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Yep. Forget about President Obama or his healthcare reform, gay marriage or abortion. The protesters started off the day protesting against Wall Street, with Bank of America being the first in their sites. Good for you, ladies and gentlemen!
A group calling itself the Coalition to March on Wall Street South is scheduled to host a march in Charlotte on Sunday, stopping first at the bank’s corporate headquarters before winding its way past Bank of America Stadium.
“Despite the fact that the bailouts were four years ago, and there’s been officially declared an end to the recession, the everyday reality for people is a much different story,” said Ben Carroll, an organizer of the coalition. “People still see and feel in their everyday lives that the banks are responsible for so many injustices in their communities.”
It’s not just the view of protest groups.
Americans reported record-low confidence in U.S. banks this year in Gallup’s annual report, with only 21 percent saying they had confidence in banks and 35 percent saying they had very little or no confidence.
It will be a hot day for marching and other outdoor activity in uptown Charlotte as the temperature is at 91 currently.
Bring along the Gatorade and water if you plan on being uptown today because you are going to need it.
So, why the protest? Because the industry is still playing their same old games:
• Citigroup shareholders rejected CEO Vikram Pandit’s $15 million pay package at the bank’s annual meeting this spring, the first time a major bank’s shareholders had done so in a symbolic “say on pay” vote.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. revealed it lost billions in federally insured deposits on an oversized trading position that straddled the line between hedging and betting. CEO Jamie Dimon initially called discussion about it a “tempest in a teapot,” but he ended up on an apology tour that culminated in congressional hearings.
• Barclays PLC agreed to pay $453 million to settle allegations that the bank manipulated a key interest rate to demonstrate false confidence in banks and make money through trading. CEO Bob Diamond was forced to resign, and executives were made to answer to the British Parliament.
• Wells Fargo agreed to pay $175 million to resolve claims that its mortgage brokers discriminated against black and Hispanic borrowers, pushing them into higher-cost loans.
• News reports said that no criminal charges would be filed following investigations into the vanishing of $1 billion in customer money during the collapse of trading firm MF Global.
• And most recently, Standard Chartered PLC said it would pay $340 million to a New York state regulator to settle charges that the bank laundered money for the Iranian government. Source
Let’s not forget BofA’s attempt at raising debit-card fees. That bank screwed me out of some cash a few years back and I will never have anything positive to say about this criminal enterprise.
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