I’m not really sure that I have a problem with banks turning up their noses at IOUs. Wasn’t the purpose of TARP funding to allow banks to get credit flowing again (I know, I know, I’m hopelessly naive).

I realize that if CA doesn’t pay checks, a big chunk of the economy dries up, but isn’t that a seperate issue that should be addressed by Congress? How are banks suddenly responsible for bankrolling state deficits?

Further, if we do establish the principle that states can just print IOUs when they don’t have money, we may as well go whole hog and let states print their own currencies.

PS More clicky, more posty … promise.

I didn’t come here FOR extortion! I have an entirely different webSITE for that and I refuse, absolutely refuse, to have two!

Ok fine then. I guess Alfred E. Neuman paved the way for this sort of filth in public schools.

“Palin’s existence vaporizes the moochers, looters and destroyers like Arianna Huffington.”

This is begging for some serious photoshopping.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/07/puff-ho-bares-her-fangs-huffington-post-palin-attack-again-.html

It’s time to nationalize the banks. Jesus Fuck.

I think the point is that it’s a bit rich for Wells Fargo et. al. to go lecturing pretty much anybody about keeping your financial house in order … even a collective d-bag like the state of California.

In other words, the state of Cali now wants the banks to backstop the detritus of Prop. 13 … and the banks are rightly aghast, but it’s somewhat ironic that they just hoovered up a trillion bucks in taxpayer backstops against their own not dissimilar imbecility.

D., great article.

I’ve been a California resident for 40 years and other than briefly, I’ve never banked with Wells or B of A. They are bloodsucking scumbags and always have been. I was glad to see that Bank of the West, who I bank with, was honoring the IOUs.

pedestrian, I think the point is that these banks got bailed out with public money when their industry went belly up. And now, if they don’t honor the IOUs, lots of people are going to suffer. People like me, eventually. Not that I have any right to special pleading, but…fuck, these motherfuckers have made millions off of the backs of Californians for decades. For them not to give back even a little is seriously fucked.

Yes, the state government is fucked, but the ones really getting fucked over are the people who live here. We’re the ones who pay.

Yeah, I live here too. I’ve seen public defenders (good ones, but too young to have enough stake to ride it out) give up their practices due to the non-paying state government. That’s less good defense for the mostly already fucked defendants they represent … a small but important part of a bleak picture.

The banks really do get under my skin, though … what asteroid-size nuts they have to bail on everyone else in our hour of need after the colossal fucking wealth transfer they’ve enjoyed in the past few months, which was really just a formalized version of the tacit arrangement they already had, the scum.

The state of California, just like any household or business, must live within its means. Banks can’t be the solution to the budget problems.

That’s nerve.

RB – no kidding! That’s the equivalent of Dick Cheney calling out a pane glass window for a lack of transparency.

I just moved to CA and I miss Wainwright Bank in Boston. I think that it may be the only non-evil bank that I’ve ever encountered. Does anyone know of a non-evil bank in SF? Or perhaps a good credit union?

I want out.

Does anyone know of a non-evil bank in SF?

The Bank of Ireland, this Thursday night at 6pm … I’m selling my company plus a free pint for between $3-$5 depending on the Happy Hour arrangements …

Bonus: a three-hour ROI turnaround on shit-faced …

Actually fuck the BOI, it blows, make it the Edinburgh Castle …

I’m selling my company plus a free pint for between $3-$5 depending on the Happy Hour arrangements …

I’m guessing that the IPO didn’t go so well…

“The banks don’t have any obligation to take something that’s possibly worthless,” said Chris Mouser, a principal at Stanton, Calif.-based Mel Smith Electric, an electrical and networking contractor specializing in public school installations.

“There’s rampant waste in the state government. The budget needs to be fixed in a big way. What I’m mad about is that the state is in this position in the first place, I’m not mad at the banks. This thing’s been brewing for quite a while,” he said.

Wow, that’s prime-grade irony there: ‘brewing for quite a while’? No shit!

And curse you, lucky in reeboks! I clicked on that link, to find the crazy froth-filled rantings of Pammy – man, that woman needs to medicate (or stop medicating).

I’m guessing that the IPO didn’t go so well…

Still in stealth mode, but we call it an IPA in my office park …

I lived in CA during the ’80s. This was just after Prop 13 passed and you could watch the public services deteriorate year by year.

It’s about time they were forced into facing their desire for free services.

That said, the publicly-bailed-out banks refusing to bail out the state just made my irony meter explode. Now I’m gonna have to make a trip out to Irony Depot for another one.

Barney Frank was very good on the Daily Show tonight, except for the mumbling. He talked a bit about how the republicans wanted to kick people who couldn’t afford to pay rent out of subsidized housing and put them in homes. Which of course they couldn’t afford, which was one factor int eh financial collapse. So basically the republicans did it, on purpose. Figures.

D., I’ll make a semi-committment to buy your company, or at least a fraction of it. Although, it means I’d have to get my lazy, unemployed ass on BART and then MUNI to get out there. Much easier when I worked in the City.

The Bank of Ireland

Around ’71 or ’72 the San Francisco National Bank was shut down. A clever dick got the location & opened the San Francisco National Bar in the space. (I think it went out of business too, but I remember stopping in for a meal there.)

And if these IOUs mean my gummint subsidy is fucked w/, there will be trouble. Big trouble.

Yes, banks are evil. Worked for Ugly Cretin Bank, which became the Fascist Insect Bank, which Wells Fargo eventually consumed.

pedestrian, welcome to the other margin of our great nation. Don’t know of any good banks in SF, or credit unions, but you should be able to find a decent CU. Often they are professionally or employment related (gov’t. employees, teachers or what not); check w/ your fellow wage-slaves. Also ethnic CUs, check w/ your fellow pedestrians.

ca – cool, I’ll front page an S,N drinkathon later in the week … I know Shystee from the Barbarians and Corrente wants to do a meet-up of the bloggos as well …

lazy, unemployed ass

Hokey Smokes, am I the only Californian left w/ an income, if not a “real” job?

Actually there’s a link in the story linked above to the 80 or so CUs that are accepting the Cali IOUs … about two or three in SF are listed, as I recall … possibly a good place to start looking for an honorable money-changer.

Added banking note: Bank of The West may be OK. When I was getting my gov’t. money from an Electronic Benefits Transfer card, Bank of The West didn’t charge welfare cheats for ATM w/drawals. Bof A wanted $3.00 per transaction. A little tough when “income” is $221.00/mo., + $162.00 in Food Stamps.

And, at one time BoTW was owned by a French bank, BNP Parisbas, I think. Probably no longer, but who knows?

I used Bank of the West in Hayward and they ripped me off. Though that might have been more indicative of Hayward sucking than Bank of the West.

Indeed, credit unions, being all socialist & not driven by profit lust, are where I’d advise parking your money. Or turn it all into gold & keep it w/ you at all times. Also chinchillas.

Though that might have been more indicative of Hayward sucking than Bank of the West.

The ATM machines actually kick you in the nuts in Milpitas, so it could have been worse.

Mouser said that he hoped the banks’ refusal to take the IOUs would spur the state government to finally fix the budget and get money flowing properly again. He said his company had not yet received the state’s IOUs, but could at some point in the future.
Ahhh yes, the douchebag small business owner–who, never is but always to be blessed. Cursed. Whatever. “At some point in the future it is possible that in some possible world this could happen to me, so fuck everybody else.”

M.B. – Bank of the West is OK, although my wife and I have been customers there for over 20 years and they still charge fees up the ass for everything, and they’ve gotten worse in that way over time.

And yes, Westie, Hayward sucks major ass.

The ATM machines actually kick you in the nuts in Milpitas, so it could have been worse.

I once shot an ATM in Milpitas, just to watch it die.

And now I’m going to bed, so I can get up early tomorrow and be unemployed.

The massive, crippling irony of the Banksters wagging a finger at anybody, for just about anything, aside; what sort of pisses me off about this is,

a way to pressure the state legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to end their deadlock over California’s $26 billion budget gap.

While I do believe that the banks are fully within reason rejecting any investment they deem unworthy (oh, that they might have started that a couple of years ago, but I digress), who the fuck decided that they should be some sort of decisive political entity whenever democracy finds itself locked in a room yelling at itself like a bunch of third-graders? Honestly? We want banks to make our political decisions for us? Okay, I know, they already do, but still.

My other problem is this. We’re talking about roughly seven hundred bucks a head. When the roof caves the fuck in, is there any sane human being in the country who wouldn’t borrow seven bills to fix it, or find as much, over the course of a year, to tighten up on, without killing themselves over, and come up with that much? Either by giving up a night out here or there, or moonlighting for little while. Seriously. Two bucks a head, per day, and it’s the fucking end of the world for the richest State in the Union. That’s coffee money. Christ.

Between Prop 13, the budget supermajority requirement, and Arnie being a cock just for the pleasure of it, we are well and truly fucked.

And of course, Prop 13 is the mother of all political third rails. Everybody knows that something needs to change, but damn, talk about timing. Anybody care to venture a guess as to the effect on property values if it were repealed? Mmm hmm.

On the other subject, while I’ve been largely giving my liver the year off, I might be able to wend my way down to the Castle for a pint.

Hey, non sequitur,

Did you guys catch Taibbi on Zakaria?

(From the South Jersey Shore) Gentlemen, behold! http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/22506

And now I’m going to bed, so I can get up early tomorrow and be unemployed.

DÖ&#0216:D UR DOONE IT SOOO RONG11!

As am I!

Seriously, unemployment is much better at night, unless you like daytime tee vee.

The bar is closed.

Got yer tickets?

…

REDSTATE GATHERING
TENTATIVE AGENDA
July 31st – August 1st
Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead

July 31st*
—————-
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.: Cocktail Reception.

7:00 p.m.: Special Presentation of John Ziegler’s Media Malpractice with popcorn, of course.

Join Erick and the RedState contributors at the hotel bar after the movie.

August 1st*
—————-
9:00 – 9:10: Welcome by Erick Erickson

9:10 – 9:35: Congressman Tom Price (R-GA), Chairman of the Republican Study Committee

9:45 – 10:45 Right Online

10:45 – 11:15 Hon. Karen Handel, Georgia’s Secretary of State

11:15 – 11:30 BREAK

11:30 – 12:00 Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

12:00 – 1:00 LUNCH (several presentations will be made during lunch along with an AFP breakout session and time for a book signing with Senator DeMint)

1:00 – 1:30 Hon. Michael Williams (R-TX), Texas Railroad Commissioner and candidate for the United States Senate

1:30 – 2:00 Marco Rubio (R-FL)

*times and listing are subject to change.
More of the agenda tomorrow.

https://redstate.kimbia.com/Atlanta

@M. Bouffant 7:49:

Bwahaha!! Fascist Insect Bank, because it needs saying again, especially now:

DEATH TO THE FASCIST INSECT THAT PREYS ON THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE!

Oh, yes.

Mechanic’s Bank in lovely Richmond, California seems to still honor the IOUs. Because I love punishment, I bank at Chase where I am regularly and vigorously sodomized. Ever since an intrepid but stupid thief tried to use a backhoe to drag away a drive-up teller, my local branch has been understaffed and crowded. This bank was formerly WAMU, the one advertised by the edgy young hipster who was always mocking the fat old bankers? They spent millions on the ad campaign, but maybe they should have let the old bankers run the place…
Anyone who says Hayward sucks ass ought to spend some time up here, is all I can say. You guys have The Bistro, several great burger joints, and a college of sorts. Yeah, there are bikers, but they’re all AARP members. What we have here, mostly, is flying lead. Chevron has done everything to the place except refine it. It’s a post-proposition 13 abusement park. We’d get out but we’re underwater deeper than fuckin’ Aquaman.

They should have let the banks fail from the beginning. That’s how the market works, the market should pick winners and losers not the government.

California could balance its budget if it would cut out the layers of waste, fraud, and abuse.

For example (this is Texas not California, but it can only be worse in CA) a woman in front of me in line at the grocery store was buying a nice cut of T-bone steak with an EBT card! I mean if you can afford that kind of food on food stamps, there’s too much waste!

RedState Army Gathering

Aren’t they adorable?

I misread that author’s name as “Damon Pootie.” Which would have been excellent.

@M.B.

Indeed, credit unions, being all socialist & not driven by profit lust, are where I’d advise parking your money. Or turn it all into gold & keep it w/ you at all times. Also chinchillas.

Bringing up a smaller (larger?) interesting point about social financial instruments that has been discussed on Planet Money recently about Rosca’s (Revolving Savings/Credit Associations) in which people contribute a certain amount and get paid a lump sum at some point in the process (here’s a link to a story). These are private collectives.

Fascinating discussion of how people survive outside the organized financial structure through their families and friends.

RedState Army Gathering

I swore I initially read that as ‘Red Army Gathering’, now that would be worth attending…..

Banks that were bailed out whining about living within your means…LOL!

That’s like my ex-girlfriend telling me I am too anxious while she has a bowl of Xanax on her nightstand…

And a Texan whining about someone buying beef…LOL!

DA-

Pinko Punko introduced us to the Castle when we were out west a while back. Hopefully they have restocked.

Merry TUSTOSAN!!

Curse you for having a Sadly drinkathon when we’re not visiting!!

Also.

Its not that its beef,A-212N just that it is a very expensive cut of meet for someone living off the taxpayers dime because they are “needy”.

yeah, welfare cheats should only be allowed to eat gruel.

with ashes.

and lead.

and Cheetos.

Oh wait, I meant to say BANKSTERS.

For example (this is Texas not California, but it can only be worse in CA) a woman in front of me in line at the grocery store was buying a nice cut of T-bone steak with an EBT card! I mean if you can afford that kind of food on food stamps, there’s too much waste!

Funny thing – here in California (it can only be worse in Texas) Wells Fargo was standing in front of me in line at the M&A store, buying Wachovia with a TARP card! I mean if you can afford that kind of acquisition on food stamps, there’s too much waste!

Everyone hates when someone gets a few extra green beans, kid, but that’s the way it goes.

what about when somebody gets some bonus protein, Lunch Lady?

My gramma was a Lunch Lady.

More clicky, more posty … promise.

still waiting……..

crap even redcock is bored with this thread already.

Banks telling the Cali pols & regular po’buckers to live within their means?

It ain’t no big thing … but then, I hardly expect anything resembling either contact with reality or ethical standards from a pack of sociopathic vermin with a roulette-wheel for a moral compass – YMMV.

OT: lookee here – the WaPo just put out an opinion-piece from a shiny new wingnut … take that, chattering class!

You’re f**king kidding me.

So, for those of us who were asking if there was any slimy dishonest no-good cretin the WaPo wouldn’t give a soapbox and a megaphone to, the answer is no, there isn’t.

But I guess we already knew that when they gave Bill Kristol a column.

I’m not saying that WaPo op-ed was ghostwritten, only that Sarah Palin couldn’t list the names of her own children without editorial assistance.

Shorter Yawn RedCon: Poor people buying things that only I should be allowed to eat proves that banks should fail. Fruity Pebbles by Post, libs!

The writer, a Republican, is governor of Alaska.

Respectively: Never was, I suppose so, not for long!

The writer, a failed Republican Vice Presidential Candidate currently under investigation for abuses of authority, hails from the meth capitol of the North American continent. Having resigned her governorship for ….. well, no one really knows the reasons; she now takes her place among the adulterers and drug users that currently populate the GOP.

FTFTWP

Nice article

Righteous Bubba said,

That’s nerve.

No kidding. And it was mentioned above, but I want to reiterate: it’s more than a little worrisome that the banking industry is intentionally screwing people over to try to force the government of California to take a certain action, even ignoring the obvious hypocrisy of an industry that has demonstrated itself totally incapable of making sound decisions.

A Modest Proposal,

High energy prices are clobbering consumers, you betcha. Also, there are a number of detainees being held in Guantanamo as well as secret CIA prison sites around the world. Most of these folks haven’t even been accused of a crime, let alone charged or convicted – nonetheless, they are each and everyone – way too dangerous to be kept in maximum security prisons in the US.

It would not take much engineering know-how to convert existing coal-fired power plants to accept innovative new fuels. Additionally, this plan is carbon neutral as it uses biomass to produce energy.

Although the numbers of detainees being held by the US is unknown – accurate predictions of the total amount of fuel currently held in American custody is difficult. Fortunately, the US has great experience in acquiring conventional fuel supplies by military force – and a similar tactic could be used for acquisition of this new alternative energy source. Best of all, these military exercises can be performed in the same theater.

Finally, to address the concerns that the US might become to dependent of foreign fuel resources – please take note that unlike the finite supply of oil, my modest proposal relates to a renewable fuel supply. And there is mountains of evidence showing that the specific supply being considered renews itself at a high enough rate so as to threaten the racial identity of Europe. This is clearly sufficient information to demonstrate that the new fuel supply is essentially limitless.

Shorter Yawn RedCon:

Yes. I think his screedito can be filed under G for “granite countertops gambit.”

OT Part 2 – Hydroelectric Boogal0ops:

Well, well, isn’t this interesting … nice to know that the WaPo has a schizophrenic-friendly hiring policy, eh?

A related link, I think. Mark “Subsidized” Steyn sez “HAHA DYING NEWSPAPERZ.”

One has to admire Twoofiekins’ ability to look into the soul of some random stranger on a supermarket checkout line and immediately parse her motives. Sure, she’s obviously just some leech, sucking up his hard-earned tax dollars (from his “successful private business”, which I would be surprised to find involved anything more than selling Pokemon cards on eBay), almost literally giving him the finger as she heads off to gorge herself at his expense.

But hey, Troofus, here’s a thought (you do know what a thought is, don’t you?): suppose that same woman wasn’t just living it up at your expense. Suppose she’s been out of work for months; maybe she has a kid or husband or boyfriend or girlfriend who’s in exactly the same position. Maybe its his or her birthday, or their anniversary or something. Maybe she’s scrimped and saved for weeks so that she can do something nice for them, culminating in this rare instance of splurging on a t-bone steak, just so they can feel, for one night, that maybe life isn’t so hopeless and that maybe they aren’t total losers. I’m not saying that this is the case, but it could be. It’s at least as much within the realm of possibility as your construction of the situation.

So with that in mind, I ask you: can you imagine a world where this might in fact be possible?

I’m betting not, because I doubt that there’s a single second that you don’t feel like a total loser – why else would you waste so much time spamming this board? – and you can’t stand the sight of someone even for one minute feeling that they might not be as big a loser as you must surely be.

Bringing up a smaller (larger?) interesting point about social financial instruments that has been discussed on Planet Money recently about Rosca’s (Revolving Savings/Credit Associations) in which people contribute a certain amount and get paid a lump sum at some point in the process (here’s a link to a story). These are private collectives.

Thanks, very interesting!

For example (this is Texas not California, but it can only be worse in CA) a woman in front of me in line at the grocery store was buying a nice cut of T-bone steak with an EBT card!

Troofie, you’re learning! Why it was just last month or so that you contrived the exact same fantasy, only then you still thought that welfare ghetto ho’s still used food stamps. Welcome to the 21st century you ignorant bigot!

At July 15, 2009 at 1:21 Gabriel Ratchet said,

a beautiful thing. May the FSM grant that lovely people offer to suck you off.

Dragon-King:
Have you had time yet to write this up in triplicate and submit it to the Yes Men? Sounds like just the proposal they’re looking for.

Valkyr of science seems to be the only person around who has noticed what’s going on: The state needs to clean up its act, so we’re going to pressure it by imposing hardship on people who have minimal political influence.

That would be an awfully stupid bit of political strategy if it weren’t in fact just malice.

But really, I’m shocked that no one knows just how bad this thing is. I mean, the banks babble about how they are not going to shore up the state out of the goodness of their hearts, and let them be assured, we believe it! We never doubted it. Here’s the little problem: If they redeem one of these things, they get 3.75% annual interest, tax free, on a 90-day loan. That’s about 37.5 times what the Feds are offering (taxable) for that term. Now, the state’s credit isn’t as good as Uncle’s is, but really!

If it’s that good, why aren’t other people buying them from the IOU victims? Well, it seems that that requires a notarized bill of sale! (So says the Chronicle; the state’s web site says nothing useful, so far as I’ve found.) Buy these things in onesies and twosies from people who need the cash, and you’ll probably take a loss in fees and wasted time.

Sorry, small businesspersons, welcome to the new poor. Speaking of which, the state of California is tired of that Greek elitism about Eureka, so it’s taking its new motto from what the Brazilians say:

Cuando merda tiver valor pobre nasce sem cu.

#

My gramma was a Lunch Lady.

Everyone hates when someone gets a few extra branes, kid, but that’s the way it goes.