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Hey guys, Charles Como back with another episode of the Political Minute.
The biggest story this week is...
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes getting divorced?
No.. I’m talking of course about the LIBOR scandal.
Ohhhh....
Just what is a LIBOR and why should you care about this scandal?
Start the one-minute clock!
Barclays Bank admitted that it rigged the London InterBank Offered Rate from 2007 through
2009 to show that they could borrow money at a lower rate than they actually could.
Why did they do this? To make themselves look like they were financially better than they
actually were.
Why does this rate matter?
Because LIBOR is used to determine the rates of things such as credit cards and mortgages..
over 800 TRILLION DOLLARS worth, which is 12 times the TOTAL GDP of the world!
To show how these artificially low rates affected little people like you and me, let’s go
the phones.
Hi Jon from New York.
So Jon, you have a mortgage on your home tied to LIBOR, how devastating was this scandal
to your bottom line?
Oh huh?
You actually saved money and you were able to buy more food for your family?
Yep! But what I’m upset about is that I thought Tom Cruise and Katie were perfect
for each other...
OK.. yeah.. uh.. Jon thanks for your story. Ummm...
Let’s go to Mary in Detroit, who has a lot of credit card debt also tied to LIBOR.
Mary, what is your gut-wrenching story?
You were able to pay off your credit cards quicker?
Thank you Mary.
Hey guys, don’t we have any stories of people being hurt by this scandal?
Nope?
OK, so… about this Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divorce.