bank of america is still haggling with the department of justice over another mortgage-related settlement, in the billions of dollars. we re told the lawyers on both sides are nowhere near a deal. you look at this like a lawyer. you look at it from the bank s perspective and you think this saves us from the lawsuits. it s also a big public relations fight on the part of the department of justice, so many people saying these banks haven t been held accountable. you remember that person who committed the crime and didn t have to go to jail, they just paid the fine? no, you don t. it doesn t happen. what people are pissed about here, these banks committed crimes and they re paying their way out of it. nobody has gone to jail, for admitted crimes and they re paying their way through it. where do you think the money comes from to pay it? they can afford it. it comes from their customers. fees, et cetera. we ve seen those fees being raised. this protects them from civil lawsuits. it
along very rapidly. pete, let s switch gears for a second on another issue. the obama administration has just issued new rules that are intended to ease the concerns of banks who want to deal with businesses that legally sell marijuana. what can you tell us about that? the banks have been reluctant to do this. the same federal government that regulates banks also says marijuana is against the law. so the banks haven t wanted to touch it, the marijuana dealers have been cash businesses. that provides quite an opportunity for thieves. so what the obama administration did today is both treasury and justice to say, look, here are some new rules, you have to look at the business that the marijuana dealer that wants to do business with you. does it have legitimate products, selling to reputable customers, following all the rules, not doing things we don t want them to do like sell to children or organized crime or either state. but if it is following all the rules, it gives banks in es
if everybody used their gift cards, you can imagine what happens. see what happens with the credit cards at target. everybody uses them, something bad is going to happen. but i think that this is a gradual way to set expectations and to minimize the urn certainty that business people don t like. so the small businesses, medium sized businesses, all businesses need the lending that banks haven t been doing. we should anticipate there should be greater growth going forward. they ve seen these signals. they wouldn t do it unless they ve seen these signals. i think it s a mistake to interpret this as a pulling back or about the stock market. this is about we have enormous unemployment, way too high unemployment, and the federal reserve board has many tools. it has said we are going to do everything we can until we see unemployment drop. the fact they ve actually said called forward guidance, they re going to hold on to low interest rates even longer than they said before. this is maybe g
this mean to me? what does this mean for my mortgage? well, it depends what legislation comes out of congress. right now the federal government and state governments together implicitly or explicitly back 80% of these mortgages. the idea of slowing moving these away from the underpinning of the federal government is smart idea. that s been the problem. throughout the recovery, banks haven t been making loans to real people. so far the recovery has been investors led, by people who have cash on hand, people who need a 30-year mortgage have had a tough time getting one. what the president wants to do is ensure whatever legislation is passed gets the government out of the housing market while still making enough provisions that people can get those 30-year mortgages that they need. jim, do you think that these
will. we ll get reports on consumer confidence and personal spending and a reading on economic growth. now tell me if you ve heard this one before. banks are behaving badly again. that s according to a letter from the new york state attorney general. last year, five banks agreed to pay out $25 billion as part of a settlement designed to put a stop to mortgage and foreclosure abuse. the banks also agreed to a set of standards for processing mortgages. but the ag says banks haven t complied with the terms of that agreement. in the letter obtained by reuters eric schneiderman says the banks are quote engaging in much of the same misconduct that precipitated the national mortgage settlement. and it s not just new york. the ag says other states have identified similar recurring deficiencies. and how much would you pay for an apple computer? i d pay a lot? $1,000? $2,000? 6 pund for an ipad? how about $670,000. that s a lot. that s how much an anonymous bidder paid for a working