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take another two weeks. I mean, oh my God. Would a month or two have killed Wells Fargo? Or, 90 days even? No, two weeks and you'll be locked out. I can’t even tell you how it saddens me that there are people in this country with such an appalling lack of compassion for others. What has happened to us? Wells Fargo Bank is being sued by just about everyone over just about everything. Just Google “Wells Fargo Bank sued,” and you’ll find 412,000 results in .21 seconds. I know, quite a few are no doubt duplicates, but so what? Homeowners are suing them for literally ruining their lives through fraudulent acts that would make your hair stand straight up. Investors are suing them for various frauds, as are insurance companies. AARP is suing Wells over reverse mortgages. Even the federal government is going after Wells for a few billion here and a few billion there. And, in case you hadn’t heard, Wells Fargo was even caught laundering drug money for a Mexican drug cartel. The only thing at Wells Fargo Bank that hasn’t been involved in a scam of some kind are those little pens at the teller windows with the chains on the ends. Remember when robo-signing hit the headlines in September of 2010. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, GMAC… they all voluntarily stopped foreclosing in order to conduct internal investigations into the allegations It really is quite awe inspiring. I mean, even organized crime families have some aspect of their business that’s not entirely illegal and abusive, right? Like maybe they own a restaurant or control the docks or the garbage trucks. But, Wells Fargo seems to have the evil market totally cornered. I’m not a great speller, so maybe you can help me. Eleven down… how many “Wells” are there in “predatory dirt bag.” So, now I come across Wells Fargo being a good corporate citizen. Want to know what they did? They donated $22,000 to establish a suicide prevention hotline in Idaho, which apparently is the state with the fourth highest suicide rate in the country. Here’s what it said in the story I found… Wells Fargo stepped up Tuesday with a $22,000 gift to help establish an Idaho Suicide Prevention hotline. “Wells Fargo is pleased to invest in this important community initiative to address a critical need in our state,” said Dana Reddington, Idaho Region president for the banking firm. So, Wells Fargo “stepped up” with a $22,000 “gift.” Is
that how that should ideally be phrased? I suppose it’s fine. But, having spent the last few days writing and talking about Norm Rousseau, the homeowner who recently shot himself two days before Wells Fargo was to have him and his wife evicted after a protracted battle with… no, not cancer… much worse. You know, we can in many cases, cure many kinds of cancer. Norm’s protracted battle was with Wells Fargo, and no one has even come close to finding a cure for them. So, one Sunday morning, he lost the will to continue the fight. Look, I only spoke with Norm once for about an hour, so I shouldn’t really speak for him, but I just wanted to say that I’m pretty sure that he would have gladly traded his battle with Wells for… maybe not pancreatic… but let’s say prostate cancer… for sure. I think so, anyway. In fact, I’d probably make the same trade at this point were I given the choice. I’m thinking that the cure rate for prostate cancer for a male in his 50s is much higher than the cure rate for a battle with Wells Fargo at any age. I don’t know… maybe I’m nuts… it’s not my core point here anyway, so just forget it. My point is that, having been married for 22 years now, I’ve noticed that these last few years I’ve started drifting towards buying my wife gifts that aren’t really just hers, but sort of ours… kind of. I’m not entirely certain, but it’s possible that one year for her birthday I may have bought her our new breakfast nook table and chairs set. And it brought back a memory from my youth when my father bought my mother a yellow chair/stepstool so she could sit while washing dishes… for her birthday. She thanked him… let him live… and ordered a dishwasher from Sears the very next day. She never let him forget it though… that chair is probably still somewhere in the basement. Anyway, that’s why I understand Wells Fargo wanting to give a gift that establishes a suicide hotline… because it’s a gift that the bank can get some use out of too. After all, what else would you get for the bank that harms everyone? And just like my Mom… I’m not gong to let Wells forget what they’ve done. Did you follow all that? Wells… it made perfect sense to me. Martin Andelman is a staff writer for The Niche Report. He also writes an almost daily column on ML-Implode called Mandelman Matters. He also publishes a Monthly Museletter and you can follow “Mandelman” on Twitter. Send your responses to Martin@TheNicheReport.com. TheNicheReport.com
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