Pressuring Financial Institutions to Stop Making Loans to Businesses

[Speedo66]

Just read an article where a major financial institution had succumb to pressure by activist groups to stop financing an industry they found repugnant. It was the 5th or 6th bank to follow this course of action in regards to this industry, in this case, mountaintop coal extraction.

The present administration attempted to get banks to cut services to gun shops, but not sure if attempting to curtail loans to arms companies has been tried.

Chilling last line in today's NY Times article: "The real question is whether other social activists are watching, and what their next target may be."

 

[g.willikers]

The solution is take our money out of these banks and tell them why.
No need to worry about these activists.
There's far more of us than them.

 

[Moparnut]

There is an article on Forbes about operation chokepoint. The article stated that the dept in charge of the operation was going to stop. I was going to post a link when I read it, if interested it is on Forbes website. However, activist groups are completely separate from government entities and the only way to sway a business is with money. If you hear about a bank or business who is being pressured by outside elements ask to speak with the manager and tell them you will take your money elsewhere if they succumb to whatever is being proposed.

 

[Ryanxia]

A law was passed in January, 2015 that outlaws Operation Chokepoint as far as firearms businesses are concerned. As far as financial institutions making decisions not to do business with FFL's that's free enterprise. There are plenty of other financial institutions.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Operation checkpoint has been used against coin dealers. Mike Maloney http://www. hiddensecretsofmoney.com is a commentator, coin dealer who complains about it. I suppose dumping your federal (or is it feral) reserve notes for precious metals is frowned upon by Dear Leader.

Anyway, loans to small business are really non-existent. What is needed is more regulation on derivative trading, negative short sales, and financial instruments that are used to leverage up loans. The subprime loans that were cited as the cause of the TARP bailouts were only 1/10th of the money loaned out. It was the leveraging by the banks that drove up the bailouts. Good book on the subject is Nomi Prins' It Takes a Pillage.

As far as financial institutions making decisions not to do business with FFL's that's free enterprise. There are plenty of other financial institutions.

I recall there was a family grocery store that had its bank account seized because they were making cash deposits of less than $10k. Reason? Suspected money laundering. I think it's all about control and not crime prevention.

 

[Tirod]

The mountaintop coal industry is largely out of control. What banks have been doing it researching the ownership to discover who are the actual owners - and plenty are from offshore - plus what liability they have in getting things cleaned up afterwards.

If you want to read up on how the EPA targets companies 50-75 years after mining has destroyed the environment, read up on the Tar Creek watershed in Oklahoma. It's basically the story of lead mining in the Picher lead-zinc district from the turn of the century, and we've spent millions of dollars to clean up hazardous waste. Taxpayer dollars, to do something that at the time wasn't illegal.

Mountaintop mining is basically strip mining, the layers are peeled off as quickly as possible, often just pushed off the side, the coal extracted, and the mine left unremediated to Federal standards. Take a look on Google maps for yourself. it's destroying the Appalachians, and has resulted in a 75% loss of jobs for miners there, driving them even further into poverty.

You want your bank to loan money for that? If you think it's wrong, the mining companies will paint you an activist. LIve in an area where hundreds of acres of land are covered in lead laced gravel discarded from old mine operations, read the stats on the higher cancer rates and lower life expectancy, and make your own informed choice.

In a lot of ways, activism is about making better choices and not letting profiteers undermine your quality of life.

Chokepoint? Just another anti gun pogrom, something else entirely. It wasn't Chokepoint that woke up the California Teachers Union to the big investment their retirement fund had put into Cerberus.

 

[Tommygunn]

Tirod, activism like that is a double-edged sword.
It can help people ... or hurt them. Depends on how it's used. Like nuclear energy; you can use it to give power to a city, or you can blow it up with one bomb.
Cleaning up and stopping strip mining lead may be a worthy goal. However, using it to abridge Constitutionally protected rights is another matter.

 

[we are not amused]

The mountaintop coal industry is largely out of control. What banks have been doing it researching the ownership to discover who are the actual owners - and plenty are from offshore - plus what liability they have in getting things cleaned up afterwards.

If you want to read up on how the EPA targets companies 50-75 years after mining has destroyed the environment, read up on the Tar Creek watershed in Oklahoma. It's basically the story of lead mining in the Picher lead-zinc district from the turn of the century, and we've spent millions of dollars to clean up hazardous waste. Taxpayer dollars, to do something that at the time wasn't illegal.

Mountaintop mining is basically strip mining, the layers are peeled off as quickly as possible, often just pushed off the side, the coal extracted, and the mine left unremediated to Federal standards. Take a look on Google maps for yourself. it's destroying the Appalachians, and has resulted in a 75% loss of jobs for miners there, driving them even further into poverty.

You want your bank to loan money for that? If you think it's wrong, the mining companies will paint you an activist. LIve in an area where hundreds of acres of land are covered in lead laced gravel discarded from old mine operations, read the stats on the higher cancer rates and lower life expectancy, and make your own informed choice.

In a lot of ways, activism is about making better choices and not letting profiteers undermine your quality of life.

Chokepoint? Just another anti gun pogrom, something else entirely. It wasn't Chokepoint that woke up the California Teachers Union to the big investment their retirement fund had put into Cerberus.

One persons "Activist", is another persons idiot!

Like the nut case locally, who a few years ago showed up at a County Zoning board meeting, claiming that a quarry in a neighboring county was "eating prime wheat ground", and it needed to be stopped, or the idiot PETA people who got the Ringling Brothers to get rid of elephants in their Circus, or the weirdo's who won't vaccinate their children, or oppose genetically modified plants...
Activism is fine, if you are a true believer and don't care for the cost to other people. I notice most activist are less interested their own good, that in other peoples "good". Whether they want it or not.

I am not worried about some idiot activist putting pressure on some financial institution, I am worried about a lawless Administration using the power of the Government to deny legitimate businesses access to financial institution simply because some activist or even a single lawless President doesn't like them.

If you think that coal mining is bad, then don't use coal, buy coal mining stocks, work as a coal miner, or use electricity. I don't care. I plan on using plenty.

P.S. I also use lead. And to the misguided souls who don't think the anti-gunners are trying to ban and or restrict the use of lead to raise the cost of bullets, well, I got some bottom land to sell you, just don't ask what it's at the bottom of.

 

[Speedo66]

I don't think mountain top coal mining is good, it should be stopped. But that wasn't my point. The point is obvious, if a small group of people can convince major financial institutions to withhold funding from certain sectors of business.......then no industry is safe.