The Scam at Major American Banks

By Rick Oltman, Senior Writing Fellow

We have heard, and will continue to hear, the obvious complaints about the dangers of giving credit cards, checking accounts and home mortgages to people whom the Bank of America and Wells Fargo, for example, let alone the Department of Homeland Security, know nothing about. Beyond the security implications of these activities, which are obvious, we have to acknowledge that these practices are actually a metaphor for what is going on in our country, and in every nation intent on “going global.” Global in the sense of the unhampered freedom of movement for people as well as for goods and capital.

Our government is the major facilitator of this effort and the federally chartered Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is actually encouraging U.S. banks to engage in the practices cited above. Yet the FDIC was created by Congress to ensure the public’s trust in the national banking system by “identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed.” Paradoxically, the kind of activity banks are engaging in now, “aiding and abetting someone in this country illegally for ones own commercial gain,” is also a crime punishable by 10 years in jail and the Bank Secrecy Act of 1972 provides that “banks must know their customers and any illegal activity must be reported to the government.”

In the past, our government made an effort to protect citizens from the excesses of corporations and many of the laws on the books were passed to protect us from harmful products and practices. But the power and reach of these wealthy corporations is now immense, undeniably another reason the government is complicit in this banking scam against U.S. citizen-taxpayers.

There are federal and state banking laws and regulations in the hundreds of thousands of words. The feds and almost every state legislature have committees specifically formed to address banking and finance. Yet there is no mention of congressional hearings to look into these current unethical practices, which put the public, tax money and national security at risk. In the end, defaults on mortgages and failure to pay credit card bills will be another hidden cost of open borders, as taxpayers will, one way or another, pick up the tab while the banks that made these risky and illegal loans will continue to scam the system.

Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) is vehemently opposed to these recent banking scams that create yet another major incentive for entering the country in violation of our laws. In addition, these practices effectively discriminate against American citizens who must show proof to mortgage lenders that they are legal residents, and must prove that they are who they say they are.

It’s time to demand that our federal and state legislatures crack down on unethical and immoral extensions of credit and similar business practices that erode our nation’s sovereignty and threaten our future. Whereas banks are entitled to make a profit, they must be reined in and forbidden to jeopardize the very system that is responsible for their success.

We need the government to stand up to the abuses of corporations once again. Write, email, call and visit your member of Congress and other elected officials and ask them to hold hearings on the unethical practices of these large banks. Object to the way they are using their resources and influence to “morph” the system of safeguards in the banking system, creating new rules that are not in the national interest. And the message must be: you cannot conduct business in a way that is detrimental to the system that supports you.

You cannot pollute the air and the water, and you cannot undermine sensible rules that erode the sovereignty of our great nation—from which you derive so much wealth.

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Rick Oltman is the Public Relations Director for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS), www.capsweb.org. He can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]. CAPS is a non-profit organization dedicated to formulating and advancing policies and programs designed to stabilize the population of California at a level which will preserve a good quality of life for all Californians; www.capsweb.org.