I was headed downtown this morning to the Bank of America building for a meeting with Northeast Florida Estate Planning council. Michael Fisher, who’s organization I work with, Haitian Microfinance Inc., was presenting on the benefits of private foundations and the opportunity to make a significant impact in various social issues. When I arrived, and to my surprise, there was a large group of individuals armed with their first amendment rights outside of the building in which I was headed.
Jacksonville’s Premier Kia Atlantic has allegedly been shut down by Bank of America after they decided the dealership had defaulted on its loan. Employees have been protesting since Friday, demanding answers after the bank locked them out of the dealership on Friday afternoon. “I don’t think they have the right to tell us at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Friday to pick up whatever we can as fast as we can and get out of the building,” Kazran said.
According to the dealership’s general manager Eric Kazran, “When we told them we’re not going to shut down, we’re not going to stand up for it, they froze all of our bank accounts, they bounced all of our employee checks,” Kazran said.
This is a tough situation, in which 100 people have lost their jobs. But is Bank of America really to blame here? Should banks be held in a bad light for mitigating their risk and seizing assets when borrowers cannot pay? Perhaps it’s not what they did but how they did it. Often times people have the expectation that large corporations should be merciful and socially helpful to their respective communities. But how far should that go? At the end of the day we have to respect free markets and the role that competition plays.
Yet on the other hand, wasn’t it just months ago that Bank of America was over-leveraged and seeking bailout money from the U.S. federal government? Would they be outside congress protesting if we had let the free markets have their way with one of the world’s largest banks? If America is becoming a nation of handouts and “redo’s” then perhaps Premier Kia Atlantic should be extended the same couresy.
