The news is consumed with talk of our failing economy, Bailouts and Stimulus packages. From Wall Street to Bank Bailouts, the Senate is busy working out the details of the various plans. One example: It has been reported Bank of America received $20B in US government aid and $118B worth of guarantees against bad assets. Meanwhile, small businesses are collapsing across the nation. Will the Stimulus plan now in Congress also include plans for Small Business and Main Street Americans?Here is the story of how One Small Business is Struggling to stay in business and is Fighting back:
Rogelio Castro is the American born son of Pedro and Lucy Castro who immigrated to the US in 1945. His parents founded La Guadalupana Company in Chicago, specializing in tamales and other home-made products. Over the decades their business grew and prospered. In 1992 Rogelio expanded production and opened a USDA-approved plant, making La Guadalupana products available across the Midwest. By 2003, La Guadalupana had sales of more than $1.5 million. It was no wonder LaSalle Bank (later merged with Bank of America) came calling to win their business. The Bank was full of promises, with offers of loans to help them expand nationally. The wooing worked and Castro switched Banks. The bank’s sales tactics were compelling. Grow, Buy, Borrow to your heart’s content. The Castro’s were convinced to extend themselves beyond their previously set limits and attempted to purchase another business in Ohio. Through this time, the bank merged with Bank of America. As small bank written promises were broken by uncaring national Bank’s policies, not only did the Ohio sale fall through, but the National Bank attempted to foreclose on their business, sending letters to clients and suppliers alike, informing them of their financial woes, disparaging their brand. The bank’s actions violated their agreement, but beyond that, caused the Castro’s to lose market-share from 80% to 50%.
While many small businesses might fold under such pressure from the mighty National Banks, the Castro’s decided to fight back! They took the big National Bank to court and demanded the Bank cease and desist their tactics. An Emergency Temporary Restraining Order Hearing is set for Monday, 2-9-09, at 2:30 central at the Daley center.
Rogelio Castro is the American born son of Pedro and Lucy Castro who immigrated to the US in 1945. His parents founded La Guadalupana Company in Chicago, specializing in tamales and other home-made products. Over the decades their business grew and prospered. In 1992 Rogelio expanded production and opened a USDA-approved plant, making La Guadalupana products available across the Midwest. By 2003, La Guadalupana had sales of more than $1.5 million. It was no wonder LaSalle Bank (later merged with Bank of America) came calling to win their business. The Bank was full of promises, with offers of loans to help them expand nationally. The wooing worked and Castro switched Banks. The bank’s sales tactics were compelling. Grow, Buy, Borrow to your heart’s content. The Castro’s were convinced to extend themselves beyond their previously set limits and attempted to purchase another business in Ohio. Through this time, the bank merged with Bank of America. As small bank written promises were broken by uncaring national Bank’s policies, not only did the Ohio sale fall through, but the National Bank attempted to foreclose on their business, sending letters to clients and suppliers alike, informing them of their financial woes, disparaging their brand. The bank’s actions violated their agreement, but beyond that, caused the Castro’s to lose market-share from 80% to 50%.
While many small businesses might fold under such pressure from the mighty National Banks, the Castro’s decided to fight back! They took the big National Bank to court and demanded the Bank cease and desist their tactics. An Emergency Temporary Restraining Order Hearing is set for Monday, 2-9-09, at 2:30 central at the Daley center.
This is not the end to this story. Perhaps Castro will be successful in court or perhaps not and his business will fail. His fate, as all of ours, lies not only in the judgement of the courts or in the halls of Congress, but most significantly, in our Country's ultimate economic destiny.
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12 comments:
I will provide further updates to this story as I get them.
Dear Dee :
I hope that the Stimulus Package will also help the Poor, and not only the Super Rich at Wall Street.
It is a matter of Justice. The poor have more difficulty and suffering paying taxes. And they do not have Golden Parachutes and millions of dollars at sign in as the Great Corporations Executives.
There is something in which all the Great Economists and Schools of Economics coincide and that is the benefits of Trade.
That is why a Secretary of Commerce is an important appointment for American Business, Big or Small.
There is a saying of Ancient Greece, that "You get Power with the Poor, but you exert Power with the Rich" ...
That is why the Rich will put pressure on Mr Obama to Trade with other nations and avoid Protectionism.
After declaring my heart for the Poor and for Justice. I say that the appointment of Senator Judd Gregg is a good sign of the Great Presidency of Mr Obama.
I see determination, decision, strength, positivity, assuredness, confidence, authority, etc ... in Mr Obama.
Exactly like Niccolo Machiavelli adviced. Obama is not lazy but he acts and commands. He loves the exertion of Power, to rule, to govern, to do things.
Judd Gregg is the right man for the right task. The Ranking Republican in the Senate Budget Committee. Even the super conservative guys of the Weekly Standard like Fred Barnes, speaking in Fox News told wonders of Judd Gregg. One Great Asset of the Senate. Very respected in Economic Matters.
Of course Lou Dobbs and other right wing guys are furious. Because Judd Gregg has shown friendship for Latinos and believes that Latin America and the U. S. can work together and be friends, with Free Trade Agreements and so on.
And Lou hates the Free Traders.
"Even the United States needs friends" said Barack Obama in the Electoral Campaign. I remember very well.
We can put a little grain of sand to write the History of a Great President.
Milenials.com
Prophesizing.com
Vicente Duque
What is amazing to me is the Republicans are still insisting on tax cuts for big business and tax refunds. What good has either concept achieved. You don't give a man a fish. You teach him to fish!!
The stimulis package should keep Small Business in business and Americans working in American Jobs.
Republicans call it social policy or socialism. They are so wrong!
The stimulis package should encourage business to stay in business in America. Outsourcing offshore should be limited.
Banks like BofA should be going all out to ensure American businesses like La Guadalupana stay in business.
Treat people like people not like numbers.
What ticks me off is Billionaire scammers like Bernie Madoff who STOLE $50B from investors in an elaborate ponzi scheme is walking around free as a bird. He scammed billions of dollars from ordinary Americans, moms and pops, as well as the rich, including movie stars and sports personalities. He has lost the life savings of retirees. He is the epitomy of evil, with no remorse, just sorry he got caught. The worst part is he is free on Bail, free to be in his lavish estate, catered to by servants.
This evil doer walks around FREE. Meanwhile Rogelio Castro and his family are struggling to keep their family business together.
This is what is wrong with America!!
We can only pray Obama and Congress can make progress for all of our sakes!!
Why isn't Madoff in jail? Of course he can post bond based on the Billions he scammed, but should he be able to use any of that money to post bond? Why? Shouldnt it be confiscated? I heard his wife is trying to hide their assetts. Who is paying the million dollar lawyer fees?
Justice is not served is billionaire thieves can get away with all of this!!
Dee wrote, "Why isn't Madoff in jail?"
That's something we are all wondering about but the judge has spoken, his passport has been confiscated, and he has a security gadget wrapped around his ankle. I still believes he belongs in jail but I guess the judge decided under those circumstances, there was no risk of flight.
On the bank bailout, I believe the rationale is that without liquidity the business failures we have seen would be just the begining and we would settle into catastrophe according to Obama.
Ultima,
That is the problem. The biggest crooks are allowed to run free while every day people are held to different rules, different penalties for much less.
While this small business is supposed to go under, BofA receives Billions in bailout.
The 50B thief Madoff runs free while civil violators are made to serve time in vermin infested, abusive crony owned detention centers.
Madoff absolutely belongs in jail.
Why should he be allowed to stay in his high-rise after the devastation he has caused to so many people? Different rules for different people, it does not make sense.
Joe,
You are right.
I just read this about Madoff and Madoff is out on bail with stolen money:
"After losing his entire life's savings to disgraced fund manager Bernard Madoff, 90-year-old Ian Thiermann abandoned retirement and now works the aisles of a grocery store to make ends meet.
Handing out fliers hawking avocados and pork ribs at a supermarket in Ben Lomond, California, Thiermann is one of many facing dramatic lifestyle changes after losing their savings in Madoff's suspected $50 billion (33.8 billion pound) Ponzi scheme.
Thiermann wasn't even aware he had invested with Madoff until December 15, when a friend who managed his investments called him on the telephone. "He said, 'I've lost everything and you have lost everything.'" For Thiermann, that meant $750,000."
Another:
"Maureen Ebel surrendered a comfortable retirement, and works as a cleaner after losing her family savings of $7.3 million to Madoff.
On December 17, six days after learning of her losses, the 60-year-old widow found work cleaning the home of a friend and caring for a 93-year-old woman. Ebel's husband, a doctor, died in 2000 at age 53. The former nurse is also selling her luxury Lexus SUV and a winter home in Florida.
"On the first day I went to work, after pushing that vacuum cleaner around, I came home and said to myself 'this is what my life has come to,' and I held onto my dog and I cried."
One more:
"In Wisconsin, Abby Frucht ponders the fate of her parents, whose $1 million in life's savings seemingly evaporated with the collapse of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, Madoff's investment-advisory business. Her parents lived off the money in a retirement home in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
"My dad is 85 and my mom is 79. We don't know how long they can stay there. We're working that out now," she said.
Her father suffers from Alzheimer's disease and may not fully comprehend what's happening, she said in a telephone interview. "They are very elderly and can't possibly go back to work. They are very comfortable and happy where they are."
Her parents have enough savings to stay in New Mexico another two months."
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