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Letters To The Editor Wall Street reform:
Dear Editor, Something
happened on the way to Wall Street reform. The federal legislation now
in the final stages of Congressional approval was supposed to address
the causes of the recent financial crisis and reorganize the way Wall
Street does business to protect taxpayers from a future crisis. While
the legislation does address some important concerns, it imposes
tremendous new burdens and restrictions on traditional banks like mine
that had nothing to do with causing the crisis in the first place. In short, this bill really hits our community, and its impact will not be positive. By
taking the widely recognized and agreed upon need for financial reform
and directing it more at traditional banks, the legislation undermines
the very banks that are needed to support economic growth and job
creation. The bill that passed the Senate contains 30 new or expanded
regulations that apply to community banks, and many of the regulations
are not even remotely connected to the financial crisis. All these new
burdens and restrictions will make it harder for bankers like me to
make loans to consumers and small businesses in our local community. For
example, the Senate bill contains an amendment that mandates government
controls on the price retailers pay for accepting debit cards from
their customers. This has absolutely no connection to the financial
crisis and is little more than a subsidy to giant retailers at the
expense of community banks and consumers. Another example is the proposed new consumer financial regulator. The
authority granted to this new federal bureau is so broad and
ill-defined that it essentially puts government in the business of
deciding what services are right for bank customers. A bank like mine
could reasonably conclude that it is not worth offering some banking
services that are specifically designed for our customers because the
services don’t have the bureau’s stamp of approval. This
kind of invasive oversight undermines the essence and strength of
community banks — namely, the relationship we have with our consumers.
How can we serve our communities if we can’t tailor products to meet
the specific needs of our customers? Then there
is the fact that even though the new consumer rules would apply both to
banks and non-bank lenders, enforcement against non-banks would be weak
or nonexistent in many cases. There is not a strong system for
examination and enforcement of rules for non-banks like the one state
and federal regulators use to examine banks like mine. How will this
legislation protect consumers from mortgage brokers or other financial
entities outside the traditional banking industry? Even
more astonishing is the fact that this new consumer bureau is giving no
authority over securities transactions. This bears repeating: The very
essence of what separates Wall Street from traditional banks — the
buying and selling of stocks and bonds — is not even covered by the new
agency. It is very difficult to see how this legislation can be
referred to as a “Wall Street reform bill.” Bankers
support financial reform, including some of the key provisions in this
legislation. But, this bill goes way beyond these needed reforms and
heaps even more red tap and restrictions on banks like mine that have
always put our customers first. Congress has missed the target of
reforming Wall Street firms and brokers that caused the recent
financial crisis and have instead hit the traditional banks. As a result, our customers and communities will suffer. Is this the kind of reform consumers had in mind? Greg Taylor
Chairman of the Board, President and CEO
Merchants & Farmers Bank, Holly Springs
MS is blessed!:
Dear Editor, As
jobs have been evaporating in Mississippi, and nationwide over the past
two years, it is a blessing to hear Toyota will be staffing its Blue
Springs plant this fall, with full production in 2011. This
past Friday, a local politician from California was complaining about
Mississippi’s anti-union citizens having robbed California of “their”
Toyota assembly plant. If one views California as
a whole, the entire state is a disaster and they have lost far more
employers than Toyota, with their ultra progressive agenda and higher
taxes. Toyota’s main decision to invest their
future in Mississippi, besides the lack of a choke hold on our better
labor force by trade unions, goes back to 2004 when our Governor Haley
Barbour pushed hard for needed Tort Reform in Mississippi. Many
may not be aware, but when Knoxville, Tenn., and Marion, Ark., were
anxiously awaiting the announcement of which city would land this
treasured piece of commerce, their jaws dropped and many asked, “Where
the “heck” is Blue Springs, Mississippi, and why there?” Toyota
considered several locations but Mississippi offered not only a
corporate friendly climate, good citizens and government but also the
fact that Mississippi offered a shelter for frivolous law suits. Governor
Barbour was recently noted by the non-partisan “Governing Magazine,” as
the “Best Governor in the Fifty States, period!” As
a resident of North Mississippi, I have witnessed the resulting
hardships as more and more companies, especially in the
furniture-related markets, closing at alarming rates. Toyota’s
Blue Springs plant announcement is a blessing to the hard working folks
of North Mississippi and I, for one of many, want to thank “America’s
Best Governor,” Haley Barbour, for a job very well done! Bobby Dee Myers
Potts Camp
Tend to oil spill:
Dear Editor, With all the terrible oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, it urgently needs to be tended to without delay. Use
all those people who are out of work drawing unemployment checks. Put
them to work cleaning this mess up. BP oil should pay for all of it,
not us. Sincerely
Lois Swaney-Shipp
Holly Springs
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