January 24, 2008

Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger promote corruption, try to fool people about "unbanked" program

Bill Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger join forces to offer "Beyond Payday Loans". The two promote plans to help the "unbanked" (those without checking accounts), and in so doing completely mislead about the seemy underbelly of their proposals: the San Francisco program they mention is designed in large part to give banking services to illegal aliens. They don't even hint at that:

...[The American dream] is harder to achieve for millions of Americans because they spend too much of their hard-earned money on fees to cash their paychecks or pay off high-priced loans meant to carry them over until they get paid at work.

...This year, California will become the first state in the nation to launch an effort to help unbanked residents open starter accounts -- the first step into the financial mainstream...

In coordination with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, we will partner with financial institutions to increase the supply of starter accounts that work for unbanked consumers and banks. We will form regional coalitions of financial institutions, mayors and community groups to market accounts and help the unbanked build financial literacy. And we will build on work already being done in San Francisco, where city officials, working with banks and credit unions, have already signed up 11,000 individuals who previously had no checking or savings account...

They also mention that the William J. Clinton Foundation's Economic Opportunity Initiative will be helping spread the San Francisco scheme to other cities.

The San Francisco scheme boils down to the FDIC trying to help banks profit from money that was earned illegally. Instead of fighting against such government corruption, Bill Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger are promoting it. Pardon me if I have difficulty thinking of both of them as little more than crooks.

UPDATE: Please contact Arnie and let him know what you think: gov.ca.gov/interact or better yet give his office a call and select the option to speak to a live person: 916-445-2841. And, per a note here, Kevin James of KRLA AM 970 will be discussing this on his show tonight (9:00 - 11:00 pm PST).

Posted to Politics at January 24, 2008 02:06 PM