'You Can't Drive Your House': Comments of the Year

December 29, 2016 7:30 AM

We revisit some of the best comments readers posted in 2016. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com and BankThink.com articles, except where noted.

On how the new Republican administration could affect federal policy on whether banks can aid legal marijuana businesses:

"One can only hope that with the adults back in charge of the Justice Department this legalized reefer madness gets derailed."

In response to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray calling for bank account options that help customers avoid overdraft fees:

"Shorter Cordray: 'That's a lovely bank you have there. It would be awful if something were to happen to it.'"

On the idea that biometrics, among other technologies, could replace the username and password:

"In a world where we live without remembered passwords, say where our identity is established without our volitional participation, we would be able to have a safe sleep only when we are alone in a firmly locked room. It would be a Utopia for criminals but a Dystopia for most of us."

A reader's reaction to government efforts to spur more affordable housing:

"Social liberal government policies create the crisis and then create more regulation to screw things up even more, i.e., Dodd-Frank. That's a great idea. Let's let the guys who caused the debacle create more baggage for the honest American homeowners who are still trying to dig out from the last mob-induced, bank-supported crisis. All of them should be in jail. But they pardon themselves, and here they come again. That's why we need Donald Trump."

In response to an op-ed on the evolution of fintech disruption:

"Repeat after me: There is no spoon ('The Matrix'). Fintech is a marketing concept more than a new business model. Most of these players are simply free-riding on existing public-private infrastructure. Consider the marketplace lenders who are in fact marketing and securities firms. A bank processes and funds most of these loans, which are then sold in fractional securities offerings to retail investors. Woop-dee-doo."

Rejecting the idea, in the wake of the Wells Fargo scandal, to require all loan officers to obtain licensing now required just for nondepository institutions:

"Give people a little credit. They know they are being offered something when the topic comes up. But, when they are signed up without their knowledge, that is fraud. Another course and more compliance won't/can't stop that. It's also the reason Managers who know this is happening should be wearing stripes instead of getting their Walking Papers and collecting [big payouts]. Too many criminals upstairs."

Casting doubt on whether blockchain technology will deliver a return on investment:

"Blockchain is an elegant and fascinating dead end. It serves one useful purpose, namely enabling the bitcoin market. There is no other useful application of what people call 'blockchain' outside of the [bitcoin] world. There are no economies of scale and little utility in using this clumsy approach to encryption."

'You Can't Drive Your House': Comments of the Year

On how the new Republican administration could affect federal policy on whether banks can aid legal marijuana businesses:

In response to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray calling for bank account options that help customers avoid overdraft fees:

On the idea that biometrics, among other technologies, could replace the username and password:

A reader's reaction to government efforts to spur more affordable housing:

Disagreeing with a BankThink contributor's argument that banks must make enough return on their capital to attract investors:

On customers sticking with a bank because of the barriers to exit, not because they're satisfied with the bank's service:

In response to an op-ed on the evolution of fintech disruption:

In response to an argument on what digital bankers can learn from Pokemon Go (via <a href="https://twitter.com/FinTechCynic/status/760567112708620288" target="_blank">Twitter</a>):

A reaction to bankers wondering, circa 2008, whether mobile banking would take off (via <a href="https://twitter.com/johnsiracusa/status/764098233463410688?refsrc=email&s=11" target="_blank">Twitter</a>):

Rejecting the idea, in the wake of the Wells Fargo scandal, to require all loan officers to obtain licensing now required just for nondepository institutions:

On PayPal co-founder and Trump transition team member Peter Thiel (pictured) faulting both major political parties for letting recent financial bubbles occur under their watch:

Casting doubt on whether blockchain technology will deliver a return on investment:

Weighing consumers' incentives to keep paying their car loans against their mortgages: