Dr.Who
Well-Known Member
You all remember RICO? The law that was created to prosecute terrorists and thugs but was then used to silence peaceful protesters in the most blatantly biased ways.
According to RICO if one wants a business to be hurt one is guilty of racketeering or terrorism. Additionally, the often abused RICO laws are tied to the seizure of private property without due process that has been rampant recently. (interesting that just today I started another thread about the lack of due process. Is this a trend in our gov?). For those of you who remember if a police man pulls over a car and finds pot in it the police can just take the car without a trial.
Anyway, back to Durbin:
Durbin was upset with Bank of America for making huge profits (though they were actually not making huge profits) when the bank charged retailers for using debit cards. (even though every bank in the country charges retailers for using credit cards). He therefore drafted a bill that made it illegal to charge retailers for the use of their customers debit cards and claimed it was to help consumers. (no doubt the reason for the law was to reward one of his constituents - perhaps a competitor of BofA).
But Bank of America, not making huge profits, decided that they could not lose that revenue. They turned around and charged their customers directly - a practice that is not at all unusual in the banking world.
Upset that his plans were foiled what did Durbin do? He made a public announcement urging people to stop banking with Bank of America.
If an old man, by himself, on a sidewalk with a sign can be tried under RICO how much more should a person with huge influence over hundreds of thousands of people and with the clout of congress behind him be charged?
Is there any doubt that Durbin's intent is to hurt the business of the bank?
And how did we get to the point in this country where our government buys car companies, fires CEO's of private companies, designs laws tailored specifically to help some business at the expense of others, pressures private companies to drop successful ads, and urges the populace to hurt a private business?
According to RICO if one wants a business to be hurt one is guilty of racketeering or terrorism. Additionally, the often abused RICO laws are tied to the seizure of private property without due process that has been rampant recently. (interesting that just today I started another thread about the lack of due process. Is this a trend in our gov?). For those of you who remember if a police man pulls over a car and finds pot in it the police can just take the car without a trial.
Anyway, back to Durbin:
Durbin was upset with Bank of America for making huge profits (though they were actually not making huge profits) when the bank charged retailers for using debit cards. (even though every bank in the country charges retailers for using credit cards). He therefore drafted a bill that made it illegal to charge retailers for the use of their customers debit cards and claimed it was to help consumers. (no doubt the reason for the law was to reward one of his constituents - perhaps a competitor of BofA).
But Bank of America, not making huge profits, decided that they could not lose that revenue. They turned around and charged their customers directly - a practice that is not at all unusual in the banking world.
Upset that his plans were foiled what did Durbin do? He made a public announcement urging people to stop banking with Bank of America.
If an old man, by himself, on a sidewalk with a sign can be tried under RICO how much more should a person with huge influence over hundreds of thousands of people and with the clout of congress behind him be charged?
Is there any doubt that Durbin's intent is to hurt the business of the bank?
And how did we get to the point in this country where our government buys car companies, fires CEO's of private companies, designs laws tailored specifically to help some business at the expense of others, pressures private companies to drop successful ads, and urges the populace to hurt a private business?
