Sanaders and AOC introduce a bill that caps credit card interest at 15%...

[Winehole23]

...and establishes postal banks.


Every other developed country in the world has postal banking, and we actually did too. It is important to remember this forgotten history as we begin to talk seriously about reviving postal banking because the system worked and it worked well. Postal banking, which existed in the United States from 1911 to 1966, was in fact so central to our banking system that it was almost the alternative to federal deposit insurance, and served as such from 1911 until 1933. The system prevented many bank runs during a turbulent time in the nation’s banking history—essentially performing central banking functions before the Federal Reserve was up to the task. Postal banking helped fund two world wars and reduced a massive government deficit after the Great Depression.

the bill: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/loan-shark-act-text?id=0FE91539-6150-41AC-A13C-DC0F78DDC822&download=1&inline=file

[Winehole23]

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Screen-shot-2014-01-29-at-12.02.21-AM.jpg (https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Screen-shot-2014-01-29-at-12.02.21-AM.jpg)



There are 34 million un and underbanked American households, which translates into 28% of the population. And consider what this second-class status translated into in fees and other charges:


The average underserved household has an annual income of about $25,500 and spends about $2,412 of that just on alternative financial services fees and interest. That amounts to 9.5 percent of their income. To put that into perspective, that is about the same portion of income that the average American household spends on food in one year.5 In 2012 alone, the underserved paid some $89 billion in fees and interest.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/05/why-you-should-back-the-sanders-aoc-plan-to-cap-credit-card-interest-rates-at-15-re-launch-the-postal-savings-bank.html

[ducks]

Why use credit cards ?
Banks are doing nothing wrong.
Do not like high interest do not use them. A friend hit a loan from loan mart 800 percent interest very bad credit.

[boutons_deux]

:lol

Great intentions for paving the road of progress, but ...

the oligarchy has too much power, will keep USA on the road to hell.

what's the solution? the ONLY solution? the historical solution?

"Vive la Revolution"

"Aux Barricades, les Enfants de la Patrie"

[Winehole23]

Why use credit cards ?
Banks are doing nothing wrong.
Do not like high interest do not use them. A friend hit a loan from loan mart 800 percent interest very bad credit.People with very bad credit and no access to credit need money too.

Why do credit card companies offer them credit cards?

[ducks]

If we keep letting illegals in more would be in credit card debt.

[Winehole23]

If we keep letting illegals in more would be in credit card debt.weird business model, eh?

[boutons_deux]

People with very bad credit and no access to credit need money too.

Why do credit card companies offer them credit cards?

:lol dialoguing with ducks? :lol

[ducks]

People with very bad credit and no access to credit need money too.

Why do credit card companies offer them credit cards?
Money that is why people do a lot of things.
If you owned the company you would do the same.
That is why several businesses offer free interest for 6 months hoping you can not pay it off by then.

[Winehole23]

:lol dialoguing with ducks? :lolit's pretty much the definition of indoctrination that the very first reply I got defended the profits of credit card companies.

[ducks]

Yes how dare credit card companies make money
If they did not no more credit card companies and all those people no jobs

[boutons_deux]

Money is a utility, like electricity, water, it should be provided as a non-profit utility

Scale the Bank of North Dakota to nationwide. A non-profit public bank, with branches in USPS.

Fuck back at the oligarchy to hell, because the oligarchy has been fucking the USA and the planet to hell.

[baseline bum]

If we keep letting illegals in more would be in credit card debt.

Probably one reason why Trump doesn't want to stop their flow in.

[Winehole23]

Money that is why people do a lot of things.
If you owned the company you would do the same.
That is why several businesses offer free interest for 6 months hoping you can not pay it off by then.they also get state and US Reps to carry bills with language favorable to them. if only they did the same for regular citizens!

[CosmicCowboy]

So will Nancy let it out of committee?

[Winehole23]

Yes how dare credit card companies make money
If they did not no more credit card companies and all those people no jobsWe've capped it in the past to levels significantly lower than today.

[Winehole23]

So will Nancy let it out of committee?To say nothing of the Senator from MBNA (https://spectator.org/63981_senator-mbna-our-january-1998-issue/), for that matter.

[Will Hunting]

So will Nancy let it out of committee?
Unlikely.

[pgardn]

Why use credit cards ?
Banks are doing nothing wrong.
Do not like high interest do not use them. A friend hit a loan from loan mart 800 percent interest very bad credit.

Do you use a credit card?

[Winehole23]

up to a third of Americans are un/underbanked; postal banking offers a number of efficiencies, both for the depositor and the broader economy.

[Chucho]

Sounds good. Big Finance wont let it happen, but a great gesture.

[Winehole23]

Sounds good. Big Finance wont let it happen, but a great gesture.It doesn't have to be a fleeting gesture. It's a great idea. It can come up again.

[Spurminator]

Predictably, the go-to talking point for Republicans is some variety of

:madrun Democrats want to hand banking over to the Post Office :madrun

[boutons_deux]

up to a third of Americans are un/underbanked; postal banking offers a number of efficiencies, both for the depositor and the broader economy.

BigFinance will block public banking, will block USPS banking, will block capping cc interest rates.

Nobody can fuck with BigFinance's profits

=========

Consumers Paid $34.3B In Overdraft Fees In 2017

https://www.pymnts.com/news/banking/2018/banking-overdraft-fees-cfbp-credit-unions/ (https://www.pymnts.com/news/banking/2018/banking-overdraft-fees-cfbp-credit-unions/)

... is about 30% of ALL bank profits in some years.

================

Now that the Repugs have destroyed CFPB:

Consumer Bureau proposes new rules limiting debt collector calls, but allowing emails, texts

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/politics/consumer-bureau-debt-collectors-calls/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/politics/consumer-bureau-debt-collectors-calls/index.html)


=============

Republicans move to abolish CFPB

Ted Cruz reintroduces bill to eliminate “farce” agency

https://www.housingwire.com/articles/48980-republicans-move-to-abolish-cfpb (https://www.housingwire.com/articles/48980-republicans-move-to-abolish-cfpb)

================

Repugs have killed the fiduciary rule, so financial advisors can again optimize THEIR profits with your money, not your profits.

============

And of course it was Repugs who passed the law saying College Debs are NEVER to be written off, even in bankruptcy, or even death (lenders going after survivors for the deceased's college debts)

[CosmicCowboy]

They need to privatize the post office instead of giving them banking too.

[Winehole23]

They need to privatize the post office instead of giving them banking too.Bullshit.

Go ahead and explain why.

[Winehole23]

You were nearly on cue, CC

[boutons_deux]

CC should show examples of where privatizing public goods resulted in better and cheaper, and where PPP do the same.

[CosmicCowboy]

CC should show examples of where privatizing public goods resulted in better and cheaper, and where PPP do the same.

Space X

[CosmicCowboy]

The U.S. Postal Service reported Wednesday a fiscal 2018 net loss that widened to $3.91 billion from $2.74 billion, as increases in operating expenses outpaced revenue growth. Excluding items outside of management control and non-recurring items, the "controllable" loss widened to $1.95 billion from $814 million. Revenue rose 1.5% to $70.62 billion as a 2.8% decline in first class mail revenue and a 0.7% fall in marketing mail revenue was offset by a 10% rise in shipping and packages revenue. First-class mail volume fell 3.6% to 2.1 billion pieces while package volume increased 6.8% to 394 million pieces. The USPS said the increase in expenses was driven by a $896 million rise in compensation benefits, as part of contractual wage increases, and a $623 million increase in transportation expenses resulting from higher package volume, fuel prices and highway contract rates. "The secular mail volume trends continue largely due to electronic diversion and transaction alternatives," said Postmaster General Megan Brennan. "We are seeking reforms that would allow the organization to reduce costs, grow revenue, compete more effectively, and function with greater flexibility to adapt to the marketplace and to invest in our future."

[Spurminator]

How does any of the above prevent them from offering additional services that might actually increase their revenue?

[boutons_deux]

Repugs, guaranteed to operate in 100% bad faith, want to destroy the USPS and its union by making it advance-fund its pension fund out to 75 years.

NO other govt or corporation is crippled like that.

Take away the crippling, and USPS is doing alright.

SpaceX hasn't done shit.

[AaronY]

:lol

Great intentions for paving the road of progress, but ...

the oligarchy has too much power, will keep USA on the road to hell.

what's the solution? the ONLY solution? the historical solution?

"Vive la Revolution"

"Aux Barricades, les Enfants de la Patrie"


man you are one stupid fucking loser. lmao advocating a violent revolution in the U.S. in 2019.

[baseline bum]

They need to privatize the post office instead of giving them banking too.

Nonsense. Then you won't see small rural areas served well by it. The post office was a godsend when I have gone on backpacking trips and needed to pick up food supplies in areas too sparsely populated to be served by a UPS and Fedex affiliated location that would hold packages. But every town has a post office and I'd ship my supplies priority mail noting the date I'd pick it up when shipping and it worked great.

[clambake]

Do you use a credit card?

constantly.

[boutons_deux]

"The post office was a godsend .."

so were socialistic projects, like govt hydro damns, national parks, rural electrification, rural telephony, etc.

govt prison and military installations are huge job creators where they are often the only game in town.

[CosmicCowboy]

*

[Winehole23]

You should answer BB and Spurminator's replies, CC, or were you just here for the lulz?

[Winehole23]

Unlike a lot of US institutions, the US Post office is established by the Constitution. The founders thought it needful, you don't, CC?

[Nathan89]

The 75 year pension fund is retarded.

What benefit do postal banks offer that credit unions don't already offer?

[koriwhat]

it's pretty much the definition of indoctrination that the very first reply I got defended the profits of credit card companies.

yet you defend the shitty losers who fucked their credit in the first place. imo let them get high interest cc's because fuck them! they dug their hole so let em dig it further until one day they might pull their ass out of that hole and learn their lesson.

i was in that situation not long ago and saved til i could pay my card off in full. i was paying on interest monthly and getting nowhere fast so i got rid of some of my spending habits, cancelled services, etc until i could save enough.

[CosmicCowboy]

You should answer BB and Spurminator's replies, CC, or were you just here for the lulz?

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/04/19/why-americas-post-office-should-be-privatised

https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/367108-privatize-the-us-postal-service-before-it-collapses

https://www.cato.org/publications/tax-budget-bulletin/privatizing-us-postal-service

[SpursforSix]

I don't get the cc cap to be honest. Wouldn't that just result in high risk people not being able to get credit cards?

[CosmicCowboy]

I don't get the cc cap to be honest. Wouldn't that just result in high risk people not being able to get credit cards?

exactly. Or having to do the bank credit cards where they deposit x dollars with the bank and have x limit on their cards.

[CosmicCowboy]

Personally, I love my no fee cash back credit cards that I pay every month.

[SpursforSix]

exactly. Or having to do the bank credit cards where they deposit x dollars with the bank and have x limit on their cards.

Yep. I get the argument that CC companies may seem like they engage in predatory practices. But imo, it's up to the consumer to make their own decisions. As with cigarettes, booze, whatever.
I don't blame a cc company for offsetting their risk by charging a higher rate to a probable defaulter.

[CosmicCowboy]

Nonsense. Then you won't see small rural areas served well by it. The post office was a godsend when I have gone on backpacking trips and needed to pick up food supplies in areas too sparsely populated to be served by a UPS and Fedex affiliated location that would hold packages. But every town has a post office and I'd ship my supplies priority mail noting the date I'd pick it up when shipping and it worked great.

I'm sure that was convenient but do we really need 600,000 employees and 50 billion+ losses in the last 10 years and 160 billion in unfunded pension liabilities to make sure you have convenient backpacking supplies?

[Spurminator]

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/04/19/why-americas-post-office-should-be-privatised

https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/367108-privatize-the-us-postal-service-before-it-collapses

https://www.cato.org/publications/tax-budget-bulletin/privatizing-us-postal-service

Thanks for the links but I don't see anything in here about a postal bank.

[CosmicCowboy]

Thanks for the links but I don't see anything in here about a postal bank.

Someone else made the point that a credit union does the same thing.

[ducks]

Do you use a credit card?
I use a debit card

[ducks]

Yep. I get the argument that CC companies may seem like they engage in predatory practices. But imo, it's up to the consumer to make their own decisions. As with cigarettes, booze, whatever.
I don't blame a cc company for offsetting their risk by charging a higher rate to a probable defaulter.
Ding ding ding
We have a winner

[CosmicCowboy]

Repugs, guaranteed to operate in 100% bad faith, want to destroy the USPS and its union by making it advance-fund its pension fund out to 75 years.

NO other govt or corporation is crippled like that.

Take away the crippling, and USPS is doing alright.

SpaceX hasn't done shit.

:lmao

They haven't paid on their pension obligation in years.

And Space X is furnishing orbital delivery cheaper than NASA ever did.

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/130128212657-challenger-disaster-1986-file-horizontal-large-gallery.jpg

[Spurminator]

Someone else made the point that a credit union does the same thing.

I don't see how that's any better a solution for the unbanked/underbanked.

Do poor people in small rural communities have access to credit unions nearby?

[CosmicCowboy]

I don't see how that's any better a solution for the unbanked/underbanked.

Do poor people in small rural communities have access to credit unions nearby?

They do if they have phones.

And since when did you start caring about small rural communities?

[Pavlov]

:lmao

They haven't paid on their pension obligation in years.

And Space X is furnishing orbital delivery cheaper than NASA ever did.

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/130128212657-challenger-disaster-1986-file-horizontal-large-gallery.jpgWow. CC spiking the football with a photo of the deaths of seven Americans.

[Spurminator]

nes.

They do if they have phones.

Explain how someone with only a land line in a rural community of 1,000 people might deposit a paycheck by phone.


And since when did you start caring about small rural communities? I thought they were all white supremacists?

My in-laws will be interested to hear that you think that, but I've never said it.

[CosmicCowboy]

Wow. CC spiking the football with a photo of the deaths of seven Americans.

Gee. Chump suddenly sensitive? Is what it is.

[Pavlov]

Gee. Chump suddenly sensitive? Is what it is.Yes, it is your spiking the football with a photo of the deaths of seven Americans.

Great job.:tu

Keep it classy!

[CosmicCowboy]

Explain how someone with only a land line in a rural community of 1,000 people might deposit a paycheck by phone.

Well, 95% of Americans already have cell phones. if you just narrow that to those receiving paychecks that can't get direct deposit it is probably a tiny percentage.

[CosmicCowboy]

Yes, it is your spiking the football with a photo of the deaths of seven Americans.

Great job.:tu

Keep it classy!

Shit happened.

Sanctimonious much?

:cry:cry:cry:cry

[Nathan89]

We should establish some real numbers instead of some hypothetical person in rural America that never goes to a neighboring town for groceries and doesn't have anything but a landline phone. That hypothetical person isn't reason to open up postal banks nationwide.

[Pavlov]

Shit happened.

Sanctimonious much?

:cry:cry:cry:cryJust own your using the photo of American deaths to spike the football.

[CosmicCowboy]

Just own your using the photo of American deaths to spike the football.

I posted a picture of the Challenger explosion.

First time you have seen it?

The link was from CNN.com

were they spiking the football?

[Pavlov]

I posted a picture of the Challenger explosion.

First time you have seen it?First time I've seen that photo of American deaths used to spike the football in an argument about the Postal Service.

[Winehole23]

We should establish some real numbers instead of some hypothetical person in rural America that never goes to a neighboring town for groceries and doesn't have anything but a landline phone. That hypothetical person isn't reason to open up postal banks nationwide.The results of the FDIC survey posted on page one of this thread did not satisfy your curiosity?

[Nathan89]

"Estimates from the 2017 survey indicate that 6.5 percent of households in the United States were unbanked in 2017. This proportion represents approximately 8.4 million households. An additional 18.7 percent of U.S. households (24.2 million) were underbanked, meaning that the household had a checking or savings account but also obtained financial products and services outside of the banking system."

https://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/

Just in case you had no clue what "underbanked" mean't. By the way I've known people that are unbanked that lived by both banks and credit unions. Let's not act like the entirety of these people live in the woods without access. So based off that the only real reason for the government banks is because they are offering "financial products and services outside of the banking system". What are they? Loans, I suppose. Why isn't this something being fulfilled by non-profit credit unions? Too much risk? Why wouldn't the government work through credit unions?

[Nathan89]

The results of the FDIC survey posted on page one of this thread did not satisfy your curiosity?

No. There are numerous people that are unbanked that have plenty of options.

[CosmicCowboy]

No. There are numerous people that are unbanked that have plenty of options.

I have 2 guys that work for me that take their paychecks directly to my bank and cash them for cash and that's all they use. They may be "unbanked" but they seem to be doing fine.

[Nathan89]

Btw based on your numbers from 2011 and my newer numbers from 2017 about 3% more americans have got out of the "unbanked/underbanked" classification. Pretty good progress.

[Winehole23]

No. There are numerous people that are unbanked that have plenty of options.Name the options.

[Nathan89]

Name the options.

banks and credit unions

[Spurminator]

We should establish some real numbers instead of some hypothetical person in rural America that never goes to a neighboring town for groceries and doesn't have anything but a landline phone. That hypothetical person isn't reason to open up postal banks nationwide.

It's not "opening up postal banks," it's providing already established Post Offices with banking services. How is a former Bernie Bro so reflexively opposed to this? Is it just because AOC's name is attached to it?

[baseline bum]

I'm sure that was convenient but do we really need 600,000 employees and 50 billion+ losses in the last 10 years and 160 billion in unfunded pension liabilities to make sure you have convenient backpacking supplies?

No, but it's worth keeping a national post office system to ensure mail delivery to places where it's unprofitable too.

[CosmicCowboy]

Name the options.

Certainly not my way to roll but it's not that hard.

Cash paychecks at bank of origin or check cashing location.
Pay everything in cash. Don't buy it if you don't have the cash.
Pay bills that absolutely have to be mailed with money orders.

[Spurminator]

Well, 95% of Americans already have cell phones. if you just narrow that to those receiving paychecks that can't get direct deposit it is probably a tiny percentage.

Only 77% own smartphones. A non-smart cellphone is basically a landline when it comes to banking.

And there are still a substantial number of businesses that don't offer direct deposit of them... most of them small businesses.

[Nathan89]

It's not "opening up postal banks," it's providing already established Post Offices with banking services. How is a former Bernie Bro so reflexively opposed to this? Is it just because AOC's name is attached to it?

Creating everything to provide "banking services" in buildings that already exist is effectively "opening postal banks".

[CosmicCowboy]

No, but it's worth keeping a national post office system to ensure mail delivery to places where it's unprofitable too.

It's unprofitable everywhere.

[baseline bum]

It's not "opening up postal banks," it's providing already established Post Offices with banking services. How is a former Bernie Bro so reflexively opposed to this? Is it just because AOC's name is attached to it?

I don't understand this Bernie Bro talk with Nathan. He was a Bernie Bro the same way Rush Limbaugh was when he said to vote for Bernie to hurt Clinton and the same way all the right were Bernie Bros at the convention with their crocodile tears for him not getting the nomination.

[baseline bum]

It's unprofitable everywhere.

It's not supposed to be profitable. I mean places that would still be unprofitable and thus closed off after your suggested privatizing.

[Spurminator]

I don't understand this Bernie Bro talk with Nathan. He was a Bernie Bro the same way Rush Limbaugh was when he said to vote for Bernie to hurt Clinton and the same way all the right were Bernie Bros at the convention with their crocodile tears for him not getting the nomination.

I'd have to take your word for it, I have no memory of his posting behavior prior to his becoming a posterboy for insecure white males. I just assumed he was on board with Bernie's liberal populism and went Trumptard out of anger when he lost the nomination.

[Spurminator]

Creating everything to provide "banking services" in buildings that already exist is effectively "opening postal banks".

Well, no. The real estate is already taken care of. Any additional staffing would be limited, certainly less than opening an entirely new business.

This is like saying McDonald's "effectively opened up thousands of coffee shops" when they added McCafe.

[baseline bum]

I'd have to take your word for it, I have no memory of his posting behavior prior to his becoming a posterboy for insecure white males. I just assumed he was on board with Bernie's liberal populism and went Trumptard out of anger when he lost the nomination.

I don't remember either, but he seems a dittohead everywhere other post so dittohead Bernie fan is most likely what he was then too.

[Nathan89]

Well, no. The real estate is already taken care of. Any additional staffing would be limited, certainly less than opening an entirely new business.

This is like saying McDonald's "effectively opened up thousands of coffee shops" when they added McCafe.

Yes, I already recognized the existing property. They need more than additional staffing.

They "effectively" did do that. You wouldn't say that because it sounds weird for a number of reasons. They previously had coffee. They are already in food and beverage so this just seems like an enhancement of what they already do.

[Winehole23]

banks and credit unionsup to one third of Americans don't. what are their options?

[Winehole23]

No, but it's worth keeping a national post office system to ensure mail delivery to places where it's unprofitable too.We can't treat remote rural Americans like second class citizens at the mercy of Amazon/FedEx/UPS.

Or can we?

[Winehole23]

I love how all these defenders can't bring themselves to mention the names of the companies they are defending: payday and title lenders, shady AF banks and credit card companies.

[CosmicCowboy]

I wouldn't care if first class stamps were $2 as long as I didn't get piles of junk mail every time I open the mailbox. I have a big locking mailbox on the house in San Antonio and in 2 days time there is so much junk mail in there the mailman cant cram anymore in so I have to make special trips out there to empty it.

[CosmicCowboy]

I love how all these defenders can't bring themselves to mention the names of the companies they are defending: payday and title lenders, shady AF banks and credit card companies.

Should people with a recent history of slow or non payment be guaranteed low interest credit from your postal bank?

[Nathan89]

up to one third of Americans don't. what are their options?

"The most recent survey was administered in June 2017 in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, collecting responses from more than 35,000 households. The survey provides estimates of the proportion of U.S. households that do not have an account at an insured institution, and the proportion that have an account but obtained (nonbank) alternative financial services in the past 12 months."

The survey shows the number of people that unbanked/underbank. That doesn't mean they don't have access to banks and credit unions.

[Nathan89]

Only 9% of the unbanked listed inconvenient locations as a reason and 2% listed it as the main reason.

The main reason they list is that they do not have enough money to keep in account.

[Nathan89]

We are having a discussion. Saying I'm "anti citizen" is just empty words. Calling me names isn't productive. Have fun with that though.

[ElNono]

Privatizing the Post Office would be disastrous to consumers, tbh... as much money as you think they're bleeding, wait until Fedex and UPS cartelize postal sending and start closing off all the rural post offices.

On the same note, Postal Banking made sense when the Post Office was extremely profitable, and could backstop large sums without needing large federal cash infusions, but not at this time.

[DarrinS]

Interest rate limits -- yes

Postal banking -- uh, no

[Nathan89]

Interest rate limits -- yes

Postal banking -- uh, no

I could get behind some interest limits as well tbh

[Nathan89]

Or perhaps there is another solution to people get Hoodwinked into massive interest loans that are impossible to pay back. I don't know all the alternatives but what some companies get away with is unacceptable.

[ElNono]

The argument for supporting Post Banking is the fact that private banks are 'too big to fail' and it goes beyond perception.

We're now as taxpayers basically living on the premise that we'll fund to bail out any bad gambles by banks, so there's really no incentive for them not to lend like crazy. The last crisis basically just put some damping on it, but under the current rules, and the lack of meaningful regulation, it's bound to happen again.

So if government is already technically backstopping all the credits, then why should we have a middle man profiting with fees, etc?

[Winehole23]

Should people with a recent history of slow or non payment be guaranteed low interest credit from your postal bank?Hadn't thought it through, tbh. Short of prejudicial carve outs for depositors it might have other, more mundane utilities, like connecting people to a form of payment and a savings account.

[Winehole23]

The argument for supporting Post Banking is the fact that private banks are 'too big to fail' and it goes beyond perception.

We're now as taxpayers basically living on the premise that we'll fund to bail out any bad gambles by banks, so there's really no incentive for them not to lend like crazy. The last crisis basically just put some damping on it, but under the current rules, and the lack of meaningful regulation, it's bound to happen again.

So if government is already technically backstopping all the credits, then why should we have a middle man profiting with fees, etc?Postal banking is plain vanilla banking like we used to have in the 20th century. If the government will implicitly prop up Goldman and Citibank, is there not a suitable crumb from the dinner table for the mouse underneath it?

[TheGreatYacht]

They need to privatize the post office instead of giving them banking too.

As if the privatization of prisons, education, and healthcare system haven't been a disaster :lol. Muh "free market"

[Winehole23]

A hard interest rate cap is dumb. Peg it to a limit about the Fed Funds rate.

[boutons_deux]

A hard interest rate cap is dumb. Peg it to a limit about the Fed Funds rate.

BigFinance makes $10Bs on renting money through credit cards, will block any reduction in usurious interest rates.

"The average American has a credit card balance of $4,293

Total credit card debt is also at its highest point ever, surpassing $1 trillion"

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/consumer-debt-hits-4-trillion.html

if avg cc interest is 20%, that $200B / year.

[Capt Bringdown]

Interest rate limits -- yes

Postal banking -- uh, no

Why not? It has been done here before, with great success.


Postal Savings System (https://about.usps.com/publications/pub100/pub100_025.htm)

An Act of Congress of June 25, 1910, established the Postal Savings System in designated Post Offices, effective January 1, 1911. The legislation aimed to get money out of hiding, attract the savings of immigrants accustomed to saving at Post Offices in their native countries, provide safe depositories for people who had lost confidence in banks, and furnish more convenient depositories for working people.

The system paid two percent interest per year. Initially, the minimum deposit was $1, and the balance in an account could not exceed $500, excluding interest.

Deposits were slow at first, but by 1929, $153 million was on deposit. Savings spurted to $1.2 billion during the 1930s and jumped again during World War II, peaking in 1947 at almost $3.4 billion.

After the war, banks raised their interest rates and began offering the same governmental guarantee as the Postal Savings System. In addition, United States savings bonds gave higher interest rates. Deposits in the Postal Savings System declined, dropping to $416 million by 1964.


A Short History of Postal Banking (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/08/postal-banking-already-worked-in-the-usa-and-it-will-work-again.html)

Every other developed country in the world has postal banking, and we actually did too. It is important to remember this forgotten history as we begin to talk seriously about reviving postal banking because the system worked and it worked well. Postal banking, which existed in the United States from 1911 to 1966, was in fact so central to our banking system that it was almost the alternative to federal deposit insurance, and served as such from 1911 until 1933. The system prevented many bank runs during a turbulent time in the nation’s banking history—essentially performing central banking functions before the Federal Reserve was up to the task. Postal banking helped fund two world wars and reduced a massive government deficit after the Great Depression.
As the debate over reinstituting postal banking heats up, we should know we had it. And it worked.

[CosmicCowboy]

As if the privatization of prisons, education, and healthcare system haven't been a disaster :lol. Muh "free market"

"Disaster"

:lmao

Hyperbole much?

[Winehole23]

"Disaster"

:lmao

Hyperbole much?you're wringing your hands about a measure that would eventually be self-sustaining and would instantly be a significant social good, one that would give real heft to a very popular US institution, the USPS.

[SpursforSix]

BigFinance makes $10Bs on renting money through credit cards, will block any reduction in usurious interest rates.

"The average American has a credit card balance of $4,293

Total credit card debt is also at its highest point ever, surpassing $1 trillion"

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/consumer-debt-hits-4-trillion.html

if avg cc interest is 20%, that $200B / year.

Where are you getting 20% as the average rate? That seems high.

[CosmicCowboy]

Meh. No hand wringing here, but the postal behemoth is incredibly incompetent and whose incompetence is possibly only surpassed by the VA. Your average postal clerk moves with as much energy as a zombie loaded with zoloft. Adding banking responsibilities to that bloated bureaucracy makes zero sense.

[boutons_deux]

"The argument for supporting Post Banking is the fact that private banks are 'too big to fail' and it goes beyond perception."

for-profit banking EXTRACTS excessive profits, simply because it can, just like all the oligarchy does.

Want to amass more wealth?

Just raise prices, add fees, penalties, etc, etc.

There's nothing stopping it, esp not competition.

Boil the frogs slowly enough so they become accustomed to silent, never-ending push to impoverishment. And they have nowhere to exit.

[Winehole23]

Meh. No hand wringing here, but the postal behemoth is incredibly incompetent and whose incompetence is possibly only surpassed by the VA. Your average postal clerk moves with as much energy as a zombie loaded with zoloft. Adding banking responsibilities to that bloated bureaucracy makes zero sense.Couldn't disagree more. Public disinvestment left the USPS in its current difficulties, as to the supposed laziness of of the USPS I have to disagree. The decades long conservative strategy of half throttling the USPS while negging it publicly seems to have borne fruit in the minds of the suggestible and the ignorant.

The USPS has a tough job, their carriers work fucking hard. IHMO, they do it well.

[Winehole23]

You're so indoctrinated CC, you can't see it.

[Will Hunting]

"Disaster"

:lmao

Hyperbole much?
You don’t think the privatization of prisons has been a disaster?

[Winehole23]

"The most recent survey was administered in June 2017 in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, collecting responses from more than 35,000 households. The survey provides estimates of the proportion of U.S. households that do not have an account at an insured institution, and the proportion that have an account but obtained (nonbank) alternative financial services in the past 12 months."

The survey shows the number of people that unbanked/underbank. That doesn't mean they don't have access to banks and credit unions. look man, this is not denied, but there's got to be a better way.

it ain't that hard, if you're not weeping crocodile tears for the lost profits of bloodsuckers.

[Nathan89]

look man, this is not denied, but there's got to be a better way.

it ain't that hard, if you're not weeping crocodile tears for the lost profits of bloodsuckers.

Credit unions are non-profits.

[Winehole23]

Credit unions are non-profits.Dude, i am pro-credit union. Hell, i belong to one.

[Winehole23]

You can't pretend the problem isn't there just because some estimates may be somewhat overshot. People are underbanked. it makes everyday life more precarious and more expensive.

It is also a per se economic inefficiency for people to have discontinuous access to a form of payment. Postal banking would tend to make the the broader economy more, not less efficient.

[Winehole23]

It's also a revenue stream for the governing authority that isn't a tax. you can pay for shit with postal banking.

[TheGreatYacht]

Tucker Sides With Bernie & AOC On Capping Interest Rates At 15%

https://youtu.be/TllENlTIIrY

[boutons_deux]

One in Four Local Banks Has Vanished since 2008. Here’s What’s Causing the Decline and Why We Should Treat It as a National Crisis.

We have 1,971 fewer of these small, local financial institutions today than at the beginning of 2008.

Some 500 failed outright, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) stepping in to pay their depositors.

Most of the rest were acquired and absorbed into bigger banks.

In 1995, megabanks — giant banks with more than $100 billion in assets (in 2010 dollars) — controlled 17 percent of all banking assets.

By 2005, their share had reached 41 percent.

Today, it is a staggering 59 percent (https://ilsr.org/bank-market-share-by-size-of-institution/).

Meanwhile,

the share of the market held by community banks and credit unions —

local institutions with less than $1 billion in assets —

plummeted from 27 percent to 11 percent.

https://ilsr.org/vanishing-community-banks-national-crisis/

USPS banking would reverse this trend of BigFinance controlling all of banking