Monique's moment of fame came during the Democratic National Convention in the Summer of 1992 when Texas Governor Ann Richards mentioned her at a luncheon in her keynote speech. Referring to Republican spin tactics at the time, Ms. Richards exclaimed, 'You can put earrings and lipstick on a hog and call it Monique, but it's still a pig.' God, how I loved that gal! Ann, I mean, not Monique. However, now may be a good time to reintroduce Monique because of something happening in American banks and savings and loans.
You see, somebody at Harvard did a study about how banks in South Africa were growing their business by offering depositors an incentive. By opening a savings account and making deposits, individuals were offered the chance to win a lottery for cash prizes. Such marketing was designed to make the notion of savings fun and exciting for people of limited means who are also inclined to buy lottery tickets as a way to get rich quick. When people here learned the bank, a division of First Rand Ltd had taken in about $200 million over three years and paid out only $150,000 in prize money, they recognized a good deal.
A similar program was established in Boston. It ran for three years before the Supreme Court of Appeals shut it down in favor of the National Lottery Board. According to Lisa Ward, writing for the Wall Street Journal, 'the ruling stated 'the program violated the government's monopoly on lotteries.'
The easy fix came with the American Savings Promotion Act. Passed with ease by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Obama in December 2014, the law changed the word 'lottery' to 'raffle.' Same program; different shade of lipstick.
It can be argued that the people who make deposits into a savings account or CD are at least not throwing their money away on the whim of a set of numbers. After all, they do still have the money in their accounts. Lottery tickets come at a price which it lost if the numbers played are not drawn.
When the ultimate plan is to eliminate cash, perhaps even make having it illegal, --and several financial experts say the world is headed toward a cashless economy --what more efficient way to induce people to surrender their cash than to incorporate the words 'lottery' or 'raffle' and 'win cash prizes' into the marketing?
Consider also separate legislation renamed bank 'depositors' as bank 'creditors.' Should the bank or savings and loan need a bail-in, the money is gone anyway in the interest of saving the bank to be repaid or not as future circumstances permit after salaries and bonuses, taxes and other business expenses are taken into account. Wouldn't a better incentive to save be to offer a rate of interest above a fraction of one percent? This way everyone putting money into a savings account or CD wins, not just a handful of hopefuls.
So once again, after the flowing gown drops to the floor, and wig goes on the dresser, and the make-up gets wiped clean, the angel we thought came to save us is just that damn pig Monique.
No comments:
Post a Comment