Oh that we had a law like this for ATM fees

From the Consumerist:

Australian consumers will soon be able to challenge any bank fee that they consider "unreasonable," thanks to a new law that could save consumers up to $1 billion. Banks that want to keep levying excessive fees for late payments and overdrafts will need to prove that the charges are reasonable by revealing the true processing costs behind the fee.

I get into arguments with my banker friends about this, but there is no excuse for charging customers for using ATMs that aren't from the same bank. Banks save money every time you and I use an ATM, because it means they don't have to have someone on staff handle our deposit or withdrawal in person. And to the degree that I use one bank's ATM, their customers also use my banks' ATM, so it all washes out in the end. If anything, banks should be paying us every time we use an ATM. It just irks me that they, like the airlines, are always finding ways to gouge the consumer, a fee there, a charge here, and there is nothing we can do about it because Congress is always beholden to corporations over people. Read the rest of this post...

In Maine, Catholics won't name source of $100,000 contribution to anti-gay campaign. What are they trying to hide?

Could it be.... Mormons?! Read the rest of this post...

Sears Tower renamed?

I don't think so. I still refuse to call National Airport "Reagan." My favorite story during the debacle when the GOP decided they had to rename the entire country after Ronald Reagan was when a GOP congressman went on the House floor and said it was about time that DC's "Washington National Airport" was named after a president. A Democratic congressman responded, it already is named after a president. Read the rest of this post...

Did Bush administration allow interrogation by China at Gitmo?

Wow. No wonder Bush went to Beijing for the Olympics. Sounds like he was in their back pocket if this story turns out to be true. Could you imagine the outrage by Republicans if a Democratic president allowed Chinese agents to interrogate on a US military base? Why do Republicans hate human rights and America?

A fight is brewing between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon over allegations that Chinese government agents were allowed to interrogate some detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Jay Alan Liotta, principal director of the Defense Department office responsible for detainee policy, told a House subcommittee on Thursday that he would not publicly comment on whether officials from China or any other nation were granted access to foreign citizens held at the detention facility.

He offered to release that information to the committee during a closed, classified session. Lawmakers weren’t happy about his answer.

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DNC ad targets House Dems on health care

Excellent, excellent, excellent. One of the key tenets of politics I learned a long time ago is that you end having to spend far more time beating up your friends than beating up your enemies. Meaning, your political enemies will never help you regardless of what you do, whereas your political friends often won't help you unless they respect you, unless they fear you. And the DNC is now playing the fear card. Excellent.

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Goldman Sachs: tone deaf, politically stupid or foolish?

Probably all of the above and then some. Time makes a great point which is that Congress is still in the process of writing new regulations, so to splash record high bonuses in the face of the public during a recession - a recession caused by Wall Street, no less - is amazingly stupid. Nobody wants the banks to fall back into technical insolvency but at the same time, it leaves everyone wondering why they bothered to pitch in and help a struggling industry. As always, there is never any appreciation or compromise by this industry. Let them win this battle and see how they do with the long term war. And there is no doubt Wall Street has declared war - class war - on the public with their gaudy numbers. It's as if they are begging to feel the full force of the tax code and regulations by a Congress who will running for reelection next year. Time:

In a clear departure from the historical norm, the White House is not cheering the return of huge profits to Wall Street. On the contrary, the recent windfalls at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, and the promise of giant year-end paydays for banking executives and traders, has caused a bit of consternation in the West Wing, coming as it does so soon after the taxpayer bailouts saved the entire financial system from total collapse.

"If I were a Wall Street firm, I would perhaps be cognizant of the fact that the financial regulatory-reform process is only beginning in Congress," warns a senior White House official, speaking about the political problems that huge paydays at Wall Street firms could create later this year, when new laws to regulate the industry will be written on Capitol Hill. Officials have also begun to worry aloud whether the Wall Street firms learned anything from the catastrophic financial crisis that was largely of their making or whether they are now returning to the old business of making short-term profits that create long-term risks.

More after the jump.

Yesterday CNNMoney had a great article about the greedy and arrogance of a business that was once considered the "classy" team on Wall Street. Now they're the lead example of selfishness in an industry that is already considered the most selfish of all businesses. Now Goldman is fighting with the US government to pay the least possible on money loaned to them and others to keep the industry afloat. No "thank you" or consideration for the assistance, but instead, a big fat "screw you" to return the favor. CNNMoney:

Under the law, Goldman, like other early TARP repayers, has the right to force the Treasury to sell back the warrants after a lengthy set of price arbitrations.

When I say that taxpayers kept Goldman alive, I'm not talking about the $10 billion of TARP money or the $12.9 billion of AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) bailout money that Goldman got. The $10 billion was nice, but not necessarily essential to Goldman's survival, and Goldman says it was holding enough assets and collateral to get all or almost all of the $12.9 billion had the government not bailed out AIG.

Rather, I'm talking about the way that U.S. and foreign governments -- in other words, taxpayers -- saved the world's financial system, saving Goldman in the process. Had many of the world's biggest institutions collapsed, which would have happened without taxpayer aid, Goldman would have been wiped out because the firms that owed it money wouldn't have been able to meet their obligations.

I'm also talking about the Federal Reserve Board moving with lightning speed last fall to allow Goldman to become a bank holding company. By giving Goldman access to vast amounts of money it was making available to bank companies, the Fed ended panicky demands from Goldman customers that the firm immediately return the cash and securities it was holding for them. That was the equivalent of a run on the bank, which no institution can survive. Stopping it saved Goldman.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

There's no new poem and no new haikus because KarenMrsLloydRichards is on hiatus for another week or so.

Here's the president making another health care reform pitch in his weekly address:


I do think people often talk about health care and health insurance. I know I do. My family does. My friends do. Seems everyone either has some health issue going on or is close to someone who does. But, I'm worried people haven't tied that talk to the health care reform effort underway in Congress.

Heading out for a run now... Read the rest of this post...

There's nothing quite like a relaxing family moment

There are a bunch of very funny "competitive dad" episodes in YouTube from the old Fast Show. The "Germany" skit is way up there too. Read the rest of this post...

Rafsanjani calls for release of political prisoners, open debate

The ruling hardliners can't be pleased with Rafsanjani's speech yesterday. For the opposition, they have a public voice while their leaders are in prison or in hiding. The situation may be calm for now but the problems are not going away. NY Times:

“Khamenei and Ahmadinejad tried to close the door for debate about the elections, but Rafsanjani reopened it in a very important setting,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The hall has been the scene of many addresses by senior clerics.

Calling the election aftermath a “crisis,” Mr. Rafsanjani urged that restrictions on the press and on free speech be removed, in addition to seeking freedom for those detained since the election.

Mr. Rafsanjani also criticized the Guardian Council, a powerful supervisory body that looked into possible election fraud, saying it “did not use wisely the time the supreme leader gave it to investigate.”

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China arrests bloggers

As they always do, it's the old "state secrets" routine. As hard as it may be to imagine, I think China plays that even more than Bush and Cheney played the "we can do anything because we're protecting America" card. Close, no doubt, but Beijing wins in that race. China has stepped up it's level of creepiness lately with it's arrests of human rights attorneys and a foreign national on a business deal that went south. Much like those who created the recession and their ability to ignore their part, where are all of the "let's give China the Olympics because it will change everything" crowd?

The hundreds following amoiist on Twitter were used to his stream of messages. But they ended abruptly with two terse updates early yesterday morning.

"i have been arrested by Mawei police, SOS" he wrote. Then shortly afterwards: "Pls help me, I grasp the phone during police sleep."

His followers quickly passed on his plea to other Twitterers. But since then there has been silence from amoiist – also known as Peter Guo, or Guo Bofeng – who is apparently the latest internet user to be caught up in an inquiry that began with claims of defamation but which police now say involves "state secrecy issues".

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China shuts down human rights lawyers

I'll bet if China hosts the World Cup, everything will change.

Beijing officials shut down a legal research center led by activist lawyers Friday, while China revoked the licenses of more than 50 lawyers, many known for their human rights cases.

The moves appear to be a new government push to oversee Chinese activist lawyers, who run the risk of being detained, harassed, attacked and threatened with disbarment for their work. China is also preparing for the communist state's 60th anniversary on Oct. 1 — a particularly sensitive period when dissent is not tolerated.

About 20 officials from Beijing's Civil Affairs Bureau showed up Friday morning at the offices of the Gongmeng rights group's legal research center and confiscated computers and other equipment, said office manager Tian Qizhuang. They also questioned researchers and other employees on the nature of their work.

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