Posted on 03/10/2006 8:55:30 AM PST by mathprof
A group of congressmen on Friday said an industrial bank owned by Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, could threaten the stability of the U.S. financial system and drive community banks out of business.
In a highly critical letter to the acting chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., obtained by Reuters, a group of more than 30 congressmen asked the bank regulator to reject Wal-Mart's application to open a bank in Utah.
"Wal-Mart's plan, to have its bank process hundreds of billions in transactions for its own stores, could threaten the stability of the nation's payments system," the lawmakers wrote. "Given Wal-Mart's massive scope and international dealings, it is not possible to rule out a financial crisis within the company that could damage the bank and severely disrupt the flow of payments throughout the financial system."
The group included Ohio Democrats Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Rep. Tim Ryan, Hawaii Democrat Rep. Neil Abercrombie and California Democrat Rep. Loretta Sanchez. A complete list of signatures was not immediately available.
Wal-Mart is trying to open an industrial bank to handle electronic payment processing. Industrial banks are state-chartered and state-regulated, and fall under the supervision of the FDIC. Commercial companies may own them because federal laws that bar non-financial companies from engaging in banking activities do not classify them as banks.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
itsa our CongressCritters who are ruining our economy
To really save our system, the Congress only needs to meet once a year for 15 minutes. (and that may be too long)
What a bunch of BS. Buy Walmart stock now while it's cheap.
Target runs a bank, GE and GM have banks, there is no reason why WM can't run a bank
It's the "Hate Walmart Crowd" again... whatever isn't Bush's fault, is Walmart's fault.
I'm suprised that Wal Mart has not already put up Cellphone towers, CO and POP sites (internet) and kicked the crap out of the cellular and ISP companies.
We elect people who are so easily bought out that the whole process is nothing more than a big dog and pony show. All we are doing is selecting people whom we want to make richer at our expense.
I have advocated taking it a step further, back to truly competitive money---free note issue, backed by whatever you want to back it with. It was a system that worked VERY well from 1830-1850 with minimal failures and maximum growth.
Me thinks some district banks fear survival with loss of Wal-Mart business.
Can't list all the *** Credit Bank, NA's that are out there due to lack of space.
What these dimwitt democrats are REALLY saying is:
"Walmart is non-union and becuase the unions give us MUCHO cash, we are going after Walmart."
The behemoth Federal Government wants to have a monopoly on the medium of exchange.
Allows them to print money out of thin air and inflate away the debt they created.
Bunch of economy-destroying leftists who would also like to aid "homegrown" business with price minimums, etc. Go figure.
The real aim here is to force Wal-Mart to unionize, nothing more or less.
Hawaii Democrat Rep. Neil Abercrombie - get a haircut and a real job!
Ping
Heaven forbid that Wal-Mart process it's own debit and credit cards, thereby saving tons of money.
LOL! I was just going to ping her. Another day, another new way to take a swipe at Wal-Mart. :)
The UAR terminal deal, just over, is an example, nether Congress or the Senate don't care. No mention of the Long Beach Naval Base deal, Clinton by executive order allowing COSCO a terminal at the closed Naval Base, after the the original denial. This at the time of interesting political contributions. Hung, Trie, Riayd?
With conservatives so pissed at the Republicans, maybe we should form the Wal-Mart party. They certainly are doing a better job of understanding and advancing capitalism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.