Citigroup Spending Tax Dollars to Lobby for Wal-Mart

As virtually every person on the planet is well aware, save for a few pygmies living deep in the Amazon, Congress approved a massive bailout of $750 billion for the financial services industry last year. In spite of the fact that a lack of regulation was the primary cause of the current economic collapse, that money was approved with virtually no regulations.

Last week the Huffington Post reported that Citigroup, one of the largest financial institutions in the universe and a recipient of $50 billion in tax payer dollars, spent some of its bailout money to lobby against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The EFCA would make it easier for workers to form unions and bargain for better wages and benefits.

The bill would immediately impact large corporations like Wal-Mart, which is closely intertwined with Citigroup. On Tuesday of last week, Citigroup downgraded Wal-Mart's credit score out of fear that the bill would pass.

In light of the fact that Citigroup is only able to survive because of the hard-earned tax dollars of the same blue-collar workers that they are trying repress, this moves is pretty shocking.

"Everyone should recognize that when we are talking about Citigroup here, the emperor has no clothes," said Dan Pedrotty, director of the Office of Investment at the AFL-CIO. "You have a company surviving on taxpayer largess weighing in against workers who want to improve their lives."

Read the full story at the Huffington Post -->

Are you a member of a union? Do yo work for Wal-Mart? If so, leave us a comment

Credit Card Companies Slashing Rewards and Increasing Rates

Credit card companies are taking dramatic steps to reduce their risks and trim their customer accounts. Major creditors such as Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, and American Express are slashing rewards and increasing fees and interest rates.

Creditors that used to throw money and free rewards at consumers, such as Citigroup and Discover, are now slashing rewards across the board.

A RISKY CREDIT ENVIRONMENT IS MAKING LENDERS NERVOUS

• Analysts estimate credit card chargeoffs—debts the card companies believe they will never be able to collect—could total $75 billion in losses in 2009;

• Reward programs are costly. Discover Financial Services posted revenue of $5.7 billion in 2008, while the net cost of its rewards program was $710 million;

• Analysts estimate that Americans' credit card lines will be cut by $2.7 trillion, or 50 percent, by the end of 2010;

AS A RESULT, CONSUMERS ARE PENALIZED

• Citigroup Citi Dividend MasterCard card holders received 30-day notices in fall of 2008 that they will receive 2% cash back, rather than the current 5%, on purchases they make using their credit card. In addition, Citigroup now requires many more rewards points for domestic flights for its Thank You Rewards program;

• Discover now requires cardholders to forfeit cash rewards if an account is inactive for 18 months or if they pay more than two months late. Also, Discover once offered 12,000 bonus airline miles to new customers. Now, new cardholders earn 1,000 miles each month they make a purchase, for a total of 12,000 miles at the end of the first year;

• American Express recently axed the domestic companion airline tickets provided free to Platinum and Centurion cardholders;

• At JP Morgan / Chase, consumers who got the Freedom credit card after Nov. 4 2008 will receive a 1% cash reward on most purchases and a 3% reward on promotional items, which constantly change. In the past the card provided a 3% automatic cash back on the categories in which consumers spent the most.

Has your credit card issuer reduced your rewards or increased fees or interest?