7 thoughts on “Dodd-Frank”

  1. Is that is why is so finely difficult to purchase a United States Savings Bond?

    I am not talking about T-bills here. I am talking about a Savings Bond. In other words, a government investment instrument intended for individual investors, the 99%, the little guy.

    I guess you can purchase Savings Bonds through payroll deduction if your employer offers such a thing. You used to be able to purchase them over the counter at your (cough) Community Bank. This option is no longer available, so you either have to purchase them by direct bank transfer using the routing and account numbers, or you have to purchase them using your IRS refund, presuming you are getting anything back.

    To purchase a Savings Bond from your bank account, you have to fill out a form, which the United States Treasury requires an officer of your bank to apply a “signature guarantee” “Medalion stamp.” This, people, is a really, really big deal. Especially if your community bank is now the US subsidiary of a foreign mega bank. A bank which I won’t name but having initials describing a bodily function, for which there is a mega-million dollar TV advertising campaign to get you to call this bank after a beneficial insect instead of the bodily function. From a foreign country I won’t name, but the people there say things like “a-boot” and “eh?” a lot.

    The branch manager was not going to sign that form to allow recurring transfers “because we can get audited for this, and we have to write in our log book the amount of the transaction that we are guaranteeing.”

    This is an international scandal. A US subsidiary of a Canadian bank, er, I mean from an unnamed country where they say “ah-boot” and “eh?” a lot is preventing a United States citizen from purchasing a debt instrument of the United States Government?

    What is this fine country of our coming to? Did we fight the Revolutionary War to expell the English, only to make ourselves subject to some silly French-speaking subjects of the Queen of England? So far I got an e-mail from Treasury telling me to “take this up with customer service of your bank” and I have gotten the run-around from this bank.

  2. This has to do with Obamacare but it is exactly the same effect when the government tries to interfere:

    The federal government attempted to control costs and wound up introducing a distortion that raised costs by encouraging hospital consolidation (surprise!).

    http://www.the-american-interest.com/2015/02/10/federal-cost-control-helped-create-our-hospital-crisis/

    Because of its size, the government will always introduce distortions. Some are just ineptitude, but most are deliberate thanks to lobbying.

  3. When the goal is corruption and controlling the little people, consolidation just makes it easier.

    The federal government should have just one responsibility: national defense. All other laws should be enacted by states, so citizens can vote with their feet.

    1. “Clearly Global Warming is a matter of national defence, therefore we have the authority to impose Carbon Taxes.”

      “Clearly the supply of oil is a matter of national defence, therefore we have the authority to impose fuel consumption targets on the auto industry.”

      Ad infinitum…

      1. You are so right Edward, but it has a fighting chance in that being the only legitimate role it becomes easier to ridicule such power grabs. Certainly they would try, but vigilance would be easier. Today vigilance is impossible, especially with the ‘wonderful’ job the media does.

      2. I’m just curious what national defense argument is being used to allow the FCC to withhold any documentation regarding its interest in regulating the Internet? I thought the FCC was a taxpayer funded organization, not related to defense, and therefore “we the people” should have full access to the goods and services for which we paid.

  4. Don’t you think it is an act of war when a foreign banks prevents a US citizen from purchasing a debt instrument of his national government?

    Fifty-four forty or fight!

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