More Corporate Greed
Wed., October 1, 01:30 PM
This is really getting old. I don’t understand the workings of corporate banking, but I don’t think they should be allowed to do this.
When we got married, Husband had a savings account in Connecticut Savings Bank. I remember being told, long ago, that “savings banks” were unique to Connecticut. I don’t think there are any left in the state. In any case, at that time savings banks were somewhat like savings and loans elsewhere. They were not allowed to offer checking accounts, so we opened one at a commercial bank.
Eventually, savings banks were allowed to offer checking accounts. I wrote a letter to the commercial bank, asking why their checking accounts were better than those of the savings banks. Receiving no answer, I transferred our funds into one bank. Connecticut Saving Bank served us well for years. They provided our mortgage and savings accounts for the children.
Some years later, Connecticut Savings Bank was absorbed by Centerbank. It was only vaguely annoying. By that time, Husband was working for a bank called Union Trust, which did not have terrific customer service. His salary was automatically deposited into a Union Trust account, and I generally transferred most of it into the Centerbank account. (Me, the big financier, right?) Union Trust eventually became First Union and bought up Centerbank, to my disgust. I managed to deal with First Union, even began banking online there. And then — I’m doing this from memory, ’cause I cannot find it on paper — Wachovia absorbed First Union.
To my surprise, I like Wachovia. (Although it seemed they’re more likely to “walk over ya” than to “watch over ya.”) They have given us good customer service. Maybe we’re in a preferred category because we use so many different services there, like direct deposit of Husband’s pensions and both our social security payments. Maybe we have some benefit because Husband is a retiree of one of the former banks. Regardless of the reason, I have been generally happy with the service.
Monday’s big news, in case you missed it, is that Wachovia’s banking assets are now part of Citigroup. It will probably be no more painful than all the other changes — the website still works — but I am truly getting tired of this. Despite the reminder that this protects our FDIC accounts, I have the feeling that I am going to be royally… I have no polite word for it.
Meanwhile, I feel manipulated. Like the real estate market, the stock market is falsely inflated. Every little “correction” causes a huge drop in the numbers, so we’re all sure we are headed for another crash. Is that supposed to be a message to Congress that they have to pass that bailout bill? Does it matter? The numbers are inaccurate, but we’ll have to pay for it all anyhow.
This is our legacy to our grandchildren. We lose our savings, supposedly their inheritance, and they get to pay off the nation’s debt.
My other complaint against the “big business mind set” took place in New York City, where both baseball stadiums have closed, to be replaced with fancier, more expensive parks. No one will be able to afford to take the family to the ball game any more.
I was never a much of a Yankee fan, but even I have good memories of the stadium, where I saw my first professional ball game. It was more than a ball park, it was a monument, and they should not destroy it. There will never be another one like it, even if it’s right across the street.
Shea Stadium, on the other hand, doesn’t upset me as much. It was built rather hastily to coincide with the World’s Fair (Expo ’64), and while it was adequate, it was not Yankee Stadium (because nothing else is). But I watched the final ceremonies because I was such a Mets fanatic for so long. They brought in as many of the former players as they could and ran tapes of others who have either passed on or have other baseball commitments. All those old men! (And a lot of them are younger than I!) From earlier times, men like Yogi Berra, Ralph Kiner, Willie Mays. Mets from 1962 to 1969, when they grew from the absolutely worst team you ever saw (40 wins and 120 losses) to world champions. Many from my son’s youth, when I had become a little less interested. A bunch of them were from the last fifteen years, and I never heard of them.
Do you ever wonder whether the corporate heads of baseball realize what they’ve lost when they alienated fans like me? I suppose they’ll be playing in parks like Citigroup Stadium or Chase Arena. And this was America’s pastime. As one fan’s poster said, “You’ve got to bereave.”
I could create a whole category called GREED.
