[lbo-talk] Bank scam

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Feb 9 09:59:29 PST 2005


C. G. Estabrook wrote:


>Reuters: "U.S. Treasury Under Secretary John Taylor, visiting Baghdad,
>told reporters Iraq's central bank had been granted the right to open a
>deposit with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 'This enables the
>central bank to earn income on its reserves, of approximately $5 billion,
>that will be over $100 million a year. That can be used to improve
>infrastructure,' Taylor said."
>
>Isn't this on a ethical par with payday loans, if on a rather larger
>scale?

They'd be earning a 2% return on their reserves. Since 4-week T-bills pay 2.2%, and 2-year T-notes 3.3%, I don't see where the scam lies. Interest rates on payday loans are, what, like 40 times higher?

Doug



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