I bet Tim Geithner helped out with the settlement.

And the banksters wonder why people are in the streets.

Corporations are not only people, they are special people.
This settlement is reminiscent of the Exxon-Valdez.

I recently got a BOA credit card with an offer of $50 free after $100 in charges. So, I made a little over $100 in charges and got my $50 rebate. Now I’ll just let the card sit in my drawer. Not to worry , though, the card fees were paid by Amazon.

A small step in socking it to BOA, granted, but I feel good about it.

There you go again! Darned “firebaggers” not clapping loudly enough! Poor little Tiny Tim Geithner working so hard for the his “people”. How are we supposed to whip up some electoral enthusiasm for four more years of this great stuff? Just think of how much worse it would be if the corporate sycophants were wearing red shirts instead of blue ones!

Side note: shouldn’t the BofA be required to change their name to the “Bank of India” if they continue to move their operations and jobs there? Just sayin’…

I detect the Smell O Geithner here, too. He’s in charge at the White House, FSM help us.

I’m half-way through Glenn Greenwald’s With Liberty and Justice for Some. To bolster his thesis I see this in the NYT. Seems banks get to agree with the SEC not to violate the law — but do it again with no consequences.

Good morning all.

Just had one sip of coffee, so too soon for outrage.

Good morning all,

So some crime pays well after all.

Spot on. Actual people would spend the rest if their lives in jail for stealing four and a half billion dollars. Corporate personhood apparently = all of the benefits of being a person with none of the responsibilities/liabilities.

Good morning. Drink up, BofA and their cohort at Treaasury have plenty of outrage for us all on this fine day.

Good morning, pups. It’s Brooks, Cohen, Bruni and Nocera today. Bobo, in “The Serious One,” babbles that Mitt Romney’s commitment to tackling entitlement reform demonstrates his awareness of the issues that need to define the 2012 presidential election. Mr. Cohen, in “The Last Jew in Zagare,” says the first step to Israeli-Palestinian peace is accepting that there is no just outcome. Mr. Bruni, in “The Molester Next Door,” says the predator to watch out for is less likely to don a trench coat and lurk behind a bush than to be someone who works closely with kids. Mr. Nocera, in “Teaching With the Enemy,” says charter schools are one thing, but broad reform won’t happen without working with teachers’ unions.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got apple walnut muffins that are still warm. I’ve got a lovely afternoon lined up. I have a dentist appointment at 4:00 and then I’ll go and vote. I think I’ll enjoy the former more than the latter… Have a great day.

AIPAC writing bill in congress to prevent any diplomacy bet U.S. & Iran.

Well, the local credit union did very well on Bank Transfer Day. I was in there yesterday afternoon and they were still doing paperwork and there were four people in the new accounts line. Dunno how many of them were BofA customers.

Boxturtle (It’s weird to hear a Branch Vice President cackle like the Wicked Witch of the West)

Nocera: Charter schools offer proof of the concept that great teaching is a huge difference-maker, but charters can only absorb a tiny fraction of the nation’s 50 million public schoolchildren.

No they don’t. On average, they’re no better than public schools — and often worse.

Yeah. Timmeh couldn’t have designed a better settlement. Wonder how much in campaign contributions it cost BofA.

Boxturtle (probably more than the settlement)

Shhh. You’re not supposed to outloud that.

Besides, charter schoolz ARE better. They skim off better students (esp NO ONE with LDs) and cheat on tests.

So there.

Prolly no more than $100,000.

I hearby announce that I am now Boxturtle Corp, Inc. Everybody send me all your money, I’ll send 10% of it back.

Boxturtle (Less shipping and handling of course)

Ewww. Handling. No thanks. :-)

I’m thinking that’s kind of redundent. This Administration will communicate with Iran only on Israel’s terms.

I still think Iran would be really open to a “you leave us alone, we’ll stop enrichment and leave you alone” kind of deal if the deal implicitly included Israel.

Boxturtle (But it’ll be more fun to smite the heretics, won’t it?)

Ten percent? A better return than BofA. My bank is Turtlebank.

Agree it’s redundant. Just pointing out how blatant it’s getting. Like caving to banksters, they no longer care about how it looks, not even trying to hide it.

They skim off the best PARENTS, the ones who care most about their kids education. Speaking as a some-time school volunteer, parental involvement is the most important thing wrt education. Parents don’t care, kids don’t succeed.

Boxturtle (If a charter had to take a proportion of LD students, that charter would close)

So true. Is it possible that they are actually scratching their heads, wondering why Obama’s base is protesting? Because the Occupiers are largely the same people who waited in line for hours to vote for him.

I did some volunteering with the PA at one of my son’s schools. Talk about quagmire & thankless tasks. It was a public school, but a brand new experimental one. A failed experiment as it turned out.

I have seen no evidence that O or anyone on his staff, has thought about the base since 11/08.

Oh I take that back. Rahm did. Cursing it, as I recall.

They do care about how it looks. It looks good. Blindly supporting Israel gets money and votes. Slamming on Obama gets money and votes. Being mean to Iran gets money and votes.

Boxturtle (Intelligence and statesmanship gets neither)

Dayton has had hits & misses with their experiments. Their Arts magnet public school is a winner, but the local charter schools not so much.

But at least at the charter schools, the teachers aren’t buying classrom supplies with their own money.

Boxturtle (Local parental involvement outside of sports is VERY low)

Gets money.

Votes I’m not so sure.

Antiwar sentiment is shallow but very widespread.

I accused the joint (heh-not that kind of joint) principals of my son’s school of edubabble in a well attended parents’ meeting. You should have seen their faces. They’d always been able to get away with it on grant applications & meetings.

No sports. Manhattan.

On edit: I have no personal experience with arts oriented public schools in NYC, but it’s my impression they do well. Also other specialty schools like science. Cream skimming.

and who hired Geithner for Treasury? Why none other than the man Cornel West has termed Wall Street’s mascot, Barak Obama.

Yup. Buying politicians allows for writing regulations, tax laws, trade laws, access not available to the average citizen.

Took West awhile to come around.

NPR did a piece last night about the wild profits Wall St. has made since Obama took office. Far, far better than when Bush was in office. Wall St. chose wisely in tapping Obama for the Democratic candidate. He hasn’t disappointed his bosses.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=142111418&m=142112020

On Morning Joke, Chuck Toad predicting a third party — maybe a fourth — this spring.

Saw that headline somewhere yesterday.

How much evidence do people need. (Rhetorical)

Yes! He speculated that Ron Paul could be the Ross Perot (same initials, hmmmm-mmm…) of the 2012 election.

Faith trumps facts.

If I recall correctly it was 4 or 5 years ago the transaction posting criteria changed causing overdraft fees to become more likely on debit card transactions. I think it was done in a number of banks, not just BOA.

Back in the old days one could make a debit card purchase in excess of the available balance, then hurry to the bank on the same business day with a deposit providing more available funds to cover. All would be well. The postings at the end of the day would all tally up, generally providing credits first, and the account would not appear in the negative at any time insofar as overdrafts were concerned.

That changed when the debit card holds upon an available balance began to be watched closely in real time. One might make the purchase, go minus, then run to the bank with money the same as before; however, now the bank would count the temporary negative available balance to invoke the fee instead of just tallying everything at the end of the day.

This was further complicated by some merchants not initially reporting the exact amount of purchase (eg., gasoline purchases, some restaurants). One could have a $75 hold on the checking for a $10 gas purchase, and the correct amount could take days to post and clear it up. Those holds caused countless “phantom” overdrafts and sometimes in a cascading fashion. Then each time a fee would hit, up to a predetermined maximum per day.

Very few customers knew what was going on or why. Or, rather, they would understand the “revenue why,” but not the technical end and how to navigate around the fees.

I wondered how long it would take the urgency for revenues, poor marketing, and an uninformed customer base to cause the thing to blow up. There would be fine print to support plausible deniability by the industry, as always, and hands could be washed accordingly.

It would be interesting to see how the 10% solution was adopted to settle this case. How did the case draw a line where banks had actually strayed into forbidden territory rather than just being somewhat underhanded?

Actual people would spend the rest if their lives in jail for stealing four and a half billion dollars.

Not in America.
Actual people would spend more time in jail for stealing four and a half dollars then stealing four and a half billion dollars.

Cheating on tests is practice for real life. That way when you get older and pursue that banking career you are already aware of how to rig the sysytem to your benefit while screwing others.

Just think of how much worse it would be if the corporate sycophants were wearing red shirts instead of blue ones!

You win one shiny internets today. Where would you like it delivered?