WHAT record? WHAT problems? The only record there was ever a problem is this FTC press release, and attached orders. All the scammers have to do is pay their 10k, and then set up shop again using different names.
And do you know what happens when they get caught again? (The FTC has a lot of repeat offenders.) They'll get another, virtually identical court order. The second one will not only "enjoin" them from violating the law, but will also order them out of the business entirely. If the FTC is feeling really frisky and if they are on the ball, they might even seize their assets (if they haven't already been shipped overseas.)
Do you know what happens if they get caught a THIRD time for the exact same scam? (Yep, there is enough instances of this to see a pattern...) THEN they'll be referred to the Justice Dept. for the life-ruining charge of... Contempt of Court. Yeah, the threat of 30 days at Club Fed will surely deter criminals everywhere from scamming millions out of unwary consumers. Nobody's life could possibly continue with that kind of conviction hanging over their head.
As I mentioned earlier, Kevin Trudeau is a frequent subject of FTC orders, and he simply changes his next scam to be slightly different from the last, laughing all the way to the bank.
Honestly, I don't know why the FTC even bothers. If these clowns aren't criminally prosecuted, what exactly is the point? $10k, and an order to Go Forth and Sin No More is just a waste of time.
And the "Go Forth" orders are routinely ignored... I think Kevin Trudeau has been slapped by the FTC for infomercial scams no less than three times, and he still doesn't give a $hit.
A scandal like this... there is NO WAY they'd be able to sweep it under the rug. Once the secret was out, you've opened up the whole company to a world of hurt. Namely, you've just endorsed expense account fraud and made it pretty much impossible to fire somebody as a result. In addition, employees learning that blatant misconduct is tolerated in the executive suites does devastating things to morale and recruitment.
If expense account fraud happens in a govt. contract, HP could have lost the ability to win ANY govt. contracts.
He can have a consensual relationship all he wants, (I never recall a CEO getting fired over an affair) but HP found him using company funds for this relationship. That crosses the line into misconduct worthy of firing. It's perfectly legal to have a mistress, and not something a CEO is going to get fired over. But he should have paid for the whole fling out of his own pocket; too many CEOs treat the company treasury as their piggy bank. As if their outsize salaries aren't big enough already...
And apologizing to the managers and employees would be appropriate here; nothing steams employees more than executives only paying lip service to a company's "values." The non-apology wasn't worth the paper it was written on. (It wasn't until he was investigated that it dawned on him it was wrong? *blech*)
It wasn't harassment because she probably agreed to the whole deal (likely up until the point he decided to dump her.)
Oh, and the "no panic" plan doesn't seem to be working. HP is down 10% in after-hours trading. (Which makes sense... an abrupt CEO transition from an executive that by all accounts was doing a good job is going to be tough.)
While Hurd himself has proven to be yet another spineless idiot with no moral compass, the General Counsel did not mince words: (From CNET) ----- Holston said the company's investigation revealed that the contractor had received compensation and incorrect expense reimbursement from Hurd as part of his attempt to conceal his relationship with her.
HP's board was notified of the matter after receiving a letter from the outside contracting firm on June 29. HP conducted an investigation with outside investigators and concluded that Hurd's conduct "exhibited a profound lack of judgment," according to Holston.
The amount of expenses involved is not material to HP, according to Holston. "The facts that drove the decision for the company had to do with integrity, with credibility, and honesty," he told investors on a call Friday. ----
For a corporate press release, this is practically ten-magaton nuclear anger. The only time I've seen something close is bankrupt corrupt company trying to throw the old CEO under the bus while trying to worm out of a shareholder lawsuit.
HP isn't a bank, and there is no mention he abused client funds or assets. The official reason for the firing was expense account fraud. I see folks prosecuted for embezzlement in the local news all the time.
And even at banks, they get fired and escorted out the door by security. They don't get to "resign" (and keep whatever pension and perks you might ordinarily keep as a former employee.) Betcha he gets to keep his stock options, pension, etc.
Since when does the employment contract for a front-lines IT grunt include the specific password policy for the equipment the grunt will be maintaining?
It's not the title that's cursed, its the reputation of a once-great company repeatedly getting abused and taken for granted by those chosen to lead it.
Here's to hoping the board has better judgment when choosing the next one. Their track record so far (Carly, and now this) isn't exactly inspiring.
I find it hilarious/scary that whenever a CxO gets caught doing something stupid/criminal, the defense is always ignorance. These weasels who get paid more in a day than I get paid in a year suddenly become the most oblivious, ignorant, and stupid morons in the world when they are being investigated for wrongdoing.
It wasn't until the middle of the investigation that he realized he did something wrong? *retch*
Possible scenario: He hires a mistress / "marketing" contractor. Takes her on "fact-finding trips" in a company jet. Dumps her / stops paying. She sues for "harassment." Board figures out the real story and lets him "resign"... in the meantime, they quietly pay off the mistress in return for her not filing suit. (Once you've gone public and filed suit with a high-profile case like this, you've just pissed away your best bargaining chips, which involve sweeping under the rug.)
If I was HP's board, I would not have let him resign; he would have been fired on the spot. Although I admit to being surprised that they didn't ham-handedly cover up the story; perhaps they learned their lesson with the wiretap fiasco from several years ago.
For the cost of setting up your own security system (or going commercial), you could pay for years of upgraded homeowner's insurance with full replacement value coverage. Take pictures of everything you own, keep copies of the receipts for expensive stuff at the office, and you are good to go. And not just against theft, but against fire, and whatever else you choose to cover with your policy.
And for the VERY RARE home invasion that occurs while you are home: If you are that worried, yes, a shotgun can go a long way there...
He was a front-lines IT grunt. His job was to do whatever his superiors told him to do, barring any requests to do something illegal. If his superiors order him to open the admin interface to the outside world, and change the password to "password"... other than requesting that the demand be put in e-mail to protect his name, he is supposed to do so.
Exactly what criminal law would not allow him to turn passwords over to his management on request, no matter how unqualified they are? None.
Holding your employer's equipment hostage pending an audience with the mayor? Yeah, that was, and is, criminal. It's called extortion.
While the ground may be within 1/2 hyperfocal distance, if the shot is composed properly to keep the eye on the action (which generally is not occurring on the ground) then this is less of an issue.
During close-up shots of objects at less than 1/2 hyperfocal, the 3-D effects can simply be "turned off" temporarily turning it into a non-headache-inducing 2-D movie.
If the screen is beyond the 1/2 hyperfocal distance of the human eye, then your brain isn't getting any distance information from the current focal length of your eye. That means all the information your brain has to rely on is parallax, which can be readily (if imperfectly) simulated.
The one source I could find (admittedly not much) said that this distance was about 11 feet. Meaning that in all but closest seats, the focal length of your eye is not a problem.
While the parallax is only simulated, done properly, it can look decent.
The big problem I had with Avatar was my eye trying to focus on objects that were out of the depth of field of the camera. It didn't give me a headache, but it was distracting. This was only an issue in close-up shots.
Your current vision system consists of a pair of 2D image sensors (a.k.a. your Retinas)... so I don't see why the mere fact that the screen is 2D should be an absolute obstacle to re-creating the parallax that makes your 2D vision into 3D.
I'm not convinced that you understand how credit cards work, or for that matter, how money works.
Doesn't matter if it's your bank or your credit card company, it's YOUR money that's gone. With a debit card the money comes out of your bank, with a credit card the money initially comes from the credit company, who sends you a bill, and you send them money[emphasis mine] from your bank. In either case you can file paperwork claiming fraud, and in both cases a valid claim of fraud will result in your money being returned. (specific policies vary by company and bank)
It's YOU that doesn't understand. Namely, you are completely oblivious to the fact that while it doesn't matter in the long run, in the short term, it can make a great deal of difference if the money is missing from your bank account, or is merely a line item on a credit card statement. With a credit card, you have the option of NOT sending them money while you fight. This is a vast improvement over your money missing from your checking account while you fight.
With a debit card, if the initial claim is denied, your bank account is empty and your rent payment is bouncing as you teeter on the edge of eviction while you argue with the bank. Your money (as in, the money that used to be in your checking account) is GONE. With a credit card, all they do is send you NastyGrams and call you when you refuse to pay; in the meantime you can still pay your rent and other bills while arguing with the bank. This is a huge difference. You are in a MUCH better position in the meantime than taking months to sue your bank to recover your hard-earned cash.
Given the choice, I'd rather deal with a bank than a credit card company. I can walk into my bank and actually talk to someone, can you do that with ANY credit card company?
You DO realize that virtually all branch banks offer credit cards, don't you? If you want a credit card from your local credit union, they almost certainly have one to offer you; likewise your community lending institution, etc. If you want to deal with nothing but a local bank, you can surely find one that will offer you a credit card.
(And, this is just picking nits, but all credit cards are offered by banks. They may not be branch banks, or retail depository institutions, but they are indeed banks.)
This wasn't "lazy reporting" or a "reporting error", the plain wording of the contract was quite clear. If they meant "mechanical difficulties with things we don't own or operate", then they should have said so.
IBM has the largest patent portfolio of any company in the world. I'm pretty sure that somewhere in there they probably have a patent on "method and process of transferring Oxygen to erythrocytes through periodic pressure changes" (a.k.a. breathing) They will bury these trolls alive with paperwork, lawyers, motions, depositions, etc. They probably have more IP lawyers on staff than this company has dollars of annual revenue.
And they don't settle IP suits. Ever.
They can as SCO how its IP extortion attempts worked out. Maybe the chart of their stock price would do the trick...
Methinks IBM will be dropped as a defendant as soon as they dig out their desks from the crates of paperwork.
Being forced to look at kiddie porn as part of your job could really mess you up. Looking at pictures of gory violence, torture, and abuse of all kinds, all day, day after day... I'd say that would mess somebody up far more than occasional crap coming up during web browsing.
It cannot be denied that the discourse will certainly be more civil with real names. I suspect the fee is not a money-raiser; it's so it can be checked that the name is real, by virtue of it matching a valid credit card.
Where does that leave people that would rather remain anonymous so they can express unpopular views? In a hard place. OTOH, it is quite routine that Letters to the Editor are written with real names.
Moto almost certainly does not care what you do with your phone. Once they've sold it to the provider, they aren't getting another dime out of the thing, no matter what you do to it. Providers, on the other hand, care very much what you do with your phone, since they want to sell you things to run on it, and have a great interest in restricting your activity.
Remember that Moto has two customers for every phone: You, and the provider that's selling the phone to you. If the eFuse makes it more likely for a provider to decide sell a phone, and the number of end consumers that care is low, then it makes sense to implement the eFuse.
If Moto was reaching out and remotely killing your phone, that would be of questionable legality. But since the capability is built into the phone from the get-go, I would think that it could simply be considered a "feature" of the phone. As long as the phones documentation mentions that mods can cause problems, Moto is home free since you were warned this could be an issue from the beginning.
Personally, I don't think Moto gives a crap if you mod your phone, but the providers they get to sell the phones most certainly do.
Automated Hierarchical Storage Management has literally been around for decades. It may be new-ish on low-end crap x86 servers, but for say, mainframe users, it isn't new at all.
What is new is available implementation choices. When your tier choices are between enterprise disk and enterprise tape, you are biased towards keeping data on disk; there's still use cases for HSM with only high-end disk and tape, but they aren't as great. Now with lower-cost disk available, you have a cheap disk choice too, with fairly reasonable access time.
I remember them covering how the banking system works in 8th-grade civics class. Did you miss that day?
Summary: Bank takes in deposit. Bank retains X% (currently 10% for a bank of more than a microscopic size) of the deposit, as required by their regulatory agency. Bank loans out remaining 90%. Which in turn is deposited by somebody else into another bank, rinse, repeat.
If the banks had 100% reserve requirements, exactly why would they ever want deposits? Because if they had 100% reserve, they'd have to recover their costs to maintain your account through fees, since they sure couldn't collect any interest.
And you could kiss CD's, Money Market accts., etc. goodbye. And when there is inflation, too bad if you want interest to help you keep up.
In addition, they'd have to raise all loaned amounts from private capital, which would make capital more scarce and expensive, leading to gravely stunted economic growth due to restricted capital flows. I can't imagine how high interest would be for say, a car loan, if my bank didn't have deposits to draw from.
Through the genius innovation of deposit insurance (which is funded by the banks themselves) runs on the bank caused by running out of reserves are prevented.
This is not some super-secret conspiracy by "the man". It's the very bedrock of modern banking and is only a secret to the uneducated and/or ignorant.
Their banking industry is largely (if not all the way) corrupt. They take the savings of the people (who do indeed have a high savings rate), and then loan them out to largely state-owned enterprises. Who gets the money is largely politically directed, and has little to do with how likely it is the loan will be paid back.
Eventually those savers are going to want their money back, and it won't be there. So, it would be accurate to say that Chinese banks haven't collapsed their economy yet.
So, in the US, all the wasteful spending and foolish loans go to consumers. In China, they go towards state-owned businesses. I'm not sure one way or the other is better.
AC, I feel sorry for your family and friends (if any) that have to put up with you if the presence of a line break and a single word launches you into a frothing rage.
Me putting my name at the bottom of my post is this old-fashioned thing called a "signature". I'm hardly the "only" person that signs things they put online.
I could understand anger if my signature contained a half-dozen stupid quotes, five urls, and ASCII art. It doesn't. It's a line break and my handle. Deal.
Slashdot Mirror
WHAT record? WHAT problems? The only record there was ever a problem is this FTC press release, and attached orders. All the scammers have to do is pay their 10k, and then set up shop again using different names.
And do you know what happens when they get caught again? (The FTC has a lot of repeat offenders.) They'll get another, virtually identical court order. The second one will not only "enjoin" them from violating the law, but will also order them out of the business entirely. If the FTC is feeling really frisky and if they are on the ball, they might even seize their assets (if they haven't already been shipped overseas.)
Do you know what happens if they get caught a THIRD time for the exact same scam? (Yep, there is enough instances of this to see a pattern...) THEN they'll be referred to the Justice Dept. for the life-ruining charge of... Contempt of Court. Yeah, the threat of 30 days at Club Fed will surely deter criminals everywhere from scamming millions out of unwary consumers. Nobody's life could possibly continue with that kind of conviction hanging over their head.
As I mentioned earlier, Kevin Trudeau is a frequent subject of FTC orders, and he simply changes his next scam to be slightly different from the last, laughing all the way to the bank.
Honestly, I don't know why the FTC even bothers. If these clowns aren't criminally prosecuted, what exactly is the point? $10k, and an order to Go Forth and Sin No More is just a waste of time.
And the "Go Forth" orders are routinely ignored... I think Kevin Trudeau has been slapped by the FTC for infomercial scams no less than three times, and he still doesn't give a $hit.
SirWired
A scandal like this... there is NO WAY they'd be able to sweep it under the rug. Once the secret was out, you've opened up the whole company to a world of hurt. Namely, you've just endorsed expense account fraud and made it pretty much impossible to fire somebody as a result. In addition, employees learning that blatant misconduct is tolerated in the executive suites does devastating things to morale and recruitment.
If expense account fraud happens in a govt. contract, HP could have lost the ability to win ANY govt. contracts.
He can have a consensual relationship all he wants, (I never recall a CEO getting fired over an affair) but HP found him using company funds for this relationship. That crosses the line into misconduct worthy of firing. It's perfectly legal to have a mistress, and not something a CEO is going to get fired over. But he should have paid for the whole fling out of his own pocket; too many CEOs treat the company treasury as their piggy bank. As if their outsize salaries aren't big enough already...
And apologizing to the managers and employees would be appropriate here; nothing steams employees more than executives only paying lip service to a company's "values." The non-apology wasn't worth the paper it was written on. (It wasn't until he was investigated that it dawned on him it was wrong? *blech*)
It wasn't harassment because she probably agreed to the whole deal (likely up until the point he decided to dump her.)
Oh, and the "no panic" plan doesn't seem to be working. HP is down 10% in after-hours trading. (Which makes sense... an abrupt CEO transition from an executive that by all accounts was doing a good job is going to be tough.)
While Hurd himself has proven to be yet another spineless idiot with no moral compass, the General Counsel did not mince words:
(From CNET)
-----
Holston said the company's investigation revealed that the contractor had received compensation and incorrect expense reimbursement from Hurd as part of his attempt to conceal his relationship with her.
HP's board was notified of the matter after receiving a letter from the outside contracting firm on June 29. HP conducted an investigation with outside investigators and concluded that Hurd's conduct "exhibited a profound lack of judgment," according to Holston.
The amount of expenses involved is not material to HP, according to Holston. "The facts that drove the decision for the company had to do with integrity, with credibility, and honesty," he told investors on a call Friday.
----
For a corporate press release, this is practically ten-magaton nuclear anger. The only time I've seen something close is bankrupt corrupt company trying to throw the old CEO under the bus while trying to worm out of a shareholder lawsuit.
HP isn't a bank, and there is no mention he abused client funds or assets. The official reason for the firing was expense account fraud. I see folks prosecuted for embezzlement in the local news all the time.
And even at banks, they get fired and escorted out the door by security. They don't get to "resign" (and keep whatever pension and perks you might ordinarily keep as a former employee.) Betcha he gets to keep his stock options, pension, etc.
SirWired
Since when does the employment contract for a front-lines IT grunt include the specific password policy for the equipment the grunt will be maintaining?
Do you have a link to this contract?
It's not the title that's cursed, its the reputation of a once-great company repeatedly getting abused and taken for granted by those chosen to lead it.
Here's to hoping the board has better judgment when choosing the next one. Their track record so far (Carly, and now this) isn't exactly inspiring.
SirWired
I find it hilarious/scary that whenever a CxO gets caught doing something stupid/criminal, the defense is always ignorance. These weasels who get paid more in a day than I get paid in a year suddenly become the most oblivious, ignorant, and stupid morons in the world when they are being investigated for wrongdoing.
It wasn't until the middle of the investigation that he realized he did something wrong? *retch*
Possible scenario:
He hires a mistress / "marketing" contractor.
Takes her on "fact-finding trips" in a company jet.
Dumps her / stops paying.
She sues for "harassment."
Board figures out the real story and lets him "resign"... in the meantime, they quietly pay off the mistress in return for her not filing suit. (Once you've gone public and filed suit with a high-profile case like this, you've just pissed away your best bargaining chips, which involve sweeping under the rug.)
If I was HP's board, I would not have let him resign; he would have been fired on the spot. Although I admit to being surprised that they didn't ham-handedly cover up the story; perhaps they learned their lesson with the wiretap fiasco from several years ago.
SirWired
For the cost of setting up your own security system (or going commercial), you could pay for years of upgraded homeowner's insurance with full replacement value coverage. Take pictures of everything you own, keep copies of the receipts for expensive stuff at the office, and you are good to go. And not just against theft, but against fire, and whatever else you choose to cover with your policy.
And for the VERY RARE home invasion that occurs while you are home: If you are that worried, yes, a shotgun can go a long way there...
SirWired
He was a front-lines IT grunt. His job was to do whatever his superiors told him to do, barring any requests to do something illegal. If his superiors order him to open the admin interface to the outside world, and change the password to "password"... other than requesting that the demand be put in e-mail to protect his name, he is supposed to do so.
Exactly what criminal law would not allow him to turn passwords over to his management on request, no matter how unqualified they are? None.
Holding your employer's equipment hostage pending an audience with the mayor? Yeah, that was, and is, criminal. It's called extortion.
SirWired
While the ground may be within 1/2 hyperfocal distance, if the shot is composed properly to keep the eye on the action (which generally is not occurring on the ground) then this is less of an issue.
During close-up shots of objects at less than 1/2 hyperfocal, the 3-D effects can simply be "turned off" temporarily turning it into a non-headache-inducing 2-D movie.
If the screen is beyond the 1/2 hyperfocal distance of the human eye, then your brain isn't getting any distance information from the current focal length of your eye. That means all the information your brain has to rely on is parallax, which can be readily (if imperfectly) simulated.
The one source I could find (admittedly not much) said that this distance was about 11 feet. Meaning that in all but closest seats, the focal length of your eye is not a problem.
While the parallax is only simulated, done properly, it can look decent.
The big problem I had with Avatar was my eye trying to focus on objects that were out of the depth of field of the camera. It didn't give me a headache, but it was distracting. This was only an issue in close-up shots.
SirWired
Your current vision system consists of a pair of 2D image sensors (a.k.a. your Retinas)... so I don't see why the mere fact that the screen is 2D should be an absolute obstacle to re-creating the parallax that makes your 2D vision into 3D.
SirWired
I'm not convinced that you understand how credit cards work, or for that matter, how money works.
Doesn't matter if it's your bank or your credit card company, it's YOUR money that's gone. With a debit card the money comes out of your bank, with a credit card the money initially comes from the credit company, who sends you a bill, and you send them money[emphasis mine] from your bank. In either case you can file paperwork claiming fraud, and in both cases a valid claim of fraud will result in your money being returned. (specific policies vary by company and bank)
It's YOU that doesn't understand. Namely, you are completely oblivious to the fact that while it doesn't matter in the long run, in the short term, it can make a great deal of difference if the money is missing from your bank account, or is merely a line item on a credit card statement. With a credit card, you have the option of NOT sending them money while you fight. This is a vast improvement over your money missing from your checking account while you fight.
With a debit card, if the initial claim is denied, your bank account is empty and your rent payment is bouncing as you teeter on the edge of eviction while you argue with the bank. Your money (as in, the money that used to be in your checking account) is GONE. With a credit card, all they do is send you NastyGrams and call you when you refuse to pay; in the meantime you can still pay your rent and other bills while arguing with the bank. This is a huge difference. You are in a MUCH better position in the meantime than taking months to sue your bank to recover your hard-earned cash.
Given the choice, I'd rather deal with a bank than a credit card company. I can walk into my bank and actually talk to someone, can you do that with ANY credit card company?
You DO realize that virtually all branch banks offer credit cards, don't you? If you want a credit card from your local credit union, they almost certainly have one to offer you; likewise your community lending institution, etc. If you want to deal with nothing but a local bank, you can surely find one that will offer you a credit card.
(And, this is just picking nits, but all credit cards are offered by banks. They may not be branch banks, or retail depository institutions, but they are indeed banks.)
SirWired
This wasn't "lazy reporting" or a "reporting error", the plain wording of the contract was quite clear. If they meant "mechanical difficulties with things we don't own or operate", then they should have said so.
SirWired
IBM has the largest patent portfolio of any company in the world. I'm pretty sure that somewhere in there they probably have a patent on "method and process of transferring Oxygen to erythrocytes through periodic pressure changes" (a.k.a. breathing) They will bury these trolls alive with paperwork, lawyers, motions, depositions, etc. They probably have more IP lawyers on staff than this company has dollars of annual revenue.
And they don't settle IP suits. Ever.
They can as SCO how its IP extortion attempts worked out. Maybe the chart of their stock price would do the trick...
Methinks IBM will be dropped as a defendant as soon as they dig out their desks from the crates of paperwork.
SirWired
Being forced to look at kiddie porn as part of your job could really mess you up. Looking at pictures of gory violence, torture, and abuse of all kinds, all day, day after day... I'd say that would mess somebody up far more than occasional crap coming up during web browsing.
It cannot be denied that the discourse will certainly be more civil with real names. I suspect the fee is not a money-raiser; it's so it can be checked that the name is real, by virtue of it matching a valid credit card.
Where does that leave people that would rather remain anonymous so they can express unpopular views? In a hard place. OTOH, it is quite routine that Letters to the Editor are written with real names.
SirWired
Moto almost certainly does not care what you do with your phone. Once they've sold it to the provider, they aren't getting another dime out of the thing, no matter what you do to it. Providers, on the other hand, care very much what you do with your phone, since they want to sell you things to run on it, and have a great interest in restricting your activity.
Remember that Moto has two customers for every phone: You, and the provider that's selling the phone to you. If the eFuse makes it more likely for a provider to decide sell a phone, and the number of end consumers that care is low, then it makes sense to implement the eFuse.
SirWired
If Moto was reaching out and remotely killing your phone, that would be of questionable legality. But since the capability is built into the phone from the get-go, I would think that it could simply be considered a "feature" of the phone. As long as the phones documentation mentions that mods can cause problems, Moto is home free since you were warned this could be an issue from the beginning.
Personally, I don't think Moto gives a crap if you mod your phone, but the providers they get to sell the phones most certainly do.
SirWired
Automated Hierarchical Storage Management has literally been around for decades. It may be new-ish on low-end crap x86 servers, but for say, mainframe users, it isn't new at all.
What is new is available implementation choices. When your tier choices are between enterprise disk and enterprise tape, you are biased towards keeping data on disk; there's still use cases for HSM with only high-end disk and tape, but they aren't as great. Now with lower-cost disk available, you have a cheap disk choice too, with fairly reasonable access time.
SirWired
I remember them covering how the banking system works in 8th-grade civics class. Did you miss that day?
Summary: Bank takes in deposit. Bank retains X% (currently 10% for a bank of more than a microscopic size) of the deposit, as required by their regulatory agency. Bank loans out remaining 90%. Which in turn is deposited by somebody else into another bank, rinse, repeat.
If the banks had 100% reserve requirements, exactly why would they ever want deposits? Because if they had 100% reserve, they'd have to recover their costs to maintain your account through fees, since they sure couldn't collect any interest.
And you could kiss CD's, Money Market accts., etc. goodbye. And when there is inflation, too bad if you want interest to help you keep up.
In addition, they'd have to raise all loaned amounts from private capital, which would make capital more scarce and expensive, leading to gravely stunted economic growth due to restricted capital flows. I can't imagine how high interest would be for say, a car loan, if my bank didn't have deposits to draw from.
Through the genius innovation of deposit insurance (which is funded by the banks themselves) runs on the bank caused by running out of reserves are prevented.
This is not some super-secret conspiracy by "the man". It's the very bedrock of modern banking and is only a secret to the uneducated and/or ignorant.
SirWired
Their banking industry is largely (if not all the way) corrupt. They take the savings of the people (who do indeed have a high savings rate), and then loan them out to largely state-owned enterprises. Who gets the money is largely politically directed, and has little to do with how likely it is the loan will be paid back.
Eventually those savers are going to want their money back, and it won't be there. So, it would be accurate to say that Chinese banks haven't collapsed their economy yet.
So, in the US, all the wasteful spending and foolish loans go to consumers. In China, they go towards state-owned businesses. I'm not sure one way or the other is better.
SirWired
AC, I feel sorry for your family and friends (if any) that have to put up with you if the presence of a line break and a single word launches you into a frothing rage.
Me putting my name at the bottom of my post is this old-fashioned thing called a "signature". I'm hardly the "only" person that signs things they put online.
I could understand anger if my signature contained a half-dozen stupid quotes, five urls, and ASCII art. It doesn't. It's a line break and my handle. Deal.
SirWired