'Soviet-Style De Facto Nationalization': Comments of the Week
October 23, 2015 8:00 AM
American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.
On the Obama administration's dismissing rumors that it planned to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from their government conservatorships:
"This is Soviet-style de facto nationalization. The American people should be outraged that their constitutional rights have been violated. Anyone remember part of the U.S. Constitution that says something about unreasonable seizure?"
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A reader reacts to presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders' support for an idea to enable the U.S. Postal Service to provide banking services:
"The USPS doesn't even do a good job delivering mail, why should the public expect them to do a good job delivering banking services?"
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On industry fears that a regulator-created tool for banks to assess cyber security will be compulsory:
"If you have any public funds you can guarantee that this is not optional with a federal regulator. When has anything in the last 8 years been optional from a federal regulator?"
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In response to a BankThink post arguing that community banks have bigger problems than regulation:
"Of course they got bigger problems than regulations but that does not mean that regulations should add salt to injury or, in hard times, be pro-cyclical
credit risks worsen, and banks have to come up with more capital, only because regulators allowed banks to hold little capital when they, in the good times, booked the assets."
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On the author's suggestion that boards that skew older and less diverse are a liability for community banks:
"Age brings wisdom and a perspective which should be honored and not denigrated. Board members tend to be selected because they are successful in their outside endeavors and 'being complacent and set in their ways' is an unfair stereotype."
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On why the 2005 bankruptcy reform law was not the success that some make it out to be:
"The cornerstone of the legislation was the means test that proponents said would steer those who could afford to pay into chapter 13 repayment plans. In reality, the means test rewards bad behavior by allowing those who have unaffordable payments on their mortgages, cars and luxury items slip through while those who have exercised restraint are penalized."
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