JPM: the modern day SHYLOCK

*Jamie Dimon is really pissing me off. The government (you and me and Bush AND Obama) have helped him buy Bear Stearns, Wamu and have given him money for his bad mortgages both resi and commercial, and suspended the mark to market accounting rules for you so you don't have to take all that bad debt onto your balance sheets so you can LIE and rig the stock price, and after he pays back TARP (but not the dividends he owes us) he starts to thumb his nose up to my President (if Bush were my Prez I'd say same) and the american people by complaining about gov by telling media why should I have to sell my assets, and now he is charging us 5% on credit card balance transfers because the government made him do it? Let's see, borrow money at .25% and hoard the cash by not lending, and don't get rid of your toxic assets becasue you want to wait until the imagined housing market turns around so why should I take a bath on this toxic debt, and you have the audacity to show your gratitude by screwing the people who have helped you become the new Master of the Universe?

And this just in: The worse news is that since we no longer have a "Usury" law at the federal level and we allow banks to locate card divisions in states where there are no usury laws but then demand federal protection for their operations (rather than force them to deal with consumer protection suits in the same state) the response to this has been and will continue to be a relentless ratcheting upward of average interest rates charged on card balances which will not abate until the charge-off rate comes down. Gotta Love this country eh?
JPMorgan to Charge 5% on Card Balance Transfers, Cash Advances

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. is raising some balance-transfer fees on credit cards to 5 percent, the highest among the nation’s largest banks, citing increasing regulations and costs after the U.S. put new curbs on the industry.

JPMorgan, the biggest credit-card issuer, disclosed the increase in a notice mailed to customers this month that referred to “new federal regulations.” The New York-based lender starts charging more in August, just as the law designed to curb interest-rate increases, fees and marketing practices begins to take effect.

“In the current economic environment, our costs of doing business have been impacted by increased losses,” JPMorgan spokesman Paul Hartwick said in an e-mailed statement. “We are increasing balance-transfer fees to reflect the increasing costs for these transactions.” The notice didn’t specify the current average fee for balance transfers.