As my siblings and I grew up and moved away, Wachovia grew with us, and when they couldn't, made us feel valued as customers. It was a family joke to pronounce the Charlotte-based regional bank's name, 'wa-chov-ia.' Barbara*, the employee who opened my account that day also helped my parents with their mortgage and later my siblings open their first accounts.Īt the time a regional bank, our Wachovia branch felt more like a local bank invested in the local community. The genius part of the puzzle appears to be by others, namely tax accountants and tax lawyer/preparers who (1) for tax purposes, transformed the funds poured into the Trump ventures into Trump's own business funds and then (2) claimed the losses as Trump's business losses on his personal tax returns.In 1989 at the age of seven, my father and I opened my first bank account at a Wachovia branch in Raleigh, North Carolina. Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie are not giving credit where credit is due for the genius involved in the alleged non-payment of income taxes by Donald Trump.Īccording to the New York Times, Trump's business losses were created through mismanagement of casinos, together with some ill-advised acquisitions. It is for voters to decide if the claim of either one is credible. If working people are taxed unfairly, it is because people in government allowed this to happen.īoth candidates promise to redress income inequality. He followed the rules made by those who worked in government like Hillary Clinton. In addition, his companies, partnerships and co-ventures also produce taxes. Trump has paid real estate taxes, payroll taxes on tens of thousands of employees, excise taxes and sales taxes. Trump has paid millions and millions in taxes, far in excess of the taxes paid by the Clintons. All the evidence suggests he followed the rules. He did not have to pay taxes because he did not owe any under the rules of the tax code. The argument that Trump is unfit to be president because he failed to pay income taxes is a bad rap. I don't see why we should reward him with a second term.ĭemagoguing about Donald Trump may seem like fair payback to Team Clinton, but taxes are the wrong issue. It could be argued that he's never worked as a U.S. I love the Marco Rubio campaign ads about how Patrick Murphy never worked as a CPA.Īs I recall, during his first six-year term, Rubio missed more votes than any of his colleagues. I, as the great-granddaughter of slave cargo, and blacks in general, must negotiate these systems in a search for what should be ours to enjoy across the color line. This should prove instructive for those who do not yet accept the notion of institutional racism. An irony of ironies, Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia. Some years earlier, I closed my accounts at Wachovia when I learned that Wachovia had indemnified slaves, that slaveholders went to Wachovia to insure their precious cargo. As a Wells Fargo customer, I closed my accounts. It was revealed in testimony that the loans were called 'ghetto loans' and that blacks were characterized as 'mud people.' When the housing bubble burst in 2008, many blacks and Hispanics with these mortgages lost their homes. The company also charged blacks and Hispanics fees that were sometimes thousands of dollars more than those charged whites. During the housing boom, a Wells Fargo mortgage company in Baltimore sold subprime mortgages to blacks and Hispanics whose credit status equaled that of whites and would have qualified them for prime rates. In 2012, Wells Fargo settled a lawsuit for $175 million in a discrimination case brought on behalf of blacks and Hispanics.

Cardamone, STOP! Steering Committee Member, City Commissioner, 1993-2001ĭuring the hearings on fake credit cards created by Wells Fargo bankers, a congressman asked CEO John Stumpf if the cards were aimed disproportionately at minority and ethnic groups. STOP! only desires that the approval process for large projects be returned to the Planning Board and City Commission.

Wachovia myaccounts