Tag Archives: Credit card

Protecting The Privacy Of Americans

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One of the things that happened after January 6th was that bank transactions and credit card transactions in the Washington, D.C., are were tracked to see who was in Washington on that day. One person I know who went to the rally and then went back to her hotel had her business’ PayPal account canceled essentially because she used her credit card to buy a hamburger. She was never anywhere near the Capitol building. How did PayPal know she was in Washington?

On Friday, The Epoch Times reported the following:

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has subpoenaed Bank of America (BoA) for information over the company’s alleged sharing with the FBI of private customer data from around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, events in Washington.

The subpoena is part of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government’s probe “into major banks sharing Americans’ private financial data with the [FBI] without legal process for transactions made in the Washington, DC, area around Jan. 6, 2021″—the day that supporters of President Donald Trump breached the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying the 2020 election, which the former president has called rigged and stolen. Politico first reported the Nov. 16 development.

The committee subpoenaed relevant documents from the bank, including internal communications about the decision to transfer the information to the FBI, any communications that the bank had with the agency, and any other information. The lawmakers gave Bank of America a June 8 deadline to comply.

The article also notes:

Those who had used Bank of America accounts to purchase a firearm, regardless of when or where the transaction took place, were bumped to the top of that list.

The article includes a possible solution to this obvious invasion of privacy:

However, in a Nov. 16 letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, informing him of the subpoena, Mr. Jordan, who also chairs the Weaponization Select Subcommittee, wrote that, “it is unclear what ‘legal’ process permits the FBI or BoA to share the sensitive customer information of potentially thousands of BoA customers and implicate them in a federal law enforcement investigation without any clear criminal nexus.”

After all, the Ohio congressman wrote, “If such a lawful authority exists, as BoA asserts, for BoA to freely share private financial information without any legal process or specific nexus to criminality, Congress has a responsibility to consider reforms that adequately protect Americans’ information.”

This is something to keep an eye on.

Can I Get The Name Of The Realtor?

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When it comes time to sell your house, everyone wants to sell their house for what it is worth. Sometimes in a tight real estate market, you can have a bidding war and sell a house for more than its actual value, but if there is a mortgage involved, the bank will quickly bring reality to the transaction. Well, that’s the way it works for us common people.

On Sunday, The U.K. Daily Mail reported the following:

Joe Biden sold a house to a supporter for $1.2 million in 1996 – but it is only worth an estimated $1.65 million 27 years later, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The current valuation raised questions over whether Biden received an inflated price for the property from a donor nearly three decades ago.

It was purchased by an executive for a credit card company that, in the same year, also hired Biden’s son Hunter and then paid him for years.

I guess the pay-for-play started years ago.

The article notes:

During those years Joe Biden backed new bankruptcy legislation in Congress that would benefit credit card companies, even though it was opposed by a majority of Senate Democrats including Barack Obama.

At the time of the controversial house sale in 1996 a pollster for Biden’s Republican opponent in his Senate re-election race suggested that the price paid for the house had been too high.

That was vociferously denied by both Biden and MBNA.

A Biden spokesman said at the time that Biden had purchased the property when it was in a distressed state.

The spokesman said: ‘Over the 21 years that the Biden family lived in the home, they made considerable renovations.

‘There was absolutely no connection between the sale and campaign contributions or votes by Sen. Biden, and no one should dare suggest otherwise.’

MBNA also provided to the American Spectator magazine an appraisal from January 1996 that put the value of the property at $1.2 million.

However, the News Journal, a newspaper in Wilmington, went on to report that the appraisal listed as comparable properties two houses valued at just over $1 million.

Both of those properties failed to meet their asking price by more than $200,000, while Biden got the full list price.

Wow. Just wow.

About The Taxes You Pay On Your Social Security

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In the past few days I have been getting notices on my phone to sign a petition to end taxing Social Security. I normally support smaller government, less spending, and lower taxes, but in this case, I want to keep taxing Social Security. I want to keep taxing Social Security until the federal budget is balanced. Who do I hold responsible for the unbalanced budget and the increasing debt? The voters. I will explain.

There are a lot of factors that went into my deciding that Social Security should be taxed (despite the fact that the money has already been taxed once). I will attempt to list them here. The majority of today’s Social Security recipients are the baby boomers. Those born in 1957 or before are now eligible to collect Social Security. In 1971, the voting age was lowered to 18, and those people born in 1957 began voting in 1975. The gold standard ended in 1973. Up until that point, budget deficits were running between $1 billion and $23 billion.

I want to focus on the baby boomers. We were the generation that ‘had it all.’ We were the ‘me generation.’ Our parents had come through the depression and World War II and enjoyed the prosperity of the 1950’s. We were consumers. As adults, we began the serious use of credit cards. We took out student loans to send our children to college. We were seriously into instant gratification. We were idealistic–we wanted to end poverty. We also wanted to end communism. We tried to do both at once and spent money we didn’t have. In the 1970’s and 1980’s the deficits grew rapidly. We continued to elect people who helped them grow. We complained when they grew, but continued to elect people who overspent. We are the ones currently collecting Social Security. We deserve to be taxed on it because we are the ones who elected the people who have run up the deficit.

So who is responsible for the rapidly growing federal debt–the voters. Don’t talk to me about the money or lobbyists in politics–if your Congressman is voting against your interests because of lobbyists, it is your responsibility to vote him out of office. When the Republicans caved on repealing ObamaCare, they deserved to be voted out of office. We need to keep voting people out of office until we get what we want.

I would love for Social Security to be tax free, but let’s put people in Congress who will control spending first!

Some Thoughts On Brett Kavanaugh

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Investor’s Business Daily posted an editorial today about some of the reactions to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice. Some of the attacks on this man by the political left are so ridiculous they are funny.

The editorial cites one example of the attacks:

The Washington Post red-flagged the fact that Kavanaugh racked up nearly $200,000 in credit card debt to buy season tickets to the Washington Nationals baseball team and also for “home improvements.”

A big chunk of change, to be sure. But…what? It’s a bit hard to argue Kavanaugh wasn’t gainfully employed. The Post further makes a big deal that Kavanaugh’s most recent financial form shows less than $70,000 in assets. Sound poor? Does that disqualify him from service on the Supreme Court? Do we now have an asset test for all Court nominees?

What’s absurd about the “assets” is they don’t include his six-figure income and generous pension from being a federal judge. Nor does it include the value of his home. We don’t know what those are, but we’re pretty sure the net value of both is well north of $1 million.

It gets worse:

The Post also “reported,” if that’s the word, that Kavanaugh proclaimed himself Treasurer of the “Keg City Club — 100 Kegs or Bust” in his high school yearbook, and referred to the “Beach Week Ralph Club” and “Rehoboth Police Fan Club.”

So, teenage hijinks are now a solid disqualification for service on the federal bench?

Of course, this is all recycled pap from Kavanaugh’s approval process to be a federal judge. It’s mostly all known. Why repeat it? Anything to sully a man’s reputation. After all, recall how both Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas were smeared by the left during their confirmation battles. Together, they were two of the most disgusting and unfair spectacles in American political history.

I that is all the dirt they can find on this man, he totally deserves to be confirmed in the next two months!

Politicizing Finance

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On Friday The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about a recent policy change by Citibank.

This is the new policy:

[…] Today, our CEO announced Citi is instituting a new U.S. Commercial Firearms Policy. […] Under this new policy, we will require new retail sector clients or partners to adhere to these best practices: (1) they don’t sell firearms to someone who hasn’t passed a background check, (2) they restrict the sale of firearms for individuals under 21 years of age, and (3) they don’t sell bump stocks or high-capacity magazines. This policy will apply across the firm, including to small business, commercial and institutional clients, as well as credit card partners, whether co-brand or private label.

Citibank has every right to do what they are doing. However, the American public has every right to choose whether or not to do business with Citibank. Unfortunately the American public did not have any say in the $476.2 billion in cash and guarantees that Citibank received from TARP, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis .

The article notes:

However, with more and more organizations deciding to limit the use of their products and services based on political ideology; and with Citibank now openly stating their intent to create national legislation without actually applying congressional laws to their endeavors; it’s a fair request to say Citi-group should no longer be permitted any favorable benefits from the FDIC.

As a private company, Citibank has the right to a company policy about guns, but restricting the sale of firearms for individuals under 21 years of age is contrary to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  I wonder if a retail sector client has a legal case against Citibank if he refuses to abide by these terms and his business is prohibited from using Citibank credit cards.

The idea of injecting political views into business practices can be a problem. What if a bank decides it will not grant car loans to cars that run on gasoline because they believe in the concept of electric cars? What if a bank refuses loans to homes unless they have solar power? A corporation has the right to set their own company policies, but those policies should be in line with the U.S. Constitution if they are a business based in America.

 

Good News For All Military Veterans

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Yesterday The Military Times reported that Lowe’s has expanded its program of military discounts.

The article reports:

National home improvement retailer Lowe’s has expanded its everyday military discount program to include all honorably discharged veterans, as of May. 

The chain also has expanded the 10 percent discount to Lowe’s online shopping, which will include free parcel shipping. It will provide for faster checkout and add the ability to use the discount at self-checkout in stores, said Lowe’s spokeswoman Karen Cobb. 

But the procedure for getting the discount has changed: Active-duty service members, retirees and veterans must must sign up online for the Lowe’s personal shopping card to qualify for the discount. This is not a credit card.
This is wonderful news to all of the men and women who have served our country in the past and been honorably discharged.

Stealing From The Poor To Enrich The Rich

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This is a screenshot taken from the Observer:

bankstatementThe article reports:

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is stealing from her poorest supporters by purposefully and repeatedly overcharging them after they make what’s supposed to be a one-time small donation through her official campaign website, multiple sources tell the Observer.

The overcharges are occurring so often that the fraud department at one of the nation’s biggest banks receives up to 100 phone calls a day from Clinton’s small donors asking for refunds for unauthorized charges to their bankcards made by Clinton’s campaign. One elderly Clinton donor, who has been a victim of this fraud scheme, has filed a complaint with her state’s attorney general and a representative from the office told her that they had forwarded her case to the Federal Election Commission.

…“We don’t investigate fraudulent charges unless they are over $100,” the fraud specialist explained. “The Clinton campaign knows this, that’s why we don’t see any charges over the $100 amount, they’ll stop the charges just below $100. We’ll see her campaign overcharge donors by $20, $40 or $60 but never more than $100.” The source, who has worked for Wells Fargo for over 10 years, said that the total amount they refund customers on a daily basis who have been overcharged by Clinton’s campaign “varies” but the bank usually issues refunds that total between $700 and $1,200 per day.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. The repeated charges to Mrs. Mahre are not an isolated incident. It is totally amazing to me that with the amount of money the Clintons have amassed through questionable dealings involving the Clinton Foundation they would feel the need to obtain campaign funds dishonestly. There seems to be a pattern in the actions of the Clinton family.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

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There are parents who support the ‘everybody gets a trophy’ mentality, but what happens when their children enter the business world. What happens when the CEO of a company tries to practice ‘everybody gets a trophy’ in his business. We have a recent example.

Yesterday Business Insider posted a story about Dan Price, founder and CEO of the Seattle-based credit-card-payment processing firm Gravity Payments. Mr. Price decided to raise the minimum salary at his company to $70,000. At first his employees were thrilled, but things do not work out as well as planned.

Employees are leaving. Why? Because some employees feel that some less valuable employees got increases bigger than some more valuable employees. One employee complained that the new policy did not reward work ethic–there was no incentive to do more or work extra hours to complete tasks. People who had done that in the past were treated no differently than the less conscientious employees.

The company is struggling financially because of the decision to pay everyone $70,000 a year. There is also a court case filed by Dan Price’s brother, a minority owner, which was filed soon after the pay raise.

There is something in the American psyche that expects to be paid a fair wage for a hard days work. There is also something in the American psyche that resents it when people who do not do a good job are paid the same as people who do. That is why socialism will fail in America, just as it has failed in all the other places it has been tried.

Is This An Example We Want Anyone To Follow ?

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Breitbart TV posted a video of Cindy Sheehan speaking to Occupy Rose Bowl. She states that she has told her credit card companies that she will not be paying them anymore and that she has not paid her income tax for eight years. Good grief!  Credit card bills occur when people buy things. If you don’t buy things, you don’t have a credit card bill. When you buy something with a credit card, you take on the obligation of paying that bill. If you don’t want the bill, don’t buy the stuff! As for the income taxes–I guess the George W. Bush Administration was simply not political enough to have Ms. Sheehan audited.

Oh, how I long for the good old days!

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“Throw Them All Out”

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Seal of the Speaker of the United States House...

Image via Wikipedia

“Throw Them All Out” is the name of a recent book by Peter Schweizer. It deals with insider trading and crony capitalism in our government. There are multiple stories on the internet about this book and its information, my sources are CBN News and Big Government.

CBN cites the following examples:

When California Democrat Nancy Pelosi was House speaker in 2008, she got preferred treatment to invest in a credit card company at the same time Congress was considering credit card legislation.

Another former House speaker, Republican Dennis Hastert, returned to his home state of Illinois after making millions on a land deal that involved a congressional earmark.

Big Government reports:

Media Matters has offered up a ridiculous post that tries to distort the fundamental facts about Barack Obama’s green energy program. I hesitated whether to even comment on it because they fail in the basic tenets of honest journalism. George Soros is a large contributor to Media Matters.

The article at Big Government lists the approved loans to green energy companies that included major fund raisers for the Obama campaign. All of these loans did not go through for various reasons, but all were approved.

I’m not really supporting the idea of throwing them all out. There were some Congressmen elected in 2010 that are not involved in this sort of thing. There are also some Congressmen that have been there for a while who have not used their offices for personal gain. We need to make sure we differentiate between those who have been dishonest and those who have not. I am, however, willing to throw anyone out who has profited because of insider knowledge or has used their office for personal gain. We just need to make sure we do our homework before we throw anyone out of office!

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