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Letter to the Editor Oil companies could learn I was most impressed by your opinion piece (Across the Fence, Jan. 10). I am not a fan of the oil companies, but I am a fan of correct and logical portrayal of the facts. The oil companies do not receive these accommodations because of the emotional economics they bring to our lives. This is your writing, "Exxon Oil Co., for example, posted record profits last year. Don't you think those profits are a bit unseemly when the nation is at war and has been repeatedly wracked by weather-related disasters over the past couple of years?" The American people are victims of their own respective ignorance of everyday financial information, but when the media exposes the many billions that Exxon Mobil make in profit, they do not exercise the creditable aspect of the percentage of profit. Exxon Mobil made about 12 percent profit, which is not that wonderful. Percentage of profit is a ratio of what it cost to produce their product, and the amount they actually put in their pockets. Wal-Mart makes about 3 percent profit, yielding $84 billion in dollar profit, which is achieved because they work on volume of sales. The banking industry is the No. 1 culprit of the national monetary scene. They legitimately suck more out of our economy than anyone understands, certainly more than any oil company. The average profit margin in the banking system is 24 percent profit. They do it with a plethora of fees centered around an overall theme of "greed." An NSF fee is simply an error in one's bookkeeping that brings an atrocious debit to an account. A "Hot Check" is a check written with full knowledge that a balance does not exist to cover the check, and very often, there is no actual account. These are checks that have to be sent to collection agencies, and ultimately turned over for felony prosecution. The banking industry centers around one objective: being paid for the use of their money at a fair rate of exchange. To charge a fee of $38 for an NSF is nothing less than "highway robbery." I know of an instance where a man on limited retirement income wrote three checks, amounting to $17.84, and the lack of funds to cover those checks that totaled to that amount, cost him $152 for the two days it took to deposit the necessary money to get his account back in order. This is happening all over the country to many people that are just robbed, because of their own bookkeeping errors, amounting to millions for the banking industry. These are the robber barons of America. Just very recently, the banks have requested that cardholders be allowed to dip into their 401K's to add to their financial incompetence. Banks need to be re-regulated; no further deregulation of their thievery should be allowed. I won't bore you with the Resolution Trust Corp. of the late '80s, or the present financial boondoggle the banks have perpetrated, attached to the foreclosure debacle of our national economy. In the '80s it was the Savings & Loan companies that over-appraised properties, and today it is the mortgage companies selling ARM, Interest Only payments, and that wonderful instrument of the foreclosure industry referred to as "predatory lending." Forty-five years ago, one had to put down a 10 percent down payment and have very good credit. Today, it is a free-for-all that is designed to allow anyone to own a home. Now you may understand the reason why people need to have "good credit" and "financial capability" to own their own homes. This is all okay, because like the RTC, the foreclosure disaster will be picked up by the American taxpayer, and the banks simply walk away wrapped in their "white robes" of innocence. Please give the oil companies a little slack; at least some understanding. They have no control over the price of a barrel of oil, because that is controlled by the world market. — Dan Wadley E-mail
comments about this story Posted: April 3, 2008
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