John C. Dugan and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (O.C.C.) Are a Pathetic Joke

Another excellent article written by Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times.  She has a regular column there named "Fair Game" which has a motherload of great information and sage wisdom on financial matters.  The title of her article is very appropriate:  "Credit Cards and Reluctant Regulators".

Yes Gretchen, you got that right, just put RELUCTANT in extra huge text and bold print.  Or maybe you could put a neon blinking arrow next to it that points to the name John C. Dugan.  But that's just for the slow-witted, because we might guess John C. Dugan has been a big bank lackey for years now, and he hammered that point down at the last FDIC board meeting.  Maybe next time Congress passes lame watered down financial reforms, we can call it "'Duganized' finance reform".

When you read about John C. Dugan, you might wonder if he is a regulator or a big bank lobbyist, as he spends most his time arguing against reforms, and seems to not notice anything bad that happens at Citigroup.  Based on Dugan's actions it can be confusing what exactly does John C. Dugan do???  I know what Dugan's job title is, but how that relates to his actions and words, that one is a mystery to me.
Maybe he thinks his job is to muffle whatever ideas Sheila Bair has to stop banks from screwing consumers and depositors???  I personally think John C. Dugan got confused what his job is.....he's in a state of job duty limbo. Or maybe it's permanent job duty limbo.........as long as Dugan stays confused what his job is then he gets to keep his job????

Since the Federal Reserve Board started to issue stricter rules on credit card issuers (coincidentally  around the same time Congress was talking about auditing the Fed), the banks are coming up with new fees to sidestep the new regulations.  For instance Gretchen Morgenson informs us, Alliance Data Systems is now charging its customers $1 surcharge for getting their statement in regular post mail.  Most likely there will be many more creative fees coming from credit card companies (banks) in the very near future (the very nearby weeks and months).  The question is, what is Congress, the Federal Reserve (Bernanke), and Jerkin Dugan going to do about it???  Gretchen Morgenson gives more details and writes much better than me.  Please read her wonderful article.