About four or five months ago I signed up for an electronic subscription to Consumer Reports. A couple of guys I worked with couldn’t say enough about the service. I had always heard/read good things about it so I took the plunge – and I’m glad I did.
This morning I received an email as I’m subscribed to their newsletter. After reading it, I thought it would be a good idea to share with everyone else. See below. Needless to say, I agree with everything stated. I think it’s about time people start getting back to basics; simple things like common decency and doing what is right are not gray areas!
Newsletter from Consumer Reports pased below
Dear Scott,
What happened to getting a straight-forward home loan, a fair credit card, and respect for the value of the money we deposit?
Over the past twenty years, the big Wall Street financial companies devalued personal responsibility, fair play and thrift and substituted high risk, mind-numbing complexity, and excessive bonuses.
We’re in the deepest recession since the Great Depression, with tens of millions out of work, because the incentives in our financial system changed. Financial firms reward people who gamble with borrowed money and show big paper profits for short-term gains — no matter what the long-term cost.
The Senate this week released a financial reform bill, and the banks’ top brass know their big bonuses are at stake. Make sure your Senators know their responsibility to voters is at stake.
Tell your Senators to bring back responsibility, fair play and thrift.
Banks dangled too good to be true offers in front of people who refinanced from a perfectly good loan into a risky one. Brokers got higher commissions for hard-selling risky, costly mortgages — like those where the payment didn’t cover the interest and the loan actually got bigger over time.
The banks booked higher profits on those crummy deals, then sold the risky loans to investors. When it all fell apart, the mortgage brokers, bank CEOs and the Wall Street traders got to keep their fat bonuses, while millions of families lost their homes or their retirement accounts.
It’s been more than a year since the economic meltdown, and needed changes are stalled. While politicians debate about which government agency should do what, there are a handful of common sense rules that would straighten out the incentives and reinforce the right values now:
E-mail Congress now to stop squabbling and fix the problems that got us here!
Wall Street’s financial titans oppose these reforms, and they’re spending tens of millions lobbying and advertising against them. To them, that’s just pocket change compared to the billions in bonuses they have at stake.
But this is a fight we can win because your anger at the banks is well known. Now they need to know that you are paying attention and you expect real progress — real reform with real teeth, and rules that will apply fairly to everyone.
Sincerely,
Jim Guest, President
Consumer Reports
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