I had an opportunity to send this letter to Mr. Obama.
The letter was sent to several friends and they felt it was 'blog worthy', so here it is. If you agree, please send your message to president @whitehouse.gov or http://info@barrakobama.com
If these links do not work for you , please cut and paste the e-addresses. It is important that he hear from us.
FYI, This is what broke. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wallstreet/weill/demise.html
This is who broke it. http://banking.senate.gov/prel99/1104grm.htm
> So, MR OBAMA, you say you want to get the economy going again? Paying off
> the miscreants to the tune of trillions of my taxpayer dollars when I have no
> guarantees it will work and no say in how it is piffed away.. is certainly not the answer.
> ...In addition, there had better be people going to jail.
> First off, why do I have to pay for it... taking monies out of my pocket
> and those of my grandchildren. You, Sir, have never asked me
.> You will need to get rid of Phil Gramm and the likes of him, totally off the recovery team
> since they, Gramm, Leach Bliley Act of 1999 are the ones that caused this
> huge economic mess in the first place. They took away all that would be our safeguard.
>
>Stop allowing these miscreants to continue on a daily basis, as if nothing
> is happening.
>
> We need an SEC, with teeth! It should Not be at the beck and call of the
> president as it was in the Bush administration.
> Why did Gramm and company campaign so hard for the repeal of these laws
> against hedge funds? Americans everywhere can guess, but we think we know. Americans are
> becoming savvy very quickly and will not continue to be fooled.
> Only, North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan and 8 fellow senators foresaw and
> warned what would happen.It did fail, and a year earlier than he predicted.
> Dorgan should be THE man on your committee to help us turn this mess
> around.
>
> Separate the banking industry from the 'iffy' ' fly by night' businesses
> practices.
>
> Many of these are the same big corporations that have ruined the earth
> atmospheres and waters, stolen all things of monetary value. Such crimes
> are totally against humanity.
>
> Sir, Here is the real biggie.
> If you want this economy to ever get started
> up again, stop the credit card banks from robbing us of what we have left.
> We see them parsing and jiggling figures so the original interest on the
> card we had agreed to is now up over 30%. even if I pay on time and it is
> getting worse by the hour! .
> In these economic hard time, people are not spending cash money. Simply
> put, most Americans are cash strapped. We certainly do not have the cash
> reserves to pay back the robber barons their high interest rates. Instead,
> we will default in order to feed our families. What would you do given that
> same choice. .
> We did agree to pay,their 1, 4 and 5%, not the 29% they have managed to
> make legal through the lobbyist systems.
> It is worrisome, but, if it comes down to it, I can either feed my family or feed
> the sharks. My choice is obvious!
>
> I know in my own case, credit card companies have not credited my payment
> in a timely manner. Many times because of some internal bank fault, they
> arbitrarily increased my interest rates to a rocketing 27 %, with out a hint
> of notification.
> Then they continually add as much as $50.00 per card to cover bank generated
> scheme for extra insurance on my
> credit cards, again, without even asking me first.
> Many people I know do not realize they were gouged with that in the first place,
> have no idea where it came from or are just plain too afraid to tell them to reverse it.
> I am forced to spend hours every month
> scanning my card statements.. I have three, and every month, it is
> something.
> WHY do I have to use up my life standing guard on increases I did not agree
> to? No other contract I negotiate does this .
>
> I once complained to my bank that I had these charges for the credit card
> insurance to my credit cards. I had 5 accounts with the same bank because
> Some were different business accounts, so. these $50.00 charges quickly got
> significant!
> What I got from the bank was some spit tossing snarly lecture about how I
> should be more careful about who and where I use my credit cards with.
>
>It was them! the banks! She worked for them.! I was and still am stinging
> from the viciousness of the verbal attack ... I was not the problem.
> Needless to say, After such a demeaning tirade at me, I moved my accounts.
> They had the last laugh, because in less than a year, these same people took
> over my new bank. Probably because they had the money, no doubt by charging
> their clients for things they had not asked for and their predatory interest rates.
>
> Make no mistake, these people are predators of the first rank.
>
> In most cases today, I would not have used the credit cards in the first
> place if I had another choice.
> In most buying activities, I am forced to use a credit card, to rent a car,
> airline tickets, purchase clothing, gifts and other items not otherwise
> available to me. Personally, I live on the Big Island of Hawaii. We do not
> have the variety of stores or choice here. Not everybody here is rich and
> can afford to go to the mainland. Most hits on my cards are from Internet
> transactions. Most of the Internet transactions do not allow for debit card
> use. That is another problem that needs to change.
> Internet sales is an economic reality that makes a credit card king.
>
> I do not have a good feeling that more people can quit this credit card
> addiction. Mr. President, These predatory card interest rates will bring
> this economy to it's dead stop on it's knees.
> More than once, I have had to live off that credit card. I am not alone.
> The credit card industry has brainwashed us and makes using their card so
> attractive, it is hard to not pull that little card out of our pockets.
> Now the economy is in ruins, we have lost jobs and our insurances and the
> ability to pay these shark practices.
> Government has owed us a crackdown on these people for a long time.
> IF government has set itself up as my protectorate, ( for which I am happy
> to abide), I have to wear helmets for safety, feed and medicate children and
> animals properly and other mandates, you certainly owe us legal protection
> from these kind of parasites.
> Government must stop the credit card companies from sinking the economy
> with their own interest rate bombs
>
> This most despicable of all shark practice Must stop!
>
> For some of those that just got their stimulus increase, higher interest,
> fees and payments on my credit cards will just eat up that extra cash. If
> consumers are to start spending again and help our nation's near-term
> financial recovery, we can't endure another year of abusive tactics at the
> hands of credit card companies.
>
> The Federal Reserve passed reforms in December that would stop these
> abusive tactics which harm struggling families, but the rules don't go into effect
> until July 2010. That gives the card companies and banks plenty of time to
> hike interest rates and fees and they're doing just that.
>
> Hundreds of thousands of Chase customers were hit with a 4% interest rate
> hike or a $120 annual fee and a doubled minimum payment. Capital One just
> announced rate increases for most of its 37 million customers averaging 5%,
> although many actual customers reported higher increases. In December,
> Discover reported that it had closed 3 million accounts and plans to cull 2
> million more. Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express
> Co. are among other major lenders that have notified customers recently of
> rate increases.
>
> The new rules passed by the Federal Reserve would stop banks and credit
> card issuers from randomly hiking interest rates on customers' balances if they
> haven't been more than 30 days late in paying. And it would require the
> companies to more fairly distribute customers' payments to high-interest
> debt. This helps Americans pay down their debt more quickly by ending the
> unfair practice of preventing them from ever paying high-interest balances
> until they've paid off low-interest ones first.
>
> These rules are, by current standards, somewhat more fair, and simply
> require banks to give consumers the deal they signed up for. But these rules
> can't help Americans or our economy if they sit on a shelf until July 2010.
> This is a charade!
> We need more protection from these predatory practices and we need help
> yesterday!
> The big financial institutions have received billions in taxpayer's money,
> yet many are turning around and hitting consumers with interest rate hikes
> and fees at the worst possible time.
> Do the right thing and give us the credit card reform now.
>
> It is time government stopped being the fox in the hen house!
>
> I do not, nor should you, have a good feeling that America can quit this
> credit card addiction. Mr. President, these predatory card interest rates
> will bring this economy to it's dead stop on it's knees unless you act now.
>
> Thank you for your time and your action on these matters.
>
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