No stimulus, as banks profit from us…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 12:14 PM Permalink

…which should come as no surprise. Lower interest rates for the banks, the banks raise interest rates for consumers, so only banks will receive a stimulus, yet another windfall for the wealthy.

See this WaPo article:

The Federal Reserve's dramatic rate cuts were expected to make it cheaper for consumers to use credit cards. But credit card interest rates remain high and in many cases have even climbed.

Bruised by a rise in foreclosures, banks have been reluctant to lower rates for cardholders who have missed payments or had their credit scores slip, analysts and industry watchdogs said. Yet even some cardholders who pay on time have not benefited from the Federal Reserve's recent actions, as banks raise rates and fees to make up for losses in their mortgage departments, analysts said.

"Not everyone is going to get a rate decrease," said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a Washington-based consumer advocacy organization. "People presume that because the Fed lowers rates, the banks will."

He went on to say that anyone stupid enough to think that banks or the current bush administration would actually do something good for the American people are too stupid to live and don't deserve lower interest rates. [OK, I made that last part up, but he might as well have said it, it would be much more honest to admit the little guy NEVER gets a break.]

Labels: consumerism, corporate greed, Economy, inflation, liars