Bailed-out Wells Fargo plans Vegas casino junkets

WASHINGTON (AP) - Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, is planning a series of corporate junkets to Las Vegas casinos this month.

Wells Fargo, once among the nation’s top writers of subprime mortgages, has booked 12 nights at the Wynn Las Vegas and its sister hotel, the Encore Las Vegas beginning Friday, said Wynn spokeswoman Michelle Loosbrock. The hotels will host the annual conference for company’s top mortgage officers.

The conference is a Wells Fargo tradition. Previous years have included all-expense-paid helicopter rides, wine tasting, horseback riding in Puerto Rico and a private Jimmy Buffett concert in the Bahamas for more than 1,000 employees and guests.

“I was amazed with just how lavish it was,” said Debra Rickard, a former Wells Fargo mortgage employee from Colorado who attended the events regularly until she left the company in 2004. “We stayed in top hotels, the entertainment was just unbelievable, and there were awards—you got plaques or trophies.”

While the nation’s recession has led other banks, such as Bank of America, to cancel employee recognition outings, Wells Fargo has not.

Full Story Here:
Bailed-out Wells Fargo plans Vegas casino junkets

Of course Wells Fargo isn’t cancelling anything, they are NOT spending their money, they are spending OUR money, TAX PAYER money! I don’t have one penny of ‘personal‘ money in a Wells Fargo bank, maybe it’s none of MY business how they run their business, but I am of the opinion that anyone that DOES have money in a Wells Fargo bank should immediately withdraw ALL of their funds, checking, savings, whatever they may have.

Is that a radical opinion from me?? Maybe. Is it a call to commence a RUN on Wells Fargo?? Possibly. It is MY opinion, and if others share that opinion, and if others seek to hold Wells Fargo’s feet to the fire, this would be one hell of a great way to get it done.

These guys have taken $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, isn’t a junket to Vegas as unscrupulous an act on their part as was the purchase of a multi-million dollar corporate jet by Citi recently?? Citi having been a just bailed out business concern?

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N), which has received $45 billion of capital from the U.S. government, is going through with plans to buy a $50 million jet but a U.S. senator called the deal absurd and wants the Obama administration to block it.

Story Here:
Citi going through with $50 mln plane order

Stop these ridiculous bailouts and stimulus packages to companies that only turn around and squander even MORE money, money that is NOT their own. There has got to be some serious accountability is all fiscal affairs of the USA, and if the government of this USA isn’t held accountable, if they insist on placing known TAX CHEATS in positions of power, they are NOT exercising ANY responsibility, fiscal or otherwise. The only thing our government is doing at this point in time is throwing MORE of OUR good money after the bad that has already been squandered, misspent, mismanaged and stolen.

If you are a Citi or Wells Fargo customer, let your conscience be your guide. I hope you make the RIGHT choice!

Bush confident bailout bill will stabilize economy

WASHINGTON - Buffeted by unusually aggressive pressure from the White House, House members debated hotly-contested Wall Street bailout legislation Monday as a key architect conceded its unpopularity.

“Many of us feel that the national interest requires us to do something which is, in many ways, unpopular,” said Rep. Barney Frank, the Financial Services Committee chairman. “It is hard to get political credit for avoiding something that has not yet happened.”

The House was moving toward an early afternoon vote on the much-maligned legislation, the product of marathon bargaining over the weekend among various House and Senate representatives.

President Bush once again urged the bill’s passage, saying in a White House appearance Monday morning that “every member of Congress and every American should keep in mind that a vote for this bill is a vote to prevent economic damage to you and your community.”

“With this strong and decisive legislation,” he said, “we will help restart the flow of credit so American families can meet their daily needs and American businesses can make purchases, ship goods and meet their payrolls.”

Full Story Here:
Bush confident bailout bill will stabilize economy

Here’s the part that causes me GREAT concern: Bush confident bailout bill will stabilize economy.

Any time Bush says that he is confident, I get ready to see massive fallout, simply because Bush and confidence are 2 words that just don’t go together for me, and here are a few reasons why: ABC News: Bush Optimistic About Stimulus Package , obviously that one didn’t work as planned, if it had, we wouldn’t be in this current financial mess, Bush Confident Surveillance Is Legal , Bush Confident Iraq Will Avoid Civil War , Bush Confident Republicans Will Retain White House , OK, so far, he has that one right, Bush Confident Despite Mounting Challenges , Bush confident of finding banned Iraqi weapons, I’m still waiting for that one, some *yellow cake* does NOT constitute WMDs as defined by Bush as justification for going into Iraq, Bush ‘confident’ US Congress will approve bailout, and that is yet to be seen too, they probably will, Congress loves to waste OUR money, Bush ‘confident’ of Mideast peace deal , and I have to ask, which Mideast peace deal? There have been several, and NONE of them amounted to a hill of beans. And the list goes on and on…

Here’s the bottom line, no matter how this turns out, it’s going to hurt the American taxpayer, and the root causes of the problems will remain in place, grinning from ear to ear as they bail out with their Golden Parachutes.