>> citibank. they wanted this lawsuit go away. >> citibank pay the legal bills for barack obama and others who are defending this case the? >> yes. >> so we know that acorn, we know solve had the idea, and i capitalists, wanted to set changer in the united states, and then he had people agreed with them such as you mentioned the secretary of state, hillary clinton and now our president, barack obama. but then also acorn, how about members of congress? what members of congress thought that the community reinvestment act was a good idea? >> there's lots of them. what's interesting by the way -- >> was a push by congress? >> it was pushed by the senator from wisconsin. what's interesting there was really no debate in house. it was just sort of passed and signed by the carter administration. >> did people understand what this could mean? >> they get. >> did people understand the community reinvestment act would force banks to lower their lending standards to people who lacked creditworthiness? >> they

so citibank saddles and each plaintiff gets $20,000. they were three individuals. >> host: they claim they were hard to read our receiving a loan and a settlement was reached the attorneys receive $902,000 in legal bills but though this is the source of things happening all the time. >> host: who paid the legal bills? >> guest: a citibank because they wanted the lawsuit to go way. >> host: so they pay them for barack obama and others to defend the case? >> guest: yes. >> host: so saul had the idea as an anti-capitalistic and then people agreed with him such as secretary state hillary clinton and barack obama but also groups like acorn, a community organizer groups. what members of congress thought of the community reinvestment act was a good idea? >> guest: there are lot of them. what is interesting, it was pushed by the senator from wisconsin. what was interesting is there was no debate in the house or senate it was just passed and signed by the carter administration. >> host: did people understand that the community reinvestment act w

often times we have these discussions and hearings and people like citibank and others are the subject of our concerns, but i'd like it to reflect here that at citi, a.m. fees, pin transactions and debit transactions, when they are not sufficient funds, a real-time posting of debit and a.t.m. transactions are part of si trvingts i's program and we compliment citi for doing that. since we berate you for doing things wrong, i want to applaud you when you do something right. >> thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about the bill and offer some recommendations. we've heard today the policy that is some of the banks ploy in applying their overdraft transactions can be very confusing, frustrating and often expensive for consumers, especially for those who don't manage their daily finances coes whichly. there are many stories we've heard where a consumer incurred an unexpected fee for a transaction that could easily be avoided had there been better information at the point of seasm. it's the $5 cup of coffee that ends up costing $30. at srvings citi we help customers avoid overdraf

citibank is the only u.s. financial firm that has significant exposure. they have about $5.8 billion in loans or assets tied up in dubai. st. louis, sharon on our live for independence, how has the economy affected your shopping plans? caller: i have the luxury of sticking with the same budget that i had last year. with so many family and friends out of work, i have been conscious of helping them as well financially. i have been trying to buy gift cards and stick to my budget. i will go to clothing stores that will give the kids the essential things they need. i go to stores that are close to home so i am not spending a lot of gas. i have been thinking about how much money my family will spend doing this. host: when you are buying gift cards, are you looking at reducing the amount that you're putting on the gift cards or buying your gift cards or is that a factor? caller: i have a budget for each one. i have been able to keep my budget for each one. for each kid, it is $50. that's why i'm not spending a lot and wrapping paper or buying an envelope and i a

this was not really about citibank. it was about whether americans have confidence about their own banks shutting down. you have a situation where they increased the amount of fdic insurance to people did not run to the bank. i do not think the bill they passed was great. i do not think they did it inappropriate amount of time. we ought to let the banks pay the money back as quickly as they can. i think the initial step was to try to bring about calm. what they are doing now is just wrong there were things in this country fighting to pay back these loans. some of them could not do it. some of them are threatening to go public. a number have paid it back. i wanted to go back to trial lawyers. i know it was a good answer. -- glib answer. when i was in the congress, i went offered -- after corporate welfare reform. you know how many people i made happy by going after corporate welfare? it did not make anybody happy. you should do things on the merits. if democrats to take on the trial lawyers and say this is out of control

could you give us an idea what it would have been like if we let citibank failed? guest: a lot of economists say it is really hard to predict what might have happened. so i think it is safe to say unemployment would have been significantly higher. i don't know what the statistics are. all prices would have dropped further and farther and faster than today. but at the same time, a lot of the programs that are put in place now, you know, the market is getting back to a point where it could maybe try to get back on its legs, but because of all of the government interventions, the private market and doesn't have an opportunity to really get back in and correct prices in a natural way. host: mary on our independent line. chicago. caller: i have a variable-rate loan several years ago and i switched to a fixed rate. it the one thing i have not understood through all of this is with the prime rate going down, why didn't those of variable rate loans, the interest rates on them, also go down? guest: it depends on the terms of your mortgage contract. a lot of the variable rat

concerned about, anybody that understood a little bit about the financial markets was this was not about citibank, this was about whether americans have confidence whether their own banks were going to shut down. they increased the fdic insurance so people did not do a run on the banks. i do not think the bill that passed was great, i don't think they did it in inappropriate. of time, and we ought to let the banks pay the money back and let them pay it back as quickly as they can and for the bailout make no sense at all. i think the initial step was to bring about some calm in the banking system. what they're doing out with getting this money and paying huge bonuses is wrong. their banks in this country fighting, by the way, to -- there were banks in this country, fighting, by the way, some of the more threatening to go public and fortunately a number have paid us back. i want to go back to one thing you mentioned of trial lawyers. i know that it was a good answer. it was tongue in cheek. the problem we have is when i was in congress, i went after corporate welfare reform. i worked to kill the b-