are abusive like this.  I switched to an online bank which charges no fees period and, in fact, pays me interest. I’ve made 70¢ since I signed up in April. How much has your checking account made you?

The bank is called Ally.  They used to be GMAC but rebranded at some point.  They’ve been good to me so far.  It’s a huge pain in the ass to deposit money, though.  You have to mail a check in or do a wire transfer.  I have an account with Square and it still takes a week (or so) to see the money, though Square claims a “next-day payout” on their site.  I suppose I could transfer money from my Paypal account, but that would take 3 days still.

One of the nice things about Ally is that they refund all ATM fees.  Since they don’t have any ATMs, you’re going to get charged for using other banks’ ATMs but this bank will refund those fees at the end of the month.  So, there are alternatives to the BABs (Big Asshole Banks).

The sad thing is that I tried to go to a local bank—as in, a bank that only exists in the city I live in.  Sadly, they wouldn’t let me open an account because I didn’t have a state ID at the time.  This is a very odd requirement as Washington Mutual, a bank with ATMs all over the country, didn’t seem to mind my California ID when I opened my checking account with them back in 2008.  Of course, WaMu got swallowed whole by Chase, whom I left earlier this year because they added fees.

We’re facing a world that is less and less favorable for the individual.  But there are choices you can make that can save you money.  You just have to hunt for them.

Bank of America: “A new $5 fee to replace debit cards took effect in September; a rush overnight order costs $20. Previously, both services were free.”

Chase: “In February, Chase introduced a new basic checking account with a $12 monthly fee, up from the previous $6. The fee is waived for customers who make direct deposits that total $500 a month or maintain a minimum balance of $1,500.”

Citibank: “Starting in December, Citi said it will raise the fee on its basic checking account to $10 a month, up from $8. Customers will have to maintain a balance of at least $1,500 or sign up for direct deposit and online bill pay to avoid the fee.”

Wells Fargo: “The bank also plans to test a $3 monthly debit card fee starting Oct. 14. The fee will be applied to checking accounts opened in Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. The fee would be in addition to the fees ranging from $5 to $30 that Wells Fargo already charges.”

It’s a real shame banks have completely lost sight of what they’re core job is: to take our money and loan it to other people with interest.  That interest is supposed to be how they make money.  They’re not supposed to charge us so they can make money off of our money.  It’s that sense of entitlement that the rich always accuse everyone else of having.  So blatantly hypocritical.

But not all banks are abusive like this.  I switched to an online bank which charges no fees period and, in fact, pays me interest. I’ve made 70¢ since I signed up in April. How much has your checking account made you?

The bank is called Ally.  They used to be GMAC but rebranded at some point.  They’ve been good to me so far.  It’s a huge pain in the ass to deposit money, though.  You have to mail a check in or do a wire transfer.  I have an account with Square and it still takes a week (or so) to see the money, though Square claims a “next-day payout” on their site.  I suppose I could transfer money from my Paypal account, but that would take 3 days still.

One of the nice things about Ally is that they refund all ATM fees.  Since they don’t have any ATMs, you’re going to get charged for using other banks’ ATMs but this bank will refund those fees at the end of the month.  So, there are alternatives to the BABs (Big Asshole Banks).

The sad thing is that I tried to go to a local bank—as in, a bank that only exists in the city I live in.  Sadly, they wouldn’t let me open an account because I didn’t have a state ID at the time.  This is a very odd requirement as Washington Mutual, a bank with ATMs all over the country, didn’t seem to mind my California ID when I opened my checking account with them back in 2008.  Of course, WaMu got swallowed whole by Chase, whom I left earlier this year because they added fees.

We’re facing a world that is less and less favorable for the individual.  But there are choices you can make that can save you money.  You just have to hunt for them.

“we also need to recognize that we all have a responsibility to do our part and rebuild our communities and rebuild our lives, beginning with rebuilding our own financial literacy so we can move our own family onto safer financial ground. Because this is financial warfare. The credit card companies, the mortgage companies that have been offering us, supposedly, a ticket to the good life, are really filling their contracts with tricks and traps, charging usury rates, 28, 29, 30 percent on our credit cards, and basically undermining the very idea of the American dream.”

—

Tavis Smiley . Shows . Arianna Huffington . September 20, 2010 | PBS

I’ve always been a fan of Arianna Huffington (even if I hate her website) and once again, she speaks the truth, even if it is a pretty obvious truth to anyone smart/cynical enough to look past the wishful thinking all of us did when signing up for a credit card.  Her mention of interest rates made me think of something I heard Robert Scheer say on Democracy Now yesterday:

So, you know, something that the Bible scripture calls for, whether you’re Hebraic, Christian or a Muslim tradition, usury is condemned. It’s condemned far more than anything else in the Bible. And yet, you know, if you dare suggest we not charge 35 percent interest to somebody on their credit card, my God, no, that can’t be.

Yeah, I always forget about how, if you’re a good Christian, Jew or Muslim, you should never charge interest or be willing to pay it, really.  That’s what usury is—or at least, that’s what it was.  Once greed kicked in and money became more important than the Bible or God, usury became excessive interest.  So, imagine if “thou shalt not kill” became “thou shalt not kill, very often.”  It’s sort of like that—ridiculous.

But now our entire economy is based on usury.  The Federal Reserve loans money to the US economy and the US economy has to pay it back with interest.  That money is then loaned out by banks to us with interest.

Huffington is right, but it’s not just with credit card contracts and mortgages. It’s with all money period—every dollar in our pocket or digit in our bank account represents money borrowed ultimately from the Fed for a fee.

And we are never taught this growing up. Well, I know I wasn’t.  We didn’t have so much as a section in Home Ec class in how to balance a checkbook.  I can, however, make a killer egg-in-a-frame, to this day.