Could Poker Help Bail out American Banks?
OK, overstatement, I know … a potential collapse of the entire US economy (which George Bush is warning us about, upon request for a $700 billion semi-blank check to his buds in the banking industry) is far more important than poker.
But I gotta say, it was kinda interesting just now to see none other than Barney Frank (Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, D-MA) step out with Spencer Bachus (Frank’s enemy in recent poker fights, R-AL), letting the public know that they are working with the hastily constructed bailout bill to massage it into good working must-passable shape. Frank is talking about provisions Congress will add to the bill, and Bachus is there by his side, assuring taxpayers whatever happens, they won’t get screwed.
(Fingers crossed!)
Seeing these guys working together toward compromise (as John McCain and Barack Obama huddle with President G-Dub) made me think a little more about how poker might fit in to America’s 21st Century economy … and why shouldn’t the poker sites have to/get to pay a fee to American banks for processing their electronic transactions? Not anything to do with actual bets across the table, of course … but paying the banks to secure the transfer of money for players making deposits and cashouts … that certainly seems fair enough to me.
Maybe a drop in the bucket toward helping out such a huge industry … but a push in the right direction for the banks’ bottom line.
DanM says:
September 25th, 2008 at 2:46pm
UPDATE: McCain is saying “no earmarks.” Fair enough — not to want any bridges to nowhere financed here. But is there room for an attachment designed to bring in revenue while relieving pressure on the banks?
I suppose we’ll see.
Poker Shrink says:
September 25th, 2008 at 11:55pm
My American bank takes a fee each month when I get paid by wire transfer from far across the ocean. I assume they would take such a fee if I was able to make a withdrawal using the same process from any online poker site.
Johnny Hughes says:
September 26th, 2008 at 7:17am
My first election, John Kennedy, the old gamblers told me to vote Democratic because, “The Repubs will have us back playing for nickles and dimes.”
My favorite depression story was four characters riding in a car. A pimp. A whore. A bootlegger. A gambler. They’d see a farmer plowing a field, and crawl under the barbed wire to see if he might have a human weakness. The human weakness business gets hit pretty hard by Republican economics. Right, Vegas?
Johnny Hughes