If you want to know what God thinks of money... just look at the people he gives it to.
And I’m not necessarily talking about individuals. There are plenty of people with money who also use it for good in the World. Of course, there are plenty who don’t, and there are also a great many people with little or nothing who give back to the World with their time and energy.
But, as I said, I’m not talking about people.
Today, I’m talking about institutions. I’m talking about one institution in particular.
Banks have an awful lot to answer for. We all know that. We won’t soon forget the collapse of the housing market, partly generated by sub-prime lending. Five million American homes have so far been lost to foreclosure, and that number is still rising. That’s an awful lot of destitute families with an awful lot of children involved.
One bank in particular shone a bright light on my radar this week for reasons beyond my understanding. I am aghast.
Back to individuals.
You all know how I feel about porn. I wrote about it in this blog. It is a fact of our lives and it is a well-established industry in America. It is also legal. Adult entertainers pick up their pay cheques and pay their taxes. Of course, just like the rest of us, they also use the banking system.
It would appear that Chase Bank has decided it does not want porn stars to hold accounts with it. It appears that Chase Bank has sent out letters to anyone and everyone in the adult entertainment industry who holds an account with it to inform them that those accounts will be closed and that they should take their business elsewhere.
Did I mention that these entertainers are working legally, that their earnings are totally legitimate and that they are contributing to the wealth of their country and the wellbeing of their fellow citizens by paying their taxes?
Chase Bank has decided unilaterally that it is entitled to be the arbiter of morals, despite the laws governing who can make a living doing what jobs. Did I mention that none of its adult entertainment customers have been accused of anything illegal with regard to their jobs or earnings?
This is the same Chase Bank that made a 13 billion dollar legal settlement to the United States government over mortgage practices that led to the financial crisis.
Chase Bank can cause people, families, to lose their homes and then point the finger at adult entertainers and call them morally corrupt! Really?
I’m sorry, but that isn’t OK with me.
Chase Bank has decided unilaterally that it is entitled to be the arbiter of morals, despite the laws governing who can make a living doing what job.
This is the same Chase Bank that is due to settle criminal charges and forfeit 1.7 billion dollars as Bernard Madoff’s banker.
Chase Bank can do business with Bernard Madoff and fail to file a suspicious activity report on his activities, but feels entitled to close the accounts of men and women who perform legal, consensual sex acts for money.
I’m sorry, but that isn’t OK with me, either.
To hold the moral high ground on a single issue, any person, any business had better be pretty damned sure he, she or it is unimpeachable on any and all moral questions. That clearly isn’t the case here. Not only can Chase Bank be questioned as to its moral code, it has been questioned as to its legal conduct.
I wish I had a bank account with Chase, because if I did I’d be down at my local branch closing it pretty damned quick, and I wouldn’t care how inconvenient that might be.
At least with a pornstar what you see is what you get. Apparently, you can’t say the same thing about a banker.
Spent five seconds researching this, found out it's not isolated to chase.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article45407.html
Wow that link is frightening. Not that I particularly care about those industries, but I care about a financial institution setting itself up as the Final Arbiter is such cases. What about these people clubbing together and setting up a Class Action?
ReplyDeleteI too share your disdain for banks. What irks me the most about these institutions is that they often act as a clear demonstration of a double standard in the law which possesses one set of rules for one segment of the population and a second set of rules for everyone else. This may be slightly off topic; I'm not sure if you're aware of the legal and financial happenings in Ireland, but this past week former directors of Anglo Irish Bank (the bank at the centre of Ireland's recession) who were found guilty of arranging and authorizing an over 400 million euro in illegal loans to property developers for the purpose of purchasing shares in the bank and artificially propping up its share price on the market, have basically gotten off away with their crime. Despite the fact that their actions played a key role in the collapse of the Irish economy leading to untold hardships for the majority of the citizens, the judge presiding over the trial has decided that that the jail time and fines prescribed for such activities by the law is too harsh and is currently deciding on how much community service to give them instead. Just as banks have the right to discriminate as outlined in your post it appears quite often, that they also have the right to break any law they wish with impunity.
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