| Apr 28, 2007 @ 7:27 PM |
walmart........Bank??
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FeliciVagano
Posts: 2,152
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16873944/
The top Democrat and Republican on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee today introduced a bill that would ban Wal-Mart Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other commercial companies from owning a type of bank known as an industrial loan company (ILC).
The bill was co-sponsored by Barney Frank of Massachusetts, a Democrat who is chairman of the panel, and Paul Gillmor of Ohio, the ranking Republican.
"We are seeking to prevent the expansion of a historically small special niche into a full-fledged alternative banking system, which dissolves the line between banking and commerce," Frank said in a statement.
The legislation came just two days before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation holds a meeting to decide whether to extend a six-month moratorium on ILC applications. Banking experts generally expect the FDIC to keep the freeze in place for applications by commercial firms while Congress debates legislation.
The House bill, called the Industrial Bank Holding Company Act of 2007, prohibits a company from owning an ILC unless it generates at least 85 percent of its revenue from activities that are financial in nature.
guess they don't want walmart to really become one stop shopping...??
what is next..forrest walmart by the sea??
Walmart Point Conception ??
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| Apr 28, 2007 @ 11:45 PM |
walmart........Bank?? |
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bryan2992
Posts: 688
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don't know what the big deal is, we have wal-marts here that have banks, we even have one that has a solantic (quick stop doc office). Build some apts above one and the only thing you have to leave for is a dentist
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| Apr 28, 2007 @ 11:51 PM |
walmart........Bank??
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steveemac
Posts: 2,335
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we have wal-marts here that have banks
Yes, but Wal-Mart does not own or control the bank; it is simply leasing space there. for example, my bank has a branch at Wally-Mart; but has no actual connection to it, other than renting the space for the branch.
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| Apr 29, 2007 @ 9:04 AM |
walmart........Bank?? |
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eastham
Posts: 7,907
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This type of financial integration has not been seen since the Great Depression, and for good reason.
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| Apr 29, 2007 @ 6:54 PM |
walmart........Bank??
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grumblebear
Posts: 10,559
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Actually most large retailers own banks, or financial institutions for their credit cards, Target, (formerly Dayton Hudsons) has owned a bank since the 50's
this bill is just an attempt to slow Walmart and Home Depot's growth, the Banking Industry didn't like hearing that 30% of Walmart customers have no banking relationship.... and Walmart had also said they felt they could under cut interest and fees of banks....
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| Apr 29, 2007 @ 7:55 PM |
walmart........Bank?? |
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kjac
Posts: 8,163
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The only people who could honestly support this kind of thing would be the investors. It's a horrible idea, and I for one am glad both democrats and republicans stepped up to the plate on this one.
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| Apr 29, 2007 @ 9:46 PM |
walmart........Bank??
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bryan2992
Posts: 688
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personally I don't really care if they have their own banking or not, so please tell me why its good they don't?
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| Apr 30, 2007 @ 6:46 PM |
walmart........Bank?? |
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FeliciVagano
Posts: 2,152
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here it is in a well written article about more than just walmart banking
"http://india.indymedia.org/en/2003/03/3614.shtml
company town
"You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and you're deeper in debt.
Saint Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go.
I owe my soul to the company store!"
In the early 1900's, one of the worst abuses of workers involved what was called the "company town". This was a town wholly owned by a mining company in a remote location. Workers were attracted to move there by the lure of high wages. However, once there, they discovered that the cost of living (read: interest rates) was even higher, kept there by the "...company store", the only source for the necessities of life. The company was free to hand out high wages, knowing they would take that same money back in as profits at the company store. No matter how hard the workers tried, they could never make enough money to live on and would be in debt to the company store. As long as they were in debt, the company could legally prevent the workers from leaving. It was a form of corporate slavery, concealed in a bookkeeping trick.
The abuses of the company towns led eventually to the formation of labor unions, and threatened at one point to spark a communist revolution in the United States. The threat of such a revolution caused corporations to adopt more humane attitudes towards their workers. As word spread of what a trap the company towns could be spread through folk songs similar to the one quoted above, workers simply refused to sign up, and the company towns faded into history.
I have received a lot of email regarding the article "The United States Government is Dying". Most of it has been positive. The negative email always seems to point out the standard of living Americans have, usually defined in terms of the possessions we own. But for the most part we don't own those things we display to others for their esteem and admiration. The vast majority of Americans are deeply in debt for the items they buy, TV sets, cars, recreational vehicles, vacations, even supermarkets have credit card machines to purchase food with. Using credit for the basic necessities of life has become so ubiquitous that it is almost invisible.
The debt-based economy has turned the entire nation into a "...company town". Americans are living on borrowing, and when the economy slows down, the repayment of those loans becomes a trap. Eventually, the lenders acquire those few things Americans own that actually have any worth, namely their homes. And it is worth reminding to those readers who claim that our nation is still doing well that private ownership of homes has been in decline for quite some time. Whereas home ownership was the reality for most of our parents and grandparents, a far larger percentage of Americans are now renting. Americans are working their lives out, and at the end, they have little but a few status-icons to show for it. Our rear ends are well decorated with designer jeans, but if you think about it, blue jeans are pretty much what the workers in those older company towns wore into the mines every day. Is there any difference between the blue jeans you wear, made expensive with a designer label, and their blue jeans, made expensive by the company store? Is it not really the same trap at work?
During the "boom times" of the 90s, the media assured us that the economy was doing wonderfully, that the good times would roll on forever. In reality, 80% of the population suffered a decline in living standards, and to make up for it, they bought on credit, assured that eventually there would be money to pay for it all. Then the crash happened. People are losing their homes, their retirements, their businesses, all those things they had worked for that had real worth, lost to that "company store" called the debt-based economy.
The trap is that the US Government has been running itself pretty much the same way. Never able to balance its books the US Government just keeps borrowing and borrowing to make ends meet. The people get stuck with the bills. The interest alone now exceeds all the income tax paid by all the US citizens. You're not supposed to notice, of course, since taxed into near poverty you too are living on your credit cards. And never mind that the government borrows so much money that it drives interest rates up, making the money you do have to borrow more costly to repay.
So for those who claim that an economy based on debts rather than on worth is a good thing, it usually is from the point of view of the bank which gets to print up those debt notes at whim and then lend them out at full value. But for the people, who are as trapped into paying the interest on all those debt notes spent, the nation has been turned into one gigantic "company town", where prices are always kept just a hair above wages, where the people are kept in perpetual debt, so that no matter how hard they work, the vast majority of Americans can never buy their soul back from that company store. "
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| Apr 30, 2007 @ 6:58 PM |
walmart........Bank??
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FeliciVagano
Posts: 2,152
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Actually most large retailers own banks, or financial institutions for their credit cards, Target, (formerly Dayton Hudsons) has owned a bank since the 50's
can anyone back this up with a link?
AFAIK...no major retailer owns any banks or financial institutions..
GMAC is the closest financial institution that I can think of...but they have to answer to their own stockholders and are not owned by GM ..
BTW selling merchandise on time, and holding the note does not make a company a financial institution or bank
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| Apr 30, 2007 @ 7:40 PM |
walmart........Bank?? |
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graywolf
Posts: 44,521
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Wal-Mart has withdrawn there application to start a new bank. The legislation mentioned here is a result of their original application to make sure it does not happen in the future.
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| May 8, 2007 @ 6:47 AM |
walmart........Bank??
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midnightthunder
Posts: 236
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Another fine example of lobbying power, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal about the various hidden fees most banks charge. So the spirit of competition exists only in spirit. More than likely Wal-Mart would of charged lower a.t.m fees, maybe even higher interest rates on savings and checking accounts. I am sure that had to scare the crap out of banking community. Considering the bankruptcy refomr and rising foreclosures, they wouldn't want anyone muscling in on their action.
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