An old idea that’s new again, and again.
March 10, 2018 1:30 PM Subscribe
On the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial meltdown, a Bipartisan coalition of senators is on the verge of rolling back the protections and regulations put in place after the start of the Great Recession (New Republic), with ‘House Republicans warming up to the idea.’ (The Hill). With Amazon wanting to be your bank too (CNBC) and Bank of America ending its free checking service (Slate), and old idea that had a revival around 2015 is bubbling back into consciousness: Postal Banking (The Atlantic). The Campaign For Postal Banking. But what about going further? What would divestment from large commercial banks look like? What is public banking?
Previously
Previously
The Dems who are mad that Elizabeth Warren is calling them out sound so utterly full of crap.
posted by Space Coyote at 3:54 PM on March 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Space Coyote at 3:54 PM on March 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
sound so utterly full of crap
I wouldn't say they sound full of crap.
posted by Ickster at 3:57 PM on March 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
I wouldn't say they sound full of crap.
posted by Ickster at 3:57 PM on March 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
What's the role of credit unions in all this? The divestment article mentions them to say "Credit unions are difficult to join in most cases", but that hasn't been my experience. It seems to me that credit unions should have some role to play, especially since they're already well established in a lot of places.
posted by quaking fajita at 4:41 PM on March 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by quaking fajita at 4:41 PM on March 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
yes postal banking! love it. hadn't heard of this before. and public banking wonderful! yes and yes.
i also am credit union member and have found it quite easy... not sure why they mention that its difficult...
posted by danjo at 5:11 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
i also am credit union member and have found it quite easy... not sure why they mention that its difficult...
posted by danjo at 5:11 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I left a commercial bank to join a credit union. Like others here, I don't why they think it's difficult to join one. There are a few that have stringent joining status, like the Federal CU my mother joined years ago, but quite a lot are easy to join. And I think the UK Postal System has a banking method and it's worked well. I read a book years ago by a former banker whose first rule said "never put your money in a bank." Can't remember the author, but I agree with him that we need better options.
posted by MovableBookLady at 5:36 PM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by MovableBookLady at 5:36 PM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Democrats love to complain about being "sabotaged" by the left. They should consider not making it so appealing.
posted by bookman117 at 3:32 AM on March 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by bookman117 at 3:32 AM on March 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
"The financial crisis: a decade of debt", a five minute video put out on the Youtube channel of the Financial Times late last year. (Summarizing at a much higher level than Dodd-Frank or any specific response to the crisis.)
posted by XMLicious at 5:19 AM on March 11, 2018
posted by XMLicious at 5:19 AM on March 11, 2018
If financial services firms are too big to be allowed to fail, then it makes perfect sense to leaverage an existing network of physical offices with highly-trained staff, POS & credit experience, and widespread trust in order to deliver this vital service.
Or isn’t it that vital and should we have let more of those shitty, predatory banks go under [he asks innocently]?
posted by wenestvedt at 5:56 AM on March 11, 2018
Or isn’t it that vital and should we have let more of those shitty, predatory banks go under [he asks innocently]?
posted by wenestvedt at 5:56 AM on March 11, 2018
For all the people who get mad when I say I don’t trust Democrats: This is why. Obviously the Republicans are worse and obviously people like Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown are fighting the good fight, but come on! Tim Kaine was the last nominee for VP for fucks sake! You can tell who really calls the shots in the party.
I want to trust Democrats; I really do. But I just can’t when they pull bullshit like this.
posted by eagles123 at 7:51 AM on March 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
I want to trust Democrats; I really do. But I just can’t when they pull bullshit like this.
posted by eagles123 at 7:51 AM on March 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Kaine and Warner are my senators.
They are both getting very unhappy calls on Monday.
posted by KaizenSoze at 9:06 AM on March 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
They are both getting very unhappy calls on Monday.
posted by KaizenSoze at 9:06 AM on March 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeesh.
When someone uses terms like "regulatory relief" I think it's a pretty good clue that they're on the side of the bad guys. I mean, seriously, does anyone seriously believe that rural banks are drowning in regulations that are costing them any significant (legitimate) profits?
I'll entertain, theoretically, the idea that regulations can be onerous. But I think the US banking industry is far from over regulated. I'd argue the opposite, in fact. Not just the big players, but the little ones too.
Remember the Savings & Loan crisis? That wasn't brought about by banking giants, it was created by the little banks.
Of course no Democrat is going to get up and say that they're voting to deregulate banks because they really like the campaign contributions from the banks, or that they're voting to deregulate banks because they're in risky seats and think this vote might buy them some Republican voters in November.
But I note that I'm automatically assuming dishonesty on the part of the Democrats who are voting for this bill because at this point I'm simply incapable of believing that any US bank, whether Goldman Sachs or a small rural bank, is over regulated and needs "regulatory relief".
The problem is that money is power. And that both means it needs to be regulated, and that regulating it is damn hard. Our current crop of Democrats is clearly not up to the task.
And I think that's going to hurt us in the long run. Not just in the immediate sense that the impending deregulation is basically begging the banks to repeat the 2008 crash, but in the political sense that people who have economic grievances are not going to see allies in the Democrats and will be less inclined to vote Democratic.
Right populism is on the rise, and the leaders of the Democratic Party have decided that the best possible response is to double down on their oath of fealty to big money.
posted by sotonohito at 5:27 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
When someone uses terms like "regulatory relief" I think it's a pretty good clue that they're on the side of the bad guys. I mean, seriously, does anyone seriously believe that rural banks are drowning in regulations that are costing them any significant (legitimate) profits?
I'll entertain, theoretically, the idea that regulations can be onerous. But I think the US banking industry is far from over regulated. I'd argue the opposite, in fact. Not just the big players, but the little ones too.
Remember the Savings & Loan crisis? That wasn't brought about by banking giants, it was created by the little banks.
Of course no Democrat is going to get up and say that they're voting to deregulate banks because they really like the campaign contributions from the banks, or that they're voting to deregulate banks because they're in risky seats and think this vote might buy them some Republican voters in November.
But I note that I'm automatically assuming dishonesty on the part of the Democrats who are voting for this bill because at this point I'm simply incapable of believing that any US bank, whether Goldman Sachs or a small rural bank, is over regulated and needs "regulatory relief".
The problem is that money is power. And that both means it needs to be regulated, and that regulating it is damn hard. Our current crop of Democrats is clearly not up to the task.
And I think that's going to hurt us in the long run. Not just in the immediate sense that the impending deregulation is basically begging the banks to repeat the 2008 crash, but in the political sense that people who have economic grievances are not going to see allies in the Democrats and will be less inclined to vote Democratic.
Right populism is on the rise, and the leaders of the Democratic Party have decided that the best possible response is to double down on their oath of fealty to big money.
posted by sotonohito at 5:27 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
10 years after the crash, the institutions that created it are bigger and more powerful than ever
Trends in income change over life in 1940: the likelihood that a child will earn more then thier parents at record low (PDF)
posted by The Whelk at 10:59 AM on March 12, 2018
Trends in income change over life in 1940: the likelihood that a child will earn more then thier parents at record low (PDF)
posted by The Whelk at 10:59 AM on March 12, 2018
Multinationals pay less in taxes then they did ten years ago
posted by The Whelk at 3:59 PM on March 12, 2018
posted by The Whelk at 3:59 PM on March 12, 2018
from a european perspective...
-A familiar yet strange type of bank: "The raison d’être of community lenders"
-Do we still need community banks? "As market failures evolve, so must lending institutions"
also btw...
-Stephanie Kelton explains how the government budget affects the economy and the mechanics of student debt forgiveness
-"Love the Bank Job project that uses creativity to get us to rethink debt. They've created a pop up in a former bank, printed their own currency, are hosting a load of events & are making Bank Job: The Movie."
posted by kliuless at 6:09 AM on March 13, 2018
-A familiar yet strange type of bank: "The raison d’être of community lenders"
-Do we still need community banks? "As market failures evolve, so must lending institutions"
also btw...
-Stephanie Kelton explains how the government budget affects the economy and the mechanics of student debt forgiveness
-"Love the Bank Job project that uses creativity to get us to rethink debt. They've created a pop up in a former bank, printed their own currency, are hosting a load of events & are making Bank Job: The Movie."
posted by kliuless at 6:09 AM on March 13, 2018
The benefits of postal banking are too big to ignore
posted by The Whelk at 11:48 AM on April 3, 2018
posted by The Whelk at 11:48 AM on April 3, 2018
Podcast: Going Postal and Going Local - It's Our Money with Ellen Brown
posted by kliuless at 5:05 AM on April 4, 2018
posted by kliuless at 5:05 AM on April 4, 2018
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posted by Thorzdad at 2:12 PM on March 10, 2018 [6 favorites]