FDIC Rate Adjustment
Wall Street wants us to believe that the causes of the financial crash are too complicated for regular folks to understand. But fundamentally, it all came down to greed. Mortgage brokers sold unaffordable mortgages to collect their commissions. Stock brokers made huge, risky bets to get big bonuses. And now that taxpayers rescued Wall Street, greed is making a comeback.
But the FDIC—the agency that insures bank deposits—is trying to do something about it. The FDIC wants banks that hand out big bonuses for risky behavior to pay higher insurance premiums. Just like a reckless driver pays more for auto insurance, these banks would pay more if they insist on rewarding recklessness.
The FDIC is taking public comments on the proposed new rule until this Thursday, February 18. But banks are pushing hard against it, and many of the comments so far are from bankers. The FDIC needs to hear from regular Americans who got stuck with the bill when these bankers wrecked the economy. If you are tired of big banks playing risky games on your dime let the FDIC know by submitting a comment here.
The FDIC takes these public comments very seriously, but usually, only receives a handful from industry insiders. But this is a rule that would affect all of us. The FDIC needs to know that millions of regular folks are watching and that we want accountability for the risky behavior that cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Your comment will have the biggest impact if it’s respectful and in your own words. You can view the comments that have been submitted so far here.
These are some things you may want to mention in your comment:
- If Wall Street traders are allowed to gamble heedlessly with other people’s money, it won’t be long before we face another financial crisis. They cannot be allowed to keep the profits when their risky bets pay off, but get bailed out by taxpayers when they don’t.
- Despite the banks pleas to “trust us,” Wall Street has proven incapable of regulating itself. The fact that the biggest banks are giving out $145 billion in compensation this year—more than before the crash—is proof that they have not learned their lesson.
- The FDIC should not wait for Congress or the Federal Reserve to create new rules of the road for compensation practices—especially when there’s no guarantee either will act. The proposed rule is a common-sense change that should be implemented immediately and can be supplemented by further improvements.
Sending your comment to the FDIC is really easy. Just click this link below to open an email, write your comment, and submit it before the Thursday deadline.
If you have troubles using the link in this post send your email to comments@fdic.gov and include “RIN 3064—AD56″ in the subject line.
Please keep in mind that whatever comment you are sending as well as your email address full name and all other information you are including will be published on the site and will be viewable by any other visitor. So if you do not want this information to be made public, make sure you do not include it in your comments.
