Bad Banks and Buttheads

The sad and sorry events that conglomerate to make up The Great Recession are not remote or removed from us. They are not hypothetical or academic. They are happening to me, to you, to people we love and know and meet. This is--ultimate irony-- an illiberal and unprejudiced set of setbacks; open to all comers, the just and the unjust alike. Doesn't that make it just so impossible to grasp the rationale behind policies and pronouncements from the reactionary right?! I'm almost speechless, but only almost. A couple of personal stories and a well-earned award--just got to get these off my chest.

The first thing a young man of my distant acquaintance found in his brand new mailbox during his first orientation week at college in late '90's was an application for a credit card--Holy Magic Crap, free money! The Grail. College definitely had the shit beat out of high school. He hid the application away in a drawer under his new Abercrombie boxer shorts for a few days, pondering whether to ask his parents about it or even whether it was safe to handle.  He took it out once and filled in the information blanks, then put it away. He took it out again and signed on the bottom line; the card company only asked for his signature--could that be right?--and hid it away again. There was the fine print, the interest rate, but those numbers had no meaning yet. Finally, he queried some of the less obviously insane freshmen on his dorm hall, and heard, "Dude, you haven't sent yours in yet?! Mine's already come. My roommate got an application at a booth at orientation. Check it out!"

Fast forward about twelve years. Whizz right on past the day the collection agency reached his family and the panicked pay-off they were forced to negotiate--shudder; faster, please. Past graduation, a special technical training program, a year of internship, a job search, and three years on the job. Past an engagement, the purchase of a first home, the trade-in of an old car for a less-old car. Past the day the market tanked, taking our futures with it. Past the anticipated, dreaded demise of  his job when his employer just closed up shop. Slow down for the birth of his own eponymous LLC, and over a year of highly successful service to old clients who were happy to sign on and to spread the word. To the day in 2010 when he applied for a business credit card to make some minor equipment upgrades. And applied. And applied. To his own old bank. To the big ones and the small, local ones. To no avail.

Now, imagine another family and a retail specialty business that had abundantly supported two generations who worked there for over twenty years. Imagine that the business wanted to relocate and considered a For Sale listing with a business broker, but a buyer miraculously turned up, cash in hand. Imagine that a great new location was found, the new features and fixtures provided by family talent, hard work, and capital supplied by the sale of the old location. Now, imagine that the new, improved, larger shop was within weeks of readiness, its experienced owners and employees eager to get back to work, and a bank loan requested to complete preparation. A proven business, a flawless record of profit, and a fool-proof business plan. Plus valuable real estate offered as additional collateral. Turned down. At every bank, including the one that had financed the original shop all those years ago and had been repaid impeccably. No. Loan. Period.

Imagine.

These are two of the stories I've heard, two of the REAL AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESSES denied what they need to operate, expand, provide for their families and HIRE!! While large corporations borrow at  ridiculously low interest rates, sit on the money, refuse to hire, and generate virtually nothing in the way of interest for the huge cohort of Boomers who are retiring or trying to recoup their devastated retirement savings.


I've read that banks are waiting for Republicans to return to power in Congress, which is a brand of hostage-taking that cannot be too despised. I've heard it said that businesses aren't hiring because they are leery of what "Obamacare" will wind up costing them. A bank is not a bank that isn't moving money, so it cannot refuse to operate as a bank indefinitely and hope to survive. A corporation is not really in business if it does not invest and hire. If everybody is waiting for first quarter, 2011, but banks and corporations are cash flush, what kind of recession do you call that?  I call that bullshit and politics. I call it wrong any way you look at it. I call on you to send a message to the financial world and large corporations, to those politicians who've been bought by them and do their bidding. I call on you to vote.

And, finally, I have waited a little too long to bestow a well-earned accolade, the Coveted General Wade Hampton I Asshat Award. You might remember it from my post SC's Slur-Slinging Crapfest. General Wade Hampton I was an embarrassment to the South who made a travesty of his part in The Revolutionary War and The War of 1812, led his soldiers into the woods and got them lost, owned over 3000 slaves, and lived in luxury despite the damage he'd done. He was so fond of power and the limelight, he designed an elaborate chapeau to reflect his rank and privilege. Wade was an asshat.

Gen'l Wade Hampton I
Both Stupid and Energetic

In light of recent news about his desire to fire from the state's public schools all LGBT teachers and all single female teachers who are sexually active, I hereby bestow the coveted Second General Wade Hampton I Asshat Award to....

SC Republican Senator Jim DeMint

References:
H/T to Private Buffoon . Thanks, Russ!
New York Times, October 3, 2010, "Cheap Debt for Corporations Fails to Spur Economy"
New York Times, September 8, 2010, "Falling Rates Aid Debtors But Hamper Savers." 

"An Investigation Into Credit Card Debt In College Students," Williams, Waterwall, and Giardelli, Contemporary Issues in Education Research, Fourth Quarter, 2008, Volume 1, Number 4.