Banks: Lowering the Bar

To do business with your local bank, they require you to meet a higher standard.
You have to conform to their minimums and this usually means that you are capable of managing your own affairs and having a positive balance.

If they were only so scrupulous when it came to their own affairs.

What many may not realize is that banks and financial institutions have been skirting bankruptcy for some time and that current poor lending policies and the sub prime lending affair has pushed many close to the edge.

To remedy this lack of vision, or myopic view, the banks have sought out “allies,” or those who will bail them out.

What nobody seems ready to talk about is that when they do find these rescuers, they tend not to be from this country, but foreign countries…. And guess what? They are not individuals or corporations but the countries themselves.

Merrill Lynch for example is knee deep with Singapore. Others, like Morgan Stanley, other foreign governments.

Is this good for America?

When foreigners decide domestic investment and banking policy, it would seem to only add an unknown dimension to what is already a shaky proposition.

Ironically, it is the result of easing up on the regulations on banking which the institutions, themselves, have proposed.

So, now when you’re paying your usurious rates, you may ask yourself who the hell is my money going to? And you might be right in suspecting the Far East or the Gulf Region.

So picture this hypothesis, to pay for your oil, who’s profits go back to the Middle East, you might have to take an additional loan which is partially financed with Middle East money. In the end, the loaning country could benefit multiple ways while your bank holds on for dear life.

Not a pleasant prospect one might think.

But, remember, over all, we have supported American companies for their tendency to reward their officers for bad decisions which ultimately weaken the banks and make us dependent abroad as their obligations to foreign countries grows as we continue to pile up trade debt.

Huh?


And that’s only one way to look at it.

Les Aaron
The Contrarian

The Committee for Positive Change
http://www.Lesaaron.blogspot.com