Pottersville

Troubled Asses Relief Program – the bankers can let out a sigh of relief. Their precious bonuses and salary are intact.Now they can get back to their primary work, wringing every last drop of interest out of the people whose homes the over financed in the last few years.I think the RICO laws ought to apply here. We need an asses smack down of the first order.If the gov’mnt would have sent the same money to the people with troubled loans or just allowed re-adjusting the mortgage values to reality, the banks would still have gotten the money. People would pay down their mortgages, or paid on time and buy stuff again.These guys get to have the TARP funds and still go after all we owe em without owning their own incompetence.Yes – those of us who refinanced our homes took the risk as well. But we somehow don’t have the clout of these CEAs. (Chief Executive Asses)

Bob,Why is this surprising? We as American citizens have become apathetic. We actually expect President Obama’s admin to change things. But that’s the problem; we expect SOMEONE ELSE to do it for us. President Obama will be the calmest, coolest, most outreaching President we’ve had in a long time. But he can’t do it alone, and he certainly cannot bring change when citizens are too damn apathetic to give a crap.Here’s what’s happening in America right now:Every one of these banks is still gathering new accounts, and old clients are keeping their money with these “criminals”. If America really cared, we’d take our money away from these assmasters, and find a local bank that didn’t receive bailout money to pay Christmas bonuses. But, we won’t. Nope, instead, we’ll just gripe a little louder, and continue using our Capital One Master Card.Oh yeah, and all the while, we’ll ask President Obama why he hasn’t changed Washington yet. Not that he won’t try; I strongly believe he will. But I wonder, Bob…What is it going to do to Barack Obama, to hear that America wants change, so much so that we voted for him, and all the while, America isn’t willing to do one other thing to bring it about? How long will Barack Obama last in such an environment?President Kennedy’s famous “Ask not what your country can do for you” statement was truly inspired. In the end,though, it was really just a historical quote, because America did nothing, and Kennedy was killed.We live in a democracy, and I think that means it’s our responsibility to change things. When our government won’t listen to us, we change it. We started that by booting the Republicans. We’ll have to finish it by booting the Democrats. I know you and I don’t see eye to eye on that, but Bob, you have to admit that so far, all we’ve seen from the Democrat Congress of the last two years is lip service.Guys like Barney Frank are a dime a dozen in Washington. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi lead the Democrats. I ask you, where are we going with that? Are we really going to change things, or are we going to let Reid, Pelosi, and Frank do it for us? If they are our best hope, we’re all screwed.I say, we need to start doing it ourselves. We don’t need to wait for President Obama. We certainly shouldn’t wait for Reid and friends. There are things we can do ourselves, like pulling our money out of places like Wells Fargo, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs. Here in America, Bob, we also vote with our wallets.President Obama said “Change has come to America”. It hasn’t. It could come, but that’s up to us. President Obama is one man, and he rode a wave into Washington. That wave seems as if it has since turned against him, and swallowed him.It’s up to us, Bob. We spend too much time whining, and not enough time CHANGING.Maybe that shows us that we don’t really want change at all.

Sorry for the really, really long comment

>>Sorry for the really, really long commentDon’t think I missed the irony of this remark, given your previous “less whining, more action” comment.

Bob,Isn’t irony great?

Irony aside – what specifically can WE do about this?

cminri,Do you have a credit card with Capital One, or Wells Fargo, or any one of the larger financial institutions in America? If you do, they all received bailout money.Do you own Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds? Have any brokerage or money in Merrill Lynch? Pull it, all of it.I just switched all of my banking to a small, local bank a few weeks ago. I was with Wells Fargo. Little did I know that a business could have several accounts in a small bank, and not have to pay monthly fees to keep money in them. That’s right; Wells Fargo was charging me fees every month so that they could pay me .22% interest on balances. I had to pay them more in fees than they paid me in interest to use my money.My small local bank charges no fees for my business accounts, and interestingly enough, pays higher interest rates.That’s just a start.Think about getting involved in local politics. It doesn’t have to be anything big to start. I’m running for a town council seat next fall. I’ll do the job for free, if they let me. I think it would be an honor.Run for a school board seat. Organize awareness about issues that are important to you. Do something, anything. Every bit helps.

The Devil is sharpening his pitchfork in anticipation of these rat bastards’ demise.

First, sippin’ whiskey tonight, watching Napoleon Dynamite. The baby is getting over a stomach bug and is sleeping well so I’m in a great mood despite what’s happening in the world. I know everyone here can relate when I talk about an anger and frustration that builds constantly and has no pressure valve. Pooper, I’m enjoying your suggestions for feeling active, but my current deleterious yule joy aside, I am consumed with a near violent frustration with our country. I can’t understand these bonuses. I can’t understand how we’ve let all this money go without any bookkeeping. I can’t understand how my wife, a public school teacher who comes home in tears on a regular basis for more reasons there there is space here to recount, is considered the scourge of our society while CEOs are still admired, still respected, still not inflicted with any type of “merit pay”. Moreover, how are they not in jail?I enjoy the GDAB very much because of the community of frustrated folks. Even the arguments are rewarding because it’s the closes thing to a release I can find these days–politically that is. My wife and I just share our anger and frustration and our vitriol builds. So thanks everyone. Thanks Bob and Lee and so on.My point, surprisingly, is this: it is going to come to violence. These CEOs; these Wall St. types; these bankers; they are going to be punished by a public that can’t take it anymore. I’m not suggesting that should happen or that I endorse it or anyone here would either. I’m just saying, logically, the conclusion should be based on historical similarities–revolutions from tyranny.With that $700B, every single individual in this country could have been given a $2300 stimulus via a major bank credit card. The govt could pay off the balance through monthly minimums. That way, we wouldn’t have been able to pay off debt or stick it under a mattress like we did with the checks. The banks would have been guaranteed the interest over time. Money would have circulated. Instead, we handed it over to the devil.Anyway, I’m drinking and rambling and Napoleon is dancing. I work too fucking hard and try everyday to do right by my family and I’m getting to the point where these evil sons of bitches are pushing me over a thick, black, jagged, hate-filled, barbed line.