So corporations are people right (says Mitt Romney and the Supreme Court)? Now suppose a person lived in your house but didn’t pay for any of the bills despite getting a massive government handout all while making tons of money kicking your friends and family out. Oh and a few years back that person sort of, kind of accidentally helped drug smugglers without telling the authorities. Sounds like a roommate from hell right? Miami meet Wells Fargo, Miami’s foreclosure king, America’s tax dodger and one of the nation’s largest welfare recipients.
The role of Wells and other banks in the recession our families still struggle with is old news. But it is still relevant. Most economists say that the greedy decisions of the banks caused the recession, and the widespread unemployment and foreclosures that came with it. Unlike most Americans, however, Wells Fargo got a huge check from us to prevent them from collapsing, $25 billion dollars big. That check went a long way and by 2011, the bank earned almost $50 billion in profit. A normal person would be grateful, but Wells Fargo isn’t a normal person.
In the same period that it pulled a profit (thanks to taxpayers), it laid off over 6000 workers and increased the pay for its top executives 180%. It also paid no taxes. By no taxes, we mean negative 1.8% in taxes! Despite feeling too financially inadequate to pay taxes, Wells did spend $11 million dollars on lobbyists.
All of that would be bad enough, but Wells Fargo had to put salt on the wounds that its bank brethren opened. In 2011 as other banks were slowing down their foreclosure activities, Wells Fargo was stepping them up in Miami Dade county, becoming the number one plaintiff in foreclosure auctions. It is quickly on its way to becoming the largest owner of bank owned properties in the County.
Foreclosures affect everyone, especially in Miami. It forces families unto the street, erases the wealth of families paying their mortgage faithfully, and because we don’t have a state income tax, decreases our property tax base, pushing the people that build our streets and keep them safe onto the unemployment lines.
If corporations are people, and Wells Fargo is a corporation, it would follow the “Golden Rule” to do unto others as was done unto them. But we guess corporation can’t be people, because if they were, wouldn’t Wells be a horrible person?
Sources:
- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html/
- http://www.webcitation.org/64D9GyQG0
- http://publicampaign.org/reports/forhire
