The Wells Fargo wagon and flimflam economics
It is worth noting some of the underlying sentiments of the mayor and Santa Fe City Council members who voted yes to continued dealings with Wells Fargo as Santa Fe’s financial collaborator, as reported in The New Mexican (“Mayor, council reluctantly keep Wells Fargo as city’s bank,” Aug. 31).
Councilor Peter Ives, who voted yes to Wells Fargo, said, “Take any large corporation … chances are you can find something I don’t like about what they have done in the past.” He also referred to Wells Fargo “making mistakes” rather than naming it for what it really is — bank fraud. Ives also referred to the transgressions of Wells Fargo as happening in the past, yet on Aug. 31, 1.4 million more suspect accounts were reported in the news. Ives’ statement suggests that corruption will always be with us and, well, what can we do?
This yes vote rubber-stamps an entire culture of fraud and bad consumer practices welldocumented in Wells Fargo’s continued fiascoes.
Councilor Carmichael Dominguez said in defense of his yes vote in favor of Well Fargo: “We can’t just put our cash in a cash box in the finance office. We do have to work with these institutions.” No, we do not have to work with these institutions. What a flippant, unimaginative statement. This limited thinking and cavalier attitude speaks volumes about their lack of imagination to find other options. It is a shoulder shrug that says, “Well, this is the best we can do; that’s just the way it is.” This hardly inspires confidence in the councilors or their abilities.
Finally, Mayor Javier Gonzales called his vote a “reluctant yes.” Reluctant is not good enough. It is a weak-willed approach to what citizens want; namely, a government that puts its money where its moral and mayoral mouth is. Really, Mayor Gonzales, is this the best you could come up with? A “reluctant yes”?
The mayor said at the Santa Fe Plaza rally following the Charlottesville violence: “We must all stand up now and speak out!” Yeah, unless it is an issue that is challenging and demands real change in the way the city does business.
Where is the will to say, “We can do better,” mayor? Where is the leadership to change the city culture that tolerates Wells Fargo — looks the other way, in other words — and collaborates with one of the worst banking systems, with one of the worst records in corporate banking?
I challenge you to do something substantive after this fiasco and get the public banking initiative on the agenda for your next meeting — show some muscle and get it done.