Banks are the parasites of the poor. It is not just by investing our money, that the banks make their living, but by charging fees. If we overdraft, there's a fee. If we come up short on a loan, there's a fee.
And, who overdrafts and who comes up short on payment of loans? Typically, it is the poorer folk. It leads me to wonder if this is true: In banking, the best customers are the ones who cannot pay their bills. In most other businesses, the last person you want to sell to is the person who won't be able to pay you. But, in banking . . .
I think of the subprime mortgage crisis of about 2008. We've assumed the banks did not over extend the loans on purpose. But, now I wonder. I think of loan standards falling from 2004 to 2007. I think of high-risk customers, including undocumented immigrants, being brought in. Was any of this brought on by a thirst not to make money just off the loan itself, but to make it off those who would default?
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