Document Reveal Top FDIC Personnel Ran Operation Choke Point The supposedly scandal-free Obama administration did some really shady stuff. Besides Operation Fast & Furious, one of the big examples was Operation Choke Point. The measure sought to throttle industries President Obama failed to approve of, including the firearm industry. Even today, we may still be seeing some of the fruits of that effort as we watch countless financial companies sever ties with companies that haven’t been accused of wrongdoing. New documents reveal just who was running the operation for the Obama White House, and it’s not who you might have thought. Last week brought new revelations regarding Operation Choke Point, the Obama administration’s effort to freeze politically disfavored businessesout of the financial system. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), who helped lead a multi-year effort to shut the program down, highlighted some of theses newest findings and pointed out that stopping Operation Choke Point is not a partisan issue. Luetkemeyer’s legislation to prevent a redo of Choke Point – The Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2017 – overwhelmingly passed the House, with only two nay votes. Operation Choke Point was an egregious affront to the rule of law, so it is good to see that so many lawmakers want to prevent a repeat. For those unfamiliar, Choke Point consisted of bureaucrats in several independent federal agencies taking it upon themselves to shut legal businesses – such as payday lenders and firearms dealers – out of the banking system. Given the nature of the U.S. regulatory framework, this operation was easy to pull off. Officials at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), for instance, simply had to inform the banks they were overseeing that the government considered certain types of their customers “high risk.” The mere implication of a threat was enough to pressure banks into closing accounts, because no U.S. bank wants anything to do with extra audits or investigations from their regulator, much less additional operating restrictions or civil and criminal charges. Banks are incredibly sensitive to any type of pressure from federal regulators, and they know that the regulators have enormous discretion. The new revelations are quite scary because they show exactly what federal regulators can do with that discretion – even to law-abiding citizens. As Rep. Luetkemeyer points out: In one example of blatant intimidation, a bank terminated its relationship with a legal business after threats from the FDIC. The bank eventually surrendered to the pressure, and when the bank notified the FDIC of the decision, they admitted that a risk assessment showed the business “pose[d] no significant risk to the financial institution, including financial, reputation, and legal risk,” yet they still terminated the banking relationship. For years, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency officials have continually denied any wrongdoing, yet in the newly-unsealed documents we see proof of a conscious decision to work in conjunction with the FDIC against payday lenders. However, payday lenders were far from the only ones dealing with this kind of fallout. The firearm industry has had to deal with this too, and things have only intensified since the Parkland massacre as progressive lawmakers have sought to push even harder on the financial industry. After years of Operation Choke Point, followed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s personal attacks against the firearm industry by threatening banks with new regulations–threats that work because of where these banks are headquartered–it’s not a surprise that many banks are cutting off gun-based businesses. This kind of crap needs to stop. Law-abiding businesses don’t need to be shut down through mischief by regulators. You either pass a law or you leave them alone. It’s that simple. The fact that they didn’t pass anything, though, is because they know this is BS. Heads need to roll over this one. They really do. Document Reveal Top FDIC Personnel Ran Operation Choke Point
Payday lenders should be shut down. Military are already prohibited from using them. Pay day loans used to be illegal in Virginia. I know of at least 1 person who went to jail because they got caught, before they were legal. As far as I can tell democrats made them legal.
Foes of the so-called "pay-day lenders" point to the high double and triple digit annual interest rates and consumers swept into never-ending cycles of debt as proof of the inherent evil in the practice of offering fast, short-term, high-interest access to small amounts of cash. Friends of payday lending, on the other hand, point to the genuine need it serves and argue that far from being a tool to oppress the poor, it is more often used as a stopgap for working and middle class earners in a bind. https://www.pymnts.com/in-depth/201...y-for-tribal-payday-lending-coming-to-an-end/ Debt and Tribal Payday Lenders - Daily Yonder An ex-employee of one tribal-affiliated lender testified the company secured post office boxes on tribal land to protect itself from attacks by consumer lawyers and government regulators. He claimed a manager told him: “They don’t touch us on Indian reservations.” Affiliating with tribes is just one method some payday lenders have used to skirt existing laws and oversight. Others have operated online payday lending sites from offshore headquarters. And still others have claimed that borrowers are actually paying for Internet access with a rebate. In Texas, payday lenders get around state interest-rate limits by calling themselves credit service organizations set up to help consumers repair their credit records. "Legal businesses" don't have to hide on tribal land or overseas, to avoid the Law, to do business......
Here's how payday lenders work: If a person is severely anemic, they can go to a payday lender and borrow a pint of blood. Then, next Friday, they have to pay back a quart of blood. If they just don't have it in them to make the payment, the next week they have to pay back a gallon. And so it goes. That doesn't mean that I think payday lenders should be made illegal and shut down. Hey, they're entitled to try to make a living by screwing people over, just like anyone else. Like televangelists, for example. It's as American as Apple pie, and what many, if not most, business do. I think they should be encouraged to set up on every corner and charge interest at thousands of per cent per week, Or day. They should all be given every opportunity to go bankrupt and lose every cent they have invested in their little rip-off shops. I also think that every kid, from the age of three right on up, should be thoroughly and completely educated in the way rip-off interest works, the how and why of predatory lenders do what they do, and how to starve them slap to death by NEVER buying what they have for sale. I also think that twice a year we should have National Payday Day, during which every person who has ever taken out a payday loan and regretted it, should be free to hunt down any and all payday lenders (including owners and employees), throw them down on the ground and carve the words "UNSATISFIED CUSTOMMMMMER" on their chest with a dull Roto-Zip. That's "CUSTOMMMMMER"--with five "M"s. Extra "N"s would be okay , too. I'm not writing this because I'm spiteful. I just love my Roto-Zip, and it worth taking out a small loan just to be able to use it twice a year, rain or shine. (Oops! Sorry! Got a little off-topic, there.)
Off topic, but related in the idea of how financial systems work. I'd settle for simple education about how interest works, especially when it's compounded.
I guess I don't have an opinion on the Payday Lenders since it is indeed is an legitimate business, although seems about as fair as the exorbitant charges from some shady Funeral Homes but does beg the question as how something like this could be legal and not prostitution between consenting adults? I'll never understand this country... However, the scary part is the Government performing these practices in the dark to shut down industries/businesses they don't agree with and I wonder why we have not heard of a Class Action law suit. I'm no lawyer be seems like a slam-dunk to me.
Between pay day loans and pawn shops the poor man that uses them will never see the light of day. I stoped by our towns pawn shop the other day and this man walked in and asked to pawn a 1911. The 1911 was brand new and he wanted $300.00 for his truck note,the pawn lady said she could not do that but she would go $200.00. If the boy does not come back she will sale the 1911 for $800.00 or better. There ought to be a law against that kind of robbery. People come in all the time and pay just the interest. They were laughing a while back about the guy that had payed nothing but interest for over a year old on a gun he had pawned for less than $200.00. I could not sleep at night doing people like that.
I have hope that Hell has a special place for those people who prey on those in desperate need of things. Payday loans, car title loans, Pawn shops, consumer credit and mortgage fraud, etc. What is even worse is that like bail bondsman and car repo people, some seem to get a lot of fun out of having the power to totally sc*** over people. I guess in the case of government over reach, a lot of power tripping and belief that they are some how above the law is also included. Bloomberg seems to think he has a God given right to make the world conform to his views.
Merkun touched on an interesting point. When Einstein was once asked what the most powerful force in the Universe was, he answered "Compound interest." Later, Some Famous Dude (can't remember the name) suggested that mankind's extinction will probably be due to the fact that we cannot instinctively understand compound interest.
