In a Senate Banking Committee Hearing today, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called on Wells Fargo CEO John Stump to quit his job.
The hearing was called in response to the discovery that Wells Fargo created 2 million accounts that customers never requested, and then charged their clients fees on these scam accounts.
If this weren’t enough, the executive in charge of the division where this fraud occurred it retiring with almost $125 million in compensation.
She also asked Stumpf if “cross selling,” or pushing existing customers to open more accounts, was all about boosting Wells Fargo’s stock price. Stumpf said it wasn’t, but when Senator Warren read his own words back to him, and submitted to the record transcripts of twelve calls with invesors where Stumpf bragged about how cross-selling was boosting the bank:
Warren: Cross selling pumps up Wells’ stock price, right? Stumpf: No it’s about deepening relationships Warren: No? HERE ARE THE TRANSCRIPTS pic.twitter.com/PkuIjnShaW
Finally, she called Stumpf’s leadership “gutless.“
Warren wasn’t the only Senator to slam Stumpf. Senator Sherrod Brown pointed out that the bank previously faced THIRTY NINE enforcement actions:
“Over the past 10 years, your bank has had approximately 39 enforcement actions, just a few of which have come up today. Many were related to failure to serve or abusive conduct towards customers and investors. You talk much about Wells culture, how proud you are of it, about either. What does this say, if you’ve had 39 enforcement actions, about Wells culture?”
Republican Senator David Vitter asked about the implications for Too Big to Fail:
"Why isn’t this crystal clear proof that an entity as big as Wells is not only Too Big to Fail, it’s Too Big to Manage, and Too Big to Regulate. One percent of your business if fired for fraud, but it doesn’t rise to your level?”
And Senator Bob Menendez pointed out that what Stumpf called “good paying jobs” were nowhere close to his massive compensation:
.@SenatorMenendez: You said $30,000-60,000 is good money [for workers]. How much did you make last year?
But perhaps the most stunning part of the hearing was Stumpf’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge the power he possesses as CEO and Chairman of the Board. Every time he was confronted with question about clawing back the $125 million pay package that the executive who oversaw these abuses is walking away with, Stumpf repeated that he wasn’t on the Board of Director’s compensation committee, and he didn’t want to prejudice any decision they make.
While many, from Senator Brown to Shelby pointed out over and over that Stumpf is the Chairman of the Board, Senator Warren had perhaps the most colorful way to point out that the responsibility lies with him:
.@SenWarren: Mr. Stumpf, you keep referring to the Board as if they’re strangers in a dark alley. You’re Chairman of the Board #WellsFargo
I finally found a Trump supporter – this morning when I went to buy coffee. (I noticed a Trump bumper sticker on his car.)
“Hi,” I said. “Noticed your Trump bumper sticker.”
“Yup,” he said, a bit defensively.
“I hope you don’t mind my asking, but I’m curious. Why are you supporting him?”
“I know he’s a little bit much,” said the Trump supporter. “But he’s a successful businessman. And we need a successful businessman as president.”
“How do you know he’s a successful businessman?” I asked.
“Because he’s made a fortune.”
“Has he really?” I asked.
“Of course. Forbes magazine says he’s worth four and a half billion.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s been a success,” I said.
“In my book it does,” said the Trump supporter.
“You know, in 1976, when Trump was just starting his career, he said he was worth about $200 million,” I said. “Most of that was from his father.”
“That just proves my point,” said the Trump supporter. “He turned that $200 million into four and a half billion. Brilliant man.“
“But if he had just put that $200 million into an index fund and reinvested the dividends, he’d be worth twelve billion today,” I said.
The Trump supporter went silent.
“And he got about $850 million in tax subsidies, just in New York alone,” I said.
More silence.
“He’s not a businessman,” I said. “He’s a con man. “Hope you enjoy your coffee.”
Priceless. ‘The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.’ – Winston Churchill
This somewhat smug exchange fails to mention the next thing a Trump supporter would say – that all of these facts he brought up are simply false, perpetuated by the "corrupt corporate media”, bringing them both back to square one. Being a Trump supporter to the point of buying a sticker (contributing to the campaign) is a part of their identity, and one cannot take it away by simply telling them they were conned. Reversing this damage is at this point impossible.
But it is possible to appeal to those who are still uncommitted and explain what’s at stake (like what would happen if Trump would default on US debt like he promised).
When you arrive home after midnight with a sh.tload of luggage and a cranky baby, and home greets you with a snaking taxi line with a helpful sign of 30 min estimate, and thinking that you’d just throw money at it and take Lyft despite surge pricing, and first a dude named Shakhzod, then a dude named Saqib, both cancel your rides after making you wait for them as they learn the unfashionable address of you are going.
And of course there are delays on every train line this morning, and of course the platform is thoroughly packed.
Every time I’m in this beautiful and nice-smelling place I ask myself what am I doing at the hyper competitive place with mostly bad weather also known as east coast.
The answer has always been the culture and the people. But it’s been months if not years since I’ve availed myself of any of the culture – and the people change and move – and I seem to never be able to meet new ones.
But then I remind myself how California already has more people living here than it can possibly sustain. And that adding to their numbers would be simply irresponsible. I cannot live here.
Everyone shoots film these days, it seems, and then develops then in a rented-by-the-hour darkroom. In London and in Brooklyn.
Completely unrelated, but the photos my friend took with her phone during catching up at the playground are incredible. Everything she touches is like this – i suppose that’s what being a real photographer is all about.
tinfoilparachute 