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First, the premise of the question seems to imply that there was a single greatest decade where we reached a peak, from which we have declined. I’m not sure I agree with that.As far as a single decade where we accomplished the most good, I would vote for the 1940s. Here are results for individual decades, as I understand them:1780–1790: We ratified the Constitution and elected Washington President. But it was also the decade of Shay’s Rebellion and opportunists buying up Revolutionary War debts at pennies on the dollar, to wreak financial havoc later. These two developments indicated the constant struggle between financial elites and the common man that would persist through our history.1790–1800: We saw a democratic transition of power, as Washington declined to run for a third term. But it was also the decade of the Whiskey Rebellion and the Alien and Sedition Acts.1800–1810: One of our most intelligent Chief Executives, Thomas Jefferson, was President, completing the Louisiana Purchase and dispatching the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Three of the most important Supreme Court decisions were handed down: Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Dartmouth v. Woodward. But Jefferson also imposed a disastrous embargo and put his own former Vice President on trial for “constructive treason,” a dubious legal doctrine that John Marshall decisively quashed in Richmond.1810–1820: This decade included Victory in the War of 1812, the opening of the Erie Canal, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Era of Good Feeling, but the British marched into Washington DC itself and burned the Capitol and the White House.1820–1830: This decade saw the election of the first true President of the “common man.” But that same figure, Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, brutally mistreated Native Americans.1830–1840: New states were established west of the Mississippi, Jackson faced down Calhoun in the Nullification Crisis, and Webster decisively affirmed the doctrine of “Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,” in his debate with Hayne. This was the only time in our history that the budget was completely in balance. William Lloyd Garrison established The Liberator to advocate for abolition. Still, Jackson petulantly refused to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States, leading to the Panic of 1837, and ill-advised incursions into Mexican territory led to the massacre at the Alamo. An anti-slavery editor, Elijah Lovejoy, was killed by a pro-slavery mob.1840–1850: Gold was discovered in California, but we also fought the Mexican War, a blatant move to extend slave territory. Nativist political parties arose, the Know-Nothings and the Anti-Masonic party. Persecution of Mormons resulted in the murder of their founder, Joseph Smith, at the hands of a mob.1850–1860: We sought better relations with Canada and entered on relations with Japan, Congress passed the Compromise of 1850, the party of Lincoln was founded in Ripon, and Lincoln and Douglas held their memorable debates, but our last President to hold slaves in office, Zachary Taylor, was followed by two decidedly mediocre Presidents, Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce, followed by one of the worst Presidents in history, James Buchanan, whose dithering led to the Civil War. Pro- and anti-slavery settlers took bloody revenge on each other in Kansas, and John Brown was hanged after his raid on Harper’s Ferry.1860–1870: I would vote for this decade second after the 1940s. This was the decade of the Gettsyburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments; Union victory in the Civil War established once and for all that the United States was not a mere conditional federation from which a state could withdraw, and the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. We purchased Alaska from Russia. But one of our greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, was struck down, and Lincoln was followed by one of the most inept Presidents in history, Andrew Johnson. We lost 529,000 men in the Civil War.1870–1880: The Freedmen’s Bureau worked to educate freed slaves, and freedmen such as Hiram Rhodes Revels served in state government for the first time. An American invented the telephone, and we celebrated our centennial. But the Administration of Grant was one of the most corrupt in history, involving Grant’s own Vice President, Schuyler Colfax, in the Credit Mobilier scandal, despite Grant’s personal honesty. Irresponsible underwriting of railroad bonds led to the Panic of 1873, and Republican President Rutherford Hayes used federal troops to suppress labor strikes. The Republican victory of 1876 was blatantly stolen from the real winner, Democratic lawyer Samuel Tilden, and the Republicans secured their victory through a corrupt bargain with Southern die-hards, agreeing to withdraw Union troops and cancel Reconstruction in return for Southern Support. The Ku Klux Klan was founded, and we pursued brutal wars against Native Americans.1880–1890: President Chester Arthur began to modernize the Navy to steel-hulled ships and began to reform the Civil Service. Secretary of State James J. Blaine sought to establish good relations with Latin America and helped found the Organization of American States. But Blaine himself was disgraced by corruption, and an unbalanced disappointed office seeker struck down President James A. Garfield in a Washington train station. In Chicago, a political rally that ended with a bomb being thrown resulted in the trial and hanging of seven political agitators who probably had nothing to do with the bomb.1890–1900: We celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyages with the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, featuring the largest peacetime gathering in American history, the Sherman Antitrust Act was signed into law, a populist movement led by Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey mounted a march on Washington, William Jennings Bryan began a populist movement at the Chicago Democratic convention of 1896, and Herman Hollerith invented a tabulating machine, an ancestor of the computer, to count the national census. But the decade also saw another financial panic, an unnecessary war with Spain, and the 1896 Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, establishing legal segregation. A wave of unspeakably barbaric race-based lynching swept the United States, prompting a bitter Mark Twain to compose his essay “The United States of Lyncherdom.” Americans overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii and deposed its last queen.1900–1910: We built the Panama Canal, the Wright brothers began manned flight, and President Teddy Roosevelt became the first President to win a Nobel Peace Prize, for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese War. But another President was assassinated in 1901, we suppressed an indigenous independence movement in the Philippines, waterboarding insurgents, and when Teddy Roosevelt had Booker T. Washington as his dinner guest at the White House, Southern newspapers said Roosevelt had turned the White House into a “coon café,” and one South Carolina editor said whites would have to “shoot ten thousand of those n___s to teach them their place.” A panic in 1907 was resolved only because J.P. Morgan corralled bankers and forced them to underwrite loans to support the nation’s faltering finances.1910–1920: The Federal Reserve was founded and the 19th Amendment gave women the vote; Woodrow, Wilson, the only President in history to hold a Ph.D., was elected; the United States joined European Allies to win World War I, and Wilson proposed a League of Nations to promote world peace. Wilson also appointed Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court as the first Jewish justice. But Wilson, a Southern racist, endorsed D.W. Griffith’s cartoonishly racist film The Birth of a Nation, ordered civil rights activist William Monroe Trotter out of the Oval Office, and let cabinet members hound blacks out of the Civil Service. A Georgia minister started the Klan once more, which had died out decades before. European crowds shouted their adoration of President Wilson when he went to the Peace Conference of Versailles, but his peace proposals were dead on arrival in the Republican Congress, led by bitter opposition from Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. A 29-year-old Southeast Asian patriot, Ho Chi Minh, came to Paris to hand Wilson a letter asking for liberation of Vietnam from the French, but Wilson probably never saw it. Wilson himself, incapacitated by a stroke, did not even meet with his own Cabinet for 6 months, while his wife and his private secretary ran the government of the United States. Wilson still hoped for a third term and was bitterly disappointed when the Democratic convention of 1920 did not nominate him by acclamation, even though he could no longer even compose a thousand-word article for a law journal. Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, concerned about “Red agitators,” directed the FBI to carry out intrusive raids of suspected dissidents, violating civil rights. An influenza epidemic in 1919, with contagion exacerbated by gatherings to celebrate the end of World War I, killed scores of thousands in the United States.1920–1930: An American author, Sinclair Lewis, was the first American to receive a Nobel Prize for literature, and Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic. The stock market and general prosperity reached unprecedented heights, and the President addressed the nation by radio for the first time. A young Democratic politician, Franklin D. Roosevelt, came to national attention for the first time. On the other hand, Warren Harding was one of the worst Presidents in history, with his administration plagued by the Teapot Dome scandal concerning oil leases; 53-year-old Harding fathered an illegitimate child by his 23-year-old lover, Nan Britton, and after Harding’s death, photos were discovered of him posing with nude 16-year-old farm girls. The sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited, leading to the rise of criminal syndicates, and the Democratic party in 1924 split over its inability to take a definite position on the role of the Klan in politics. A high school science teacher, John Scopes, was put on trial in Dayton, Tennessee, for teaching evolution to his students. The stock market crashed in 1929 and led to the Great Depression, while our President, Herbert Hoover, insisted that business conditions were just fine and that people simply needed to have confidence.1930–1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for the first two of four Presidential terms and began ambitious federal programs under the heading of “The New Deal” attempt to bring America out of the Great Depression. Prohibition was repealed, and the Tennessee Valley Authority was established, with a chain of hydroelectric dams to relieve flooding and provide power to rural areas. President Roosevelt named the first African-American Army General, Benjamin O. Davis. But the Depression persisted, and at its height, national unemployment probably reached around 25%. The United States turned away a ship full of Jewish refugees from the Third Reich and would not approve visas for the family of Anne Frank. In 1932, an encampment of embittered World War I soldiers in Washington, DC, insisting on being paid bonuses promised by Congress 14 years before, was violently dispersed by troops under Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, acting reluctantly under the orders of General Douglas MacArthur. As the soldiers and their families fled bullets and tear gas, MacArthur commented, “Thank God this country still knows how to handle a mob.”1940–1950: Thomas Dewey of New York successfully prosecuted mobsters, leading to the execution of Louis Lepke Buchalter and the deportation of Lucky Luciano. Entering World War II on the side of the Allies, the United States helped defeat Hitler. The war with Japan was brought to a successful conclusion, and the United Nations was founded. Despite President Roosevelt’s sudden death just before the end of the war, his Vice-President, Harry Truman, the last President who never attended college, took over and retained most of Roosevelt’s capable advisors. General George C. Marshall formulated the Marshall Plan, which rebuilt Europe, saved starving thousands, and probably kept some countries from being drawn into the Communist orbit. Truman integrated the U.S. military. Television became commercially viable, and the Ed Sullivan show began. The government passed the GI bill, financing college educations for veterans. On the other hand, nuclear weapons were used in war for the first time in history, causing unspeakable suffering. Distrust between the U.S. and its former Soviet allies led to the “Iron Curtain” separating Warsaw Pact nations from the West, while Truman felt compelled to enunciate the Truman Doctrine, outlining a plan to contain the Soviets. In formulating the American response to the new state of Israel, Truman declined to push for a two-state solution, even though this approach was favored by George Marshall. A severe housing shortage left returned veterans and their families living in cardboard boxes.1950–1960: Harry Truman relieved Douglas MacArthur of command in Korea, reaffirming the principle of civilian control of the military. A United States delegation met with a Soviet delegation in Geneva. The Supreme Court reversed its earlier Plessy v. Ferguson decision with its 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, striking down the principle of “separate but equal” facilities for the races. President Eisenhower ordered the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas public schools and sent federal troops to enforce it. Congress passed a bill to construct the interstate highway system. Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee convened a commission to investigate organized crime. The polio vaccine was introduced. William Faulkner became the third American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Popular TV shows such as Ozzie and Harriet and Father Knows Best portrayed the United States as a land of attractive suburbs, full of polite, well-dressed middle class people. On the other hand, the Korean War entered a stalemate that persists today. The CIA deposed a democratically elected head of state in Iran. Russia detonated a hydrogen bomb and went into space before we did. The death of Emmett Till in Mississippi highlighted continuing mistreatment of blacks by whites. A popular TV show was Amos and Andy, featuring blacks acting like buffoons. The House Un-American Activities Committee forced Hollywood actors, directors, and writers to name associates who might be “communist sympathizers” on pain of being hounded out of the industry if they refused. In the Senate, a red-baiting demagogue, Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, held televised hearings purporting to prove that the State Department was “filled with Communist agents.”1960–1970: John F. Kennedy was elected President, inaugurating the “Camelot” era in which the White House seemed to be the headquarters of a new era of hope, energy, optimism, and cultural sophistication. His successor, Lyndon Johnson, marshaled Congressional forces to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965; following the example of his idol, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Johnson advocated for a “Great Society” in which poverty would be eliminated. James Meredith integrated the University of Mississippi. President Kennedy declared that we would go to the Moon, and that happened, in 1969. A youth-oriented movement stressing greater personal freedom culminated in such events as the Woodstock Festival in 1969. The Supreme Court ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright established the principle of a right to legal counsel even if a defendant could not afford it; Griswold v. Connecticut strengthened personal privacy rights; Miranda v. Arizona stipulated that arrestees must be read their rights, and Loving v. Virginia helped to legalize interracial marriage. On television, Bill Cosby, as a United States government agent, and Diahann Carroll, as a nurse, presented blacks as worthy of respect, as opposed to the clownish stereotype of Amos and Andy, which went off the air. The first black Supreme Court justice was appointed.On the other hand, we imposed an embargo on Cuba, nearly went to war with the Soviets over their plan to put missiles in Cuba aimed at the United States, and became involved in the quagmire of Vietnam. Civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi and Alabama, and civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers were assassinated. President John F. Kennedy and later, his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, were assassinated. President Kennedy had endless sexual liaisons in the White House on which the press remained silent and pursued an affair with a woman, Judith Campbell Exner, who was simultaneously the mistress of a Chicago mobster, Sam Giancana. Race riots broke out in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Newark. Chicago was rocked by riots in 1968 as students and other protested the Vietnam War during the Democratic convention. The nation was shocked by violent crimes, including a mass shooting from atop a tower on a Texas college campus by Charles Whitman, the slaughter of a group of student nurses in Chicago, by Richard Speck, and the slaughter of a pregnant actress and her friends in a Beverly Hills house by cult leader Charles Manson and his followers.1970–1980: Richard Nixon became the first President to visit China and opened diplomatic relations with a Communist nation we had previously shunned. The United States sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union with Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). The Washington Post published the Pentagon Papers, exposing the misconduct of the Vietnam War and later broke the story of Watergate, becoming a national paper in the process. The Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade established the principle of a woman’s right to reproductive freedom. The first reality documentary, An American Family, was broadcast in 1973. The last execution for some years was carried out in Utah in 1976. The Concorde, a supersonic passenger jet, began operation. Limited cable TV programming began, and ATMs were invented, as were the first home game consoles, precursors of the personal computer. President Gerald Ford, a man of great personal decency, pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, in the hope of avoiding years of political and legal wrangling and national bitterness. His wife, Betty, openly acknowledged her previous rehab treatment and, later, her breast cancer. The United States withdrew from Vietnam. The election of Jimmy Carter, former Governor of Georgia, seemed to promise an era of hope and personal decency.On the other hand, Nixon mined Haiphong Harbor in Vietnam in an attempt to win the war. Our retreat from Vietnam, in 1975, was seen by many as ignominious and led to years of acrimony among Americans. The 1979 films Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter symbolized the deep American ambivalence about the war. National Guard troops at Kent State University in Ohio fired on student demonstrators, killing one. Nixon obstructed justice by covering up the Watergate break-in and then fired the special prosecutor assigned to investigate him. He finally resigned to avoid impeachment. His successor, Ford, let himself be advised by such men as Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon and Henry Kissinger in the State Department. The Carter administration could not work well with the Democratic Congress, and the national economy suffered high inflation. The country suffered from what Carter called “the national malaise,” and Carter dismissed most of his Cabinet. Carter served just one term, in part because he was seen as weak in the wake of the storming of the American embassy in Tehran and the 444-day captivity of Americans by Iranian radicals. Rev. Jerry Falwell of Lynchburg, VA began the “Moral Majority Movement,” the foundation of the religious right.1980–1990: The IBM PC was marketed in 1981, and the first cell phone call was made in 1983. The Apple Macintosh, with its icon-based graphical user interface, also dates from the early 1980s. President Ronald Reagan met with Soviet Premier Gorbachev, urged him to tear down the Berlin Wall, and advocated for peace between the two countries (although Gorbachev appears to have been inclined toward peace in part because he thought the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars,” was real and operational, which it wasn’t). Reagan bombed Libya, which seems to have made Qadafi decide to give up his own attempt to develop nukes, though he took revenge for the bombing two years later with the Lockerbie bombing. The U.S. economy improved from the doldrums of the 1970s. The Soviet Union basically collapsed around 1989, which some commentators heralded as “the end of history” (since events were no longer determined by a seemingly endless conflict between two lethally armed super powers).On the other hand, violent crime continued to shock us. Reagan was shot in March, 1981, and the Pope two months later, though both recovered. John Lennon had been shot to death in 1980. AIDS entered the national consciousness for the first time, and no one knew what it was or what to do about it. Reagan was seen by many as mismanaging the economy, getting Congress to enact large tax cuts without corresponding reductions in spending. He was criticized for his handling of an air traffic controller’s strike. His administration was nearly brought down when it was discovered that a Marine Lieutenant Colonel, Oliver North, was running an operation out of the White House itself, apparently without Reagan’s knowledge, to illegally sell arms to Iran, our enemies, to raise money to finance Central American paramilitary death squads, called “Contras.” We invaded the Caribbean Island of Grenada. Democratic attempts to win the White House, with Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and Michael Dukakis in 1988, were seen as ignominious failures. In the 1988 GOP primary in New Hampshire, the eventual nominee, George H.W. Bush, was defeated by a TV preacher, Pat Robertson. When Bush eventually got the nomination, he chose for his running mate a shallow young lawyer, Dan Quayle, given to saying things like “A mind is a terrible thing to lose” and “I was not born in this century” (he was about 35). Quayle also “corrected” a student in a spelling bee to the wrong spelling of “potato.” Meanwhile, there were notable scandals of supposed child sex abuse rings in day care centers, which were shown to be non-existent. A New York real estate tycoon, Donald Trump, published The Art of the Deal. The attempts of the American government to aid Afghan muhajideen fighters against the Soviet occupation contributed to the eventual formation of Al Qaeda.1990–2000: Bill Clinton, only the second President born after 1911, who had met President Nixon as a teenager, was elected and sought to move Democratic politics in a more centrist direction. His wife, Hillary, herself a lawyer, sought to enhance the role of First Lady to be more of an integral player on the President’s team, sponsoring healthcare reform.On the other hand, Bill was seen by many on the left as a sort of cynical sellout for political gain, and his welfare reform program as uncaring. He approved the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a mentally retarded man who may not have been capable of understanding the charges against him, as proof of his commitment to law and order. He supported the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 to erase what many saw as necessary boundaries between consumer banking and investment banking. He supported the “Defense of Marriage” Act, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, for which he later apologized, and also supported “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” a measure to allow gays to serve in the military in secret. The image of the military was tarnished by the Tailhook scandal, an incident of unrestrained groping of female service members at a gathering of officers. Hillary’s attempt at healthcare reform went down to ignominious defeat, and the GOP recaptured Congress in 1994, leading to Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” and, later, a government shutdown. Bill, a notorious womanizer, was later found to have had an affair with a White House intern, and articles of impeachment were filed in the House accusing him of obstruction of justice. He and Hillary were continually hounded by allegations of shady dealings in the Whitewater real estate deal, as well as the supposed murder of a political operative, Vince Foster. Clinton was impeached in the House, though not removed from office by the Senate.2000–2010: George W. Bush, a former Governor of Texas and son of the 41st President, was elected on a program of “compassionate conservatism,” promising to be “a uniter, not a divider.” After the United States was attacked by Muslim fanatics on 9/11, Bush appeared in a Washington, DC mosque and said “The face of terrorism is not the true face of Islam. Islam is peace.” The United States captured Saddam Hussein, a brutal dictator, tried him and hanged him in 2004. Bush was succeeded by our first African-American President, Barack Obama, a Harvard Law graduate who, as an unknown Illinois State Senator, had given the opening address at the 2004 Democratic convention, electrifying the nation with his assertion that we need not be divided as a nation but could simply be “Americans.” Veteran civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who had sought the Democratic nomination in 1984, wept for joy the night Obama was elected. Obama got Congress to pass a bailout program for a disastrously weakened economy, leading to one of the longest peacetime expansions of the economy in history. Later, he got Congress to pass the Affordable Care Act, providing health insurance to millions who had previously been without coverage. Obama also persuaded Congress to bail out the distressed American automobile industry, which would have cost the country thousands of jobs had it collapsed altogether. In 2011, Obama authorized a special Navy SEAL mission that killed Osama Bin Laden.On the other hand, Bush’s 2000 election was seen as stolen, since it was clear that his opponent, Al Gore, had won the popular vote. The outcome came down to a recount in Florida, which the Supreme Court stopped. Bush dismissed a Presidential intelligence briefing that warned that Al Quaeda would attack the United States with airplanes and then became obsessed with the idea that Saddam Hussein had conspired with Osama Bin Laden, which was not true, any more than the questionable intelligence asserting that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (it is possible that Saddam may have had programs at one time to develop WMD and that his own scientists were afraid to tell him that the programs had been discontinued, but in any case, the so-called intelligence that there were currently WMD was very questionable). A botched hunt for Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan allowed him to escape. Bush’s Administration persuaded itself, groundlessly, that the Iraqis would welcome us and that their oil would pay for the invasion. Later, American soldiers were found to have tortured and abused prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib facility, while others were sent to Guantanamo. Domestically, Bush tried to partially privatize Social Security under the aegis of the “Ownership Society,” while cooperating with credit card companies to limit consumer bankruptcy relief from credit card debt and with drug companies to pass the absurdly expensive Medicare Part D, a misconceived prescription drug benefit for seniors. In foreign policy, Bush persuaded the former Soviet Republic of Georgia that they might be offered NATO membership and then sat on his hands when an aggressive Russia started a war with Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. In his personal style, Bush was a dolt, given to malapropisms such as “The terrorists want to hurt our country, and so do we” and “It’s time for mankind to enter the Solar System.” Bush made a fool of himself by walking onto the deck of an aircraft carrier in a flight suit in front of a banner that read “Mission Accomplished,” as occupied Iraq was actually descending into chaos. While New Orleans was being flooded by Katrina, Bush endorsed the comically inept head of FEMA, Michael Brown, saying “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job.”Obama’s election was seen as a startling sign of racial progress in our country, but Congressional Republican leadership under Mitch McConnell announced at once that they would oppose everything he stood for and pursue the goal of making him a one-term President, after which Obama was blamed by whites for failing to meet Congress halfway. Donald Trump, a failed businessman and reality TV star, became even more prominent by promoting the idea that Obama had not actually been born in the United States and was ineligible for the Presidency. Obama himself is a very intelligent man who seemed to confuse promise with performance and left office faintly puzzled that the world did not share his warm self-regard. Having accepted the Presidency of the Harvard Law Review without authoring a single article, having published two memoirs and accepted a Nobel Peace Prize without ever having actually accomplished anything to that point, Obama outsourced his “signature achievement,” healthcare reform, to Nancy Pelosi and let Congress draft it in a way that when it was later defended before the Supreme Court, the Administration’s argument that it was a tax contradicted the very language of the statute itself; he promised the public that “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor,” and, when the web site to sign up for healthcare turned out to be non-operational, professed himself as surprised as anyone, which turned out to be a customary approach; Paul Krugman eventually dubbed him “President Bystander.” Perpetually keeping his finger up to the breeze of public opinion (a tendency that Harper’s warned about in an article before he was elected), Obama declared that he was “evolving” on the issue of gay marriage and gays in the military. Despite a reputation as a public speaker, Obama clumsily borrowed a trope from Elizabeth Warren (if you built a business enterprise, you still benefited from public infrastructure and other benefits provided by society) and clumsily shortened it to the bald reduction “You didn’t build that.” Though the Republican Congress was outrageously perverse, Obama was not seen as a strong or effective negotiator with them. He discontinued Bush’s reliance on “enhanced interrogation” but carried on an illegal drone war that killed hundreds of civilians, executed a United States citizen without trial, and even killed his son. He consented to TSA officers placing their hands inside traveler’s clothing and touching their private areas over their underclothes, forcing women to remove breast prostheses and underwire bras, and forcing the elderly to remove diapers, and blandly assured the public, in a State of the Union Address, that they could take the train instead. When he appeared at a memorial service for victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings, he began his address by calling out “Helloooo, Boston!” as though he were at a picnic or pep rally. Exiting Marine 1, he returned a soldier’s salute by casually lifting his coffee cup to his temple. Recently, he has agreed to an official portrait that seems to suggest that he might have felt more at home taking a Hepplewhite chair from the Oval Office and squatting in the bushes, a tendency of which no one would have suspected him to this point. Guantanamo remains open, despite Obama’s promise to close it (another point on which Congress fought him tooth and nail).2010–2020: There’s really nothing to say about our present decade except to name Trump, whose election is the worst thing that the United States ever did and an indication that our 400-year experiment in democracy is a failure. No one, including, apparently, Trump himself, expected him to win, so the Democratic leadership blandly sidelined a candidate who actually stood for something and ran one of the most unlikable candidates in history, a monster of vanity and deceit, who published a book after her defeat asking “What Happened” that reminded one commentator on the left of Hillary asking us to walk with her through the five stages of grief. SNL eulogized the failed campaign by having Kate McKinnon perform Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” which implied that this word would be Hillary’s answer at the Last Judgment, when a much more characteristic response from her will be “It was someone else’s fault.”As Andrew Sullivan warned before Trump was elected, a Trump Presidency, for our Constitutional republic, would be an extinction-level event. He was right. Trump is mounting a slow-motion coup to destroy the very government that he was elected to preside over, though he is too stupid to understand that he is doing this, and Republicans in Congress are too craven to stop him. Meanwhile, he is itching to use his “nuclear button” and General McMaster talks complacently about a “bloody nose” strike at Kim.A year from now, the question in the OP may be a moot point.

Wells Fargo - WikipediaWells FargoFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to navigationJump to searchFor other uses, see Wells Fargo (disambiguation).Wells Fargo & CompanyCompany logo since 2009Wells Fargo's headquarters complex in San Francisco, CaliforniaTypePublicTraded asNYSE: WFCS&P 100 componentS&P 500 componentISINUS9497461015IndustryBankingFinancial servicesInsurancePredecessorsCollapsible list[show]FoundedMarch 18, 1852 (167 years ago) in San Francisco, California, USFoundersHenry WellsWilliam FargoHeadquarters420 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California, USNumber of locations8,050 branches (2018)13,000 ATMs (2018)Area servedWorldwideKey peopleElizabeth Duke(Chair)C. Allen Parker(Interim President & CEO)John R. Shrewsberry(CFO)ProductsCollapsible list[show]RevenueUS$86.40 billion (2018)Operating incomeUS$30.28 billion (2018)Net incomeUS$22.39 billion (2018)Total assetsUS$1.895 trillion (2018)Total equityUS$197.06 billion (2018)OwnerBerkshire Hathaway (10%)Membersc.70 million (2018)Number of employeesc.258,700 (2018)SubsidiariesWells Fargo AdvisorsWells Fargo Bank, N.A.Wells Fargo RailWells Fargo SecuritiesRatingFitch: A+ (2018)Moody's: A2 (2018)S&P: A− (2018)Websitewellsfargo.comFootnotes / references[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]Wells Fargo branch in Berkeley, CaliforniaWells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial servicescompany headquartered in San Francisco, California, with central offices throughout the United States.[9]It is the world's fourth-largest bank by market capitalization and the fourth largest bank in the US by total assets.[10][11]Wells Fargo is ranked #26 on the 2018 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest US corporations by total revenue.[12]In July 2015, Wells Fargo became the world's largest bank by market capitalization, edging past ICBC,[11]before slipping behind JPMorgan Chase in September 2016, in the wake of a scandal involving the creation of over 2 million fake bank accounts by Wells Fargo employees.[10]Wells Fargo fell behind Bank of America to third by bank deposits in 2017[13]and behind Citigroup to fourth by total assets in 2018.[14]The firm's primary operating subsidiary is national bank Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., which designates its main office as Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Wells Fargo in its present form is a result of a merger between San Francisco–based Wells Fargo & Company and Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998 and the subsequent 2008 acquisition of Charlotte-based Wachovia. Following the mergers, the company transferred its headquarters to Wells Fargo's headquarters in San Francisco and merged its operating subsidiary with Wells Fargo's operating subsidiary in Sioux Falls. Along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, Wells Fargo is one of the "Big Four Banks" of the United States.[15]As of June 2018, it had 8,050 branches and 13,000 ATMs.[2]In 2018 the company had operations in 35 countries with over 70 million customers globally.[2]In February 2014, Wells Fargo was named the world's most valuable bank brand for the second consecutive year[16]in The Banker and Brand Financestudy of the top 500 banking brands.[17]In 2016, Wells Fargo ranked 7th on the Forbes Magazine Global 2000 list of largest public companies in the world and ranked 27th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the US.[7][18]In 2015, the company was ranked the 22nd most admired company in the world, and the 7th most respected company in the world.[7]As of December 2018, the company had a Standard & Poors credit rating of A−.[8]However, for a brief period in 2007, the company was the only AAA‑rated bank, reflecting the highest credit rating from two firms.[19]On February 2, 2018, the US Federal Reserve Bank barred Wells Fargo from growing its nearly US$2 trillion-asset base any further, based upon years of misconduct, until Wells Fargo fixes its internal problems to the satisfaction of the Federal Reserve.[20]In April 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Labor had launched a probe into whether Wells Fargo was pushing its customers into more expensive retirement plans as well as intoretirement funds managed by Wells Fargo itself.[21][22]Subsequently in May 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Wells Fargo's business banking group had improperly altered documents about business clients in 2017 and early 2018.[23]In June 2018, Wells Fargo began retreating from retail bankingin the Midwestern United States by announcing the sale of all its physical bank branch locations in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio to Flagstar Bank.[24][13]Contents1History1.1Wells Fargo History Museums1.2Key dates1.3Wachovia acquisition1.4Investment by US Treasury Department during 2008 financial crisis1.4.1History of Wells Fargo Securities1.5Environmental record2Operations and services2.1Community banking2.1.1Consumer lending2.1.2Wells Fargo private student loans2.1.3Equipment lending2.2Wealth and Investment Management2.2.1Wells Fargo Asset Management2.2.2Wells Fargo Securities2.3Cross-selling2.4International operations2.5Charter3Lawsuits, fines and controversies3.11981 MAPS Wells Fargo embezzlement scandal3.2Higher costs charged to African-American and Hispanic borrowers3.3Failure to monitor suspected money laundering3.4Overdraft fees3.5Settlement and fines regarding mortgage servicing practices3.6SEC fine due to inadequate risk disclosures3.7Lawsuit by FHA over loan underwriting3.8Lawsuit due to premium inflation on forced place insurance3.9Lawsuit regarding excessive overdraft fees3.102015 Violation of New York credit card laws3.11Executive compensation3.12Tax avoidance and lobbying3.13Prison industry investment3.14SEC settlement for insider trading case3.15Wells Fargo account fraud scandal3.16Racketeering lawsuit for mortgage appraisal overcharges3.17Dakota Access Pipeline investment3.18Failure to comply with document security requirements3.19Connections to the gun industry and NRA3.20Discrimination against female workers3.21Auto insurance4CEO-to-worker pay ratio5See also6Notes7References8External linksHistory[edit]Main article: History of Wells FargoWells Fargo History Museums[edit]The company operates 12 museums, most known as a Wells Fargo History Museum,[25]in its corporate buildings inCharlotte, North Carolina, Denver, Colorado, Des Moines, Iowa, Los Angeles, California, Minneapolis, Minnesota,Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Phoenix, Arizona, Portland, Oregon, Sacramento, California and San Francisco, California. Displays include original stagecoaches, photographs, gold nuggets and mining artifacts, the Pony Express, telegraphequipment and historic bank artifacts. The company also operates a museum about company history in the Pony Express Terminal in Old Sacramento State Historic Park in Sacramento, California, which was the company's second office,[26]and the Wells Fargo History Museum in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park in San Diego, California.[27]Wells Fargo operates the Alaska Heritage Museum in Anchorage, Alaska, which features a large collection of Alaskan Native artifacts, ivory carvings and baskets, fine art by Alaskan artists, and displays about Wells Fargo history in the Alaskan Gold Rush era.[28]Key dates[edit]A late 19th Century Wells Fargo Bank in Apache Junction, Arizona1879 Wells Fargo Stagecoach on exhibit in the Wells Fargo Museum in PhoenixThe Wells Fargo Stage Stop built in 1872 in Black Canyon City, ArizonaWells Fargo bank in Chinatown,Houston, TexasA remodeled Wells Fargo bank inFort Worth, TexasWells Fargo in Laredo, Texas1852: Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the two founders of American Express, formed Wells Fargo & Company to provide express and banking services to California.1860: Wells Fargo gained control of Butterfield Overland Mail Company, leading to operation of the western portion of the Pony Express.1866: "Grand consolidation" united Wells Fargo, Holladay, and Overland Mail stage lines under the Wells Fargo name.1905: Wells Fargo separated its banking and express operations; Wells Fargo's bank was merged with the Nevada National Bank to form the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.1918: As a wartime measure, the US Federal Government nationalized Wells Fargo's express franchise into a federal agency known as the US Railway Express Agency. The US Federal Government took control of the express company. The bank began rebuilding but with a focus on commercial markets. After the war, REA was privatized and continued service until 1975.1923: Wells Fargo Nevada merged with the Union Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Company.1929: Northwest Bancorporation was formed as a banking association.1954: Wells Fargo & Union Trust shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank.1960: Wells Fargo merged with American Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company.1962: Wells Fargo American Trust again shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank.1968: Wells Fargo converted to a federal banking charter, becoming Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo merged with Henry Trione's Sonoma Mortgage in a $10.8 million stock transfer, making Trione the largest shareholder in Wells Fargo until Warren Buffett and Walter Annenberg later surpassed him.[29]1969: Wells Fargo & Company holding company was formed, with Wells Fargo Bank as its main subsidiary.1982: Northwest Bancorporation acquired consumer finance firm Dial Finance which is renamed Norwest Financial Service the following year.1983: Northwest Bancorporation was renamed Norwest Corporation.1983: White Eagle, largest US bank heist to date took place at a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut.1986: Wells Fargo acquired Crocker National Corporation from Midland Bank.1987: Wells Fargo acquired the personal trust business of Bank of America.1988: Wells Fargo acquired Barclays Bank of California from Barclays plc.[30]1995: Wells Fargo became the first major US financial services firm to offer Internet banking.1996: Wells Fargo acquired First Interstate Bancorp for US$11.6 billion.[31]1998: Wells Fargo Bank was acquired by Norwest Corporation of Minneapolis.[32](Norwest was the surviving company; however, it chose to continue business under the more well-known Wells Fargo name.)2000: Wells Fargo Bank acquired National Bank of Alaska.[33]2000: Wells Fargo acquired First Security Corporation.[34]2001: Wells Fargo acquired H.D. Vest Financial Services for US$128 million, but sold it in 2015 for US$580 million.[35]2007: Wells Fargo acquired CIT's construction unit.[36]2007: Wells Fargo acquired Placer Sierra Bank.2007: Wells Fargo acquired Greater Bay Bancorp, which had US$7.4 billion in assets, in a US$1.5 billion transaction.[37][38]2008: Wells Fargo acquired United Bancorporation of Wyoming.[39]2008: Wells Fargo acquired Century Bancshares of Texas.[40]2008: Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia Corporation.2009: Wells Fargo acquired North Coast Surety Insurance Services.[41]2012: Wells Fargo acquired Merlin Securities.[42][43]2012: Wells Fargo acquired stake in The Rock Creek Group LP.2019: CEO Tim Sloan resigns causing stock to jump and leaves General Counsel Allen Parker as Interim CEOWachovia acquisition[edit]A former Wachovia branch converted to Wells Fargo in the fall of 2011 in Durham, North CarolinaOn October 3, 2008, Wachovia agreed to be bought by Wells Fargo for about US$14.8 billion in an all-stock transaction. This news came four days after the USFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) made moves to have Citigroup buy Wachovia for US$2.1 billion. Citigroup protested Wachovia's agreement to sell itself to Wells Fargo and threatened legal action over the matter. However, the deal with Wells Fargo overwhelmingly won shareholder approval since it valued Wachovia at about seven times what Citigroup offered. To further ensure shareholder approval, Wachovia issued Wells Fargo preferred stock that holds 39.9% of the voting power in the company.[44]On October 4, 2008, a New York state judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the transaction from going forward while the situation was sorted out.[45]Citigroup alleged that they had an exclusivity agreement with Wachovia that barred Wachovia from negotiating with other potential buyers. The injunction was overturned late in the evening on October 5, 2008, by New York state appeals court.[46]Citigroup and Wells Fargo then entered into negotiations brokered by the FDIC to reach an amicable solution to the impasse. Those negotiations failed. Sources say that Citigroup was unwilling to take on more risk than the US$42 billion that would have been the cap under the previous FDIC-backed deal (with the FDIC incurring all losses over US$42 billion). Citigroup did not block the merger, but indicated they would seek damages of US$60 billion for breach of an alleged exclusivity agreement with Wachovia.[47]Investment by US Treasury Department during 2008 financial crisis[edit]On October 28, 2008, Wells Fargo was the recipient of US$25 billion of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act funds in the form of a preferred stock purchase by the US Treasury Department.[48][49]Tests by the US Federal Government revealed that Wells Fargo needed an additional US$13.7 billion in order to remain well capitalized if the economy were to deteriorate further under stress test scenarios. On May 11, 2009, Wells Fargo announced an additional stock offering which was completed on May 13, 2009, raising US$8.6 billion in capital. The remaining US$4.9 billion in capital was planned to be raised through earnings. On Dec. 23, 2009, Wells Fargo redeemed the US$25 billion of preferred stock issued to the US Treasury. As part of the redemption of the preferred stock, Wells Fargo also paid accrued dividends of US$131.9 million, bringing the total dividends paid to US$1.441 billion since the preferred stock was issued in October 2008.[50]History of Wells Fargo Securities[edit]Wells Fargo Securities was established in 2009 to house Wells Fargo's capital markets group which it obtained during the Wachovia acquisition. Prior to that point, Wells Fargo had little to no participation in investment banking activities, though Wachovia had a well established investment banking practice which it operated under the Wachovia Securities banner.Wachovia's institutional capital markets and investment banking business arose from the merger of Wachovia and First Union. First Union had bought Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co. on April 30, 1998 adding to its merger and acquisition, high yield, leveraged finance, equity underwriting, private placement, loan syndication, risk management, and public financecapabilities.[51]Legacy components of Wells Fargo Securities include Wachovia Securities, Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co., Barrington Associates, Halsey, Stuart & Co., Leopold Cahn & Co., Bache & Co.. Prudential Securities, A.G. Edwards, Inc. and the investment banking arm of Citadel LLC.[52]Duke Energy Center in Charlotte, North Carolina home of Wells Fargo Securities[53]Environmental record[edit]In 2009, Wells Fargo ranked #1 among banks and insurance companies, and #13 overall, inNewsweek Magazine's inaugural "Green Rankings" of the country's 500 largest companies.[54]In 2013, the company was recognized by the EPA Center for Corporate Climate Leadership as a Climate Leadership Award winner, in the category "Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Management (Goal Setting Certificate)"; this recognition was for the company's aim to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions from its US operations by 35% by 2020 versus 2008 levels.[55]As of 2013, Wells Fargo had provided more than US$6 billion in financing for environmentally beneficial business opportunities, including supporting 185 commercial-scale solar photovoltaic projects and 27 utility-scale wind projects nationwide.[56][better source needed]Wells Fargo has launched what it believes to be the first blog among its industry peers to report on its environmental stewardship and to solicit feedback and ideas from its stakeholders.[57][58]We want to be as open and clear as possible about our environmental efforts – both our accomplishments and challenges – and share our experiences, ideas and thoughts as we work to integrate environmental responsibility into everything we do," said Mary Wenzel, director of Environmental Affairs. "We also want to hear and learn from our customers. By working together, we can do even more to protect and preserve natural resources for future generations.—Mary Wenzel, director of Environmental Affairs, Wells Fargo, 2010 press releaseOperations and services[edit]Map of Wells Fargo branches in August 2015Wells Fargo delineates three different business segments when reporting results:Community Banking; Wholesale Banking; and Wealth, Brokerage and Retirement.Community banking[edit]The Community Banking segment includes Regional Banking, Diversified Products, and Consumer Deposits groups, as well as Wells Fargo Customer Connection (formerly Wells Fargo Phone Bank, Wachovia Direct Access, the National Business Banking Center, and Credit Card Customer Service). Wells Fargo also has around 2,000 stand-alone mortgage branches throughout the country.[59]There are mini-branches located inside of other buildings, which are almost exclusively grocery stores, that usually contain ATMs, basicteller services, and, space permitting, an office for private meetings with customers.[60]In March 2017, Wells Fargo announced a plan to offer smartphone-based transactions with mobile wallets including Wells Fargo Wallet, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.[61]Consumer lending[edit]As of Q3 2011, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage was the largest retail mortgage lender in the United States, originating one out of every four home loans.[62]Wells Fargo services US$1.8 trillion in home mortgages, the second largest servicing portfolio in the US[63]It was reported in 2012 Wells Fargo reached 30% market share for US mortgages, however, the then-CEO John Stumpf had said the numbers were misleading because about half of that share represented the aggregation of smaller loans that were then sold on in the secondary market. In 2013, its share was closer to 22%; of which eight percentage points was aggregation.[64]Wells Fargo private student loans[edit]Wells Fargo private student loans are available to students to pay for college expenses, such as tuition, books, computers, or housing.[65]Loans are available for undergraduate, career and community colleges, graduate school, law school and medical school. Wells Fargo also provides private student loan consolidation and student loans for parents.[citation needed]Equipment lending[edit]Wells Fargo has various divisions that finance and lease equipment to different types of companies.[66][citation needed]One venture is Wells Fargo Rail, which in 2015 agreed to the purchase of GE Capital Rail Services and merged in with First Union Rail.[67]In late 2015, it was announced that Wells Fargo would buy three GE units focused on business loans equipment financing.[68]Wealth and Investment Management[edit]Wells Fargo Advisors headquarters in St. Louis, MissouriWells Fargo offers investment products through its subsidiaries, Wells Fargo Investments, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, as well as through national broker/dealer firms. The company also serves high-net-worth individuals through its private bank and family wealthgroup.The logo for Wells Fargo AdvisorsWells Fargo Advisors is the brokerage subsidiary of Wells Fargo, located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the third largest brokerage firm in the United States as of the third quarter of 2010 with US$1.1 trillion retail client assets under management.[7]Wells Fargo Advisors was known as Wachovia Securities until May 1, 2009, when it legally changed names following the Wells Fargo's acquisition of Wachovia Corporation.In September 2018, Wells Fargo announced to cut 26,450 jobs by 2020 to reduce costs by US$4 billion.[69]Wells Fargo Asset Management[edit]Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLCTypeSubsidiaryIndustryMutual fundsHeadquartersKansas City, MissouriArea servedWorldwideWebsitewellsfargofunds.comWells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) is the trade name for the mutual funddivision of Wells Fargo & Co. Mutual funds are offered under the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds brand name.Wells Fargo Securities[edit]Wells Fargo Securities, LLCTypeSubsidiaryIndustryInvestment BankingHeadquartersCharlotte, North CarolinaArea servedWorldwideWebsitewww.wellsfargo.com/com/securities/The Seagram Building: Home of Wells Fargo Securities' New York offices and trading floorsWells Fargo Securities (WFS) is the investment banking division of Wells Fargo & Co. The size and financial performance of this group is not disclosed publicly, but analysts believe the investment banking group houses approximately 4,500 employees and generates between US$3 and US$4 billion per year in investment banking revenue. By comparison, two of Wells Fargo's largest competitors, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chasegenerated approximately US$5.5 billion and US$6 billion respectively in 2011 (not including sales and trading revenue).[70]WFS headquarters are in Charlotte, North Carolina, with other US offices in New York, Minneapolis, Boston, Houston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with international offices in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo.Cross-selling[edit]A key part of Wells Fargo's business strategy is cross-selling, the practice of encouraging existing customers to buy additional banking products.[71]Customers inquiring about their checking account balance may be pitched mortgage deals and mortgage holders may be pitched credit card offers in an attempt to increase the customer's profitability to the bank.[72][73]Other banks have attempted to emulate Wells Fargo's cross-selling practices (described byThe Wall Street Journal as a hard sell technique);[72]Forbes magazine describes Wells Fargo as "better than anyone" at the practice.[73]International operations[edit]Wells Fargo has banking services throughout the world, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Dubai, Singapore, Tokyo,Toronto.[74][75]They operate back-offices in India and the Philippines with more than 3,000 staff.[76]Charter[edit]Wells Fargo operates under Charter #1, the first national bank charter issued in the United States. This charter was issued to First National Bank of Philadelphia on June 20, 1863, by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.[77]Traditionally, acquiring banks assume the earliest issued charter number. Thus, the first charter passed from First National Bank of Philadelphia to Wells Fargo through its 2008 acquisition of Wachovia, which had inherited it through one of its many acquisitions.Lawsuits, fines and controversies[edit]A Wells Fargo branch in Logan, Utah1981 MAPS Wells Fargo embezzlement scandal[edit]In 1981, it was discovered that a Wells Fargo assistant operations officer, Lloyd Benjamin "Ben" Lewis, had perpetrated one of the largest embezzlements in history, through its Beverly Drive branch. During 1978 - 1981, Lewis had successfully written phony debit and credit receipts to benefit boxing promoters Harold J. Smith (né Ross Eugene Fields) and Sam "Sammie" Marshall, chairman and president, respectively, of Muhammed Ali Professional Sports, Inc. (MAPS), of which Lewis was also listed as a director; Marshall, too, was a former employee of the same Wells Fargo branch as Lewis. In excess of US$300,000 was paid to Lewis, who pled guilty to embezzlement andconspiracy charges in 1981, and testified against his co-conspirators for a reduced five-year sentence.[78](Boxer Muhammed Ali had received a fee for the use of his name, and had no other involvement with the organization.[79])Higher costs charged to African-American and Hispanic borrowers[edit]Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit against Wells Fargo on July 31, 2009, alleging that the bank steers African Americans and Hispanics into high-cost subprime loans. A Wells Fargo spokesman responded that "The policies, systems, and controls we have in place – including in Illinois – ensure race is not a factor..."[80]An affidavit filed in the case stated that loan officers had referred to black mortgage-seekers as "mud people," and the subprime loans as "ghetto loans."[81]According to Beth Jacobson, a loan officer at Wells Fargo interviewed for a report in The New York Times, "We just went right after them. Wells Fargo mortgage had an emerging-markets unit that specifically targeted black churches, because it figured church leaders had a lot of influence and could convince congregants to take out subprime loans." The report goes on to present data from the city of Baltimore, where "more than half the properties subject to foreclosure on a Wells Fargo loan from 2005 to 2008 now stand vacant. And 71 percent of those are in predominantly black neighborhoods."[82]Wells Fargo agreed to pay US$125 million to subprime borrowers and US$50 million in direct down payment assistance in certain areas, for a total of US$175 million.[83][84]Failure to monitor suspected money laundering[edit]In a March 2010 agreement with US federal prosecutors, Wells Fargo acknowledged that between 2004 and 2007 Wachoviahad failed to monitor and report suspected money laundering by narcotics traffickers, including the cash used to buy four planes that shipped a total of 22 tons of cocaine into Mexico.[85]Overdraft fees[edit]In August 2010, Wells Fargo was fined by US District Court judge William Alsup for overdraft practices designed to "gouge" consumers and "profiteer" at their expense, and for misleading consumers about how the bank processed transactions and assessed overdraft fees.[86][87][88]Settlement and fines regarding mortgage servicing practices[edit]On February 9, 2012, it was announced that the five largest mortgage servicers (Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citi,JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) agreed to a settlement with the US Federal Government and 49 states.[89]The settlement, known as the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), required the servicers to provide about US$26 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and in direct payments to the federal and state governments. This settlement amount makes the NMS the second largest civil settlement in US history, only trailing the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.[90]The five banks were also required to comply with 305 new mortgage servicing standards. Oklahoma held out and agreed to settle with the banks separately.On April 5, 2012, a federal judge ordered Wells Fargo to pay US$3.1 million in punitive damages over a single loan, one of the largest fines for a bank ever for mortgaging service misconduct.[91]Elizabeth Magner, a federal bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana, cited the bank's behavior as "highly reprehensible",[92]stating that Wells Fargo has taken advantage of borrowers who rely on the bank's accurate calculations. She went on to add, "perhaps more disturbing is Wells Fargo's refusal to voluntarily correct its errors. It prefers to rely on the ignorance of borrowers or their inability to fund a challenge to its demands, rather than voluntarily relinquish gains obtained through improper accounting methods."[93]SEC fine due to inadequate risk disclosures[edit]On August 14, 2012, Wells Fargo agreed to pay around US$6.5 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) charges that in 2007 it sold risky mortgage-backed securities without fully realizing their dangers.[94][95]Lawsuit by FHA over loan underwriting[edit]On October 9, 2012, the US Federal Government sued the bank under the False Claims Act at the federal court inManhattan, New York. The suit alleges that Wells Fargo defrauded the US Federal Housing Administration (FHA) over the past ten years, underwriting over 100,000 FHA backed loans when over half did not qualify for the program. This suit is the third allegation levied against Wells Fargo in 2012.[96]In October 2012, Wells Fargo was sued by United States Attorney Preet Bharara over questionable mortgage deals.[97]Lawsuit due to premium inflation on forced place insurance[edit]In April 2013, Wells Fargo settled a suit with 24,000 Florida homeowners alongside insurer QBE, in which Wells Fargo was accused of inflating premiums on forced-place insurance.[98]Lawsuit regarding excessive overdraft fees[edit]In May 2013, Wells Fargo paid US$203 million to settle class-action litigation accusing the bank of imposing excessiveoverdraft fees on checking-account customers. Also in May, the New York attorney-general, Eric Schneiderman, announced a lawsuit against Wells Fargo over alleged violations of the national mortgage settlement, a US$25 billion deal struck between 49 state attorneys and the five-largest mortgage servicers in the US. Schneidermann claimed Wells Fargo had violated rules over giving fair and timely serving.[64]2015 Violation of New York credit card laws[edit]In February 2015, Wells Fargo agreed to pay US$4 million for violations where an affiliate took interest in the homes of borrowers in exchange for opening credit card accounts for the homeowners. This is illegal according to New York credit card laws. There was a US$2 million penalty with the other US$2 million going towards restitution to customers.[99]Executive compensation[edit]With CEO John Stumpf being paid 473 times more than the median employee, Wells Fargo ranks number 33 among the S&P 500 companies for CEO—employee pay inequality. In October 2014, a Wells Fargo employee earning US$15 per hour emailed the CEO—copying 200,000 other employees—asking that all employees be given a US$10,000 per year raise taken from a portion of annual corporate profits to address wage stagnation and income inequality. After being contacted by the media, Wells Fargo responded that all employees receive "market competitive" pay and benefits significantly above US federal minimums.[100][101]Tax avoidance and lobbying[edit]In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Wells Fargo for spending US$11 million onlobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008–2010, instead getting US$681 million in tax rebates, despite making a profit of US$49 billion, laying off 6,385 workers since 2008, and increasing executive pay by 180% to US$49.8 million in 2010 for its top five executives.[102]As of 2014 however, at an effective tax rate of 31.2% of its income, Wells Fargo is the fourth-largest payer of corporation tax in the US.[103]Prison industry investment[edit]Main article: Prison–industrial complexThe GEO Group, Inc., a multi-national provider of for-profit private prisons, received investments made by Wells Fargo mutual funds on behalf of clients, not investments made by Wells Fargo and Company, according to company statements.[104]By March 2012, its stake had grown to more than 4.4 million shares worth US$86.7 million.[105]As of November, 2012, the latest SEC filings reveal that Wells Fargo has divested 33% of its dispositive holdings of GEO's stock, which reduces Wells Fargo's holdings to 4.98% of Geo Group's common stock. By reducing its holdings to less than 5%, Wells Fargo will no longer be required to disclose some financial dealings with GEO.[106]While a coalition of organizations, National People's Action Campaign, have seen some success in pressuring Wells Fargo to divest from private prison companies like GEO Group, the company continues to make such investments.[107]SEC settlement for insider trading case[edit]In 2015, an analyst at Wells Fargo settled an insider trading case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The former employee was charged with insider trading alongside an ex-Wells Fargo trader.[108]Sadis & Goldberg obtained a settlement that permitted the client to continue in securities industry, while neither admitting nor denying one charge of negligence-based § 17(a)(3) claim, and paying a US$75,000 civil penalty[109]Wells Fargo account fraud scandal[edit]Main article: Wells Fargo account fraud scandalIn September 2016, Wells Fargo was issued a combined total of US$185 million in fines for creating over 1.5 million checking and savings accounts and 500,000 credit cards that its customers never authorized. The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued US$100 million in fines, the largest in the agency's five-year history, along with US$50 million in fines from the City and County of Los Angeles, and US$35 million in fines from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency.[110]The scandal was caused by an incentive-compensation program for employees to create new accounts. It led to the firing of nearly 5,300 employees and US$5 million being set aside for customer refunds on fees for accounts the customers never wanted.[111]Carrie Tolstedt, who headed the department, retired in July 2016 and received US$124.6 million in stock, options, and restricted Wells Fargo shares as a retirement package.[112][113]On October 12, 2016, John Stumpf, the then Chairman and CEO, announced that he would be retiring amidst the controversies involving his company. It was announced by Wells Fargo that President and Chief Operating Officer Timothy J. Sloan would succeed, effective immediately. Following the scandal, applications for credit cards and checking accounts at the bank plummeted.[114]In response to the event, the Better Business Bureau dropped accreditation of the bank,[115]S&P Global Ratings lowered its outlook for Wells Fargo from stable to negative,[116]and several states and cities across the US ended business relations with the company.[117]An investigation by the Wells Fargo board of directors, the report of which was released in April 2017, primarily blamed Stumpf, whom it said had not responded to evidence of wrongdoing in the consumer services division, and Tolstedt, who was said to have knowingly set impossible sales goals and refused to respond when subordinates disagreed with them.[118]The board chose to use a clawback clause in the retirement contracts of Stumpf and Tolstedt to recover US$75 million worth of cash and stock from the former executives.[118]Racketeering lawsuit for mortgage appraisal overcharges[edit]In November 2016, Wells Fargo agreed to pay US$50 million to settle a racketeering lawsuit in which the bank was accused of overcharging hundreds of thousands of homeowners for appraisals ordered after they defaulted on their mortgage loans. While banks are allowed to charge homeowners for such appraisals, Wells Fargo frequently charged homeowners US$95 to US$125 on appraisals for which the bank had been charged US$50 or less. The plaintiffs had sought triple damages under the U S Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act on grounds that sending invoices and statements with fraudulently concealed fees constituted mail and wire fraud sufficient to allege racketeering.[119]Dakota Access Pipeline investment[edit]Wells Fargo is a lender on the Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,172-mile-long (1,886 km) underground oil pipeline transportsystem in North Dakota. The pipeline has been controversial regarding its potential impact on the environment.[120]In February 2017, Seattle, Washington's city council unanimously voted to not renew its contract with Wells Fargo "in a move that cites the bank's role as a lender to the Dakota Access Pipeline project as well as its "creation of millions of bogus accounts." and saying the bidding process for its next banking partner will involve "social responsibility." The City Council ofDavis, California, took a similar action voting unanimously to find a new bank to handle its accounts by the end of 2017.[121]Failure to comply with document security requirements[edit]In December 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Wells Fargo US$5.5 million for failing to store electronic documents in a "write once, read many" format, which makes it impossible to alter or destroy records after they are written.[122]Connections to the gun industry and NRA[edit]Wells Fargo is the top banker for US gun makers and the National Rifle Association (NRA). From December 2012 through February 2018 it reportedly helped two of the biggest firearms and ammunition companies obtain US$431.1 million in loans and bonds. It also created a US$28-million line of credit for the NRA and operates the organization's primary accounts.[123]In a March 2018 statement Wells Fargo said, "Any solutions on how to address this epidemic will be complicated. This is why our company believes the best way to make progress on these issues is through the political and legislative process. ... We plan to engage our customers that legally manufacture firearms and other stakeholders on what we can do together to promote better gun safety for our communities."[123]Wells Fargo's CEO subsequently said that the bank would provide its gun clients with feedback from employees and investors.[124]Discrimination against female workers[edit]Further information: Glass ceilingIn June 2018, about a dozen female Wells Fargo executives from the wealth management division met in Scottsdale, Arizona to discuss the minimal presence of women occupying senior roles within the company. The meeting, dubbed "the meeting of 12", represented the majority of the regional managing directors, of which 12 out of 45 are women.[125]Wells Fargo had previously been investigating reports of gender bias in the division in the months leading up to the meeting.[126]The women reported that they had been turned down for top jobs despite their qualifications, and instead the roles were occupied by men.[126]There were also complaints against company president Jay Welker, who is also the head of the Wells Fargo wealth management division, due to his sexist statements regarding female employees. The female workers claimed that he called them "girls" and said that they "should be at home taking care of their children."[126]Auto insurance[edit]On June 10, 2019, Wells Fargo settled a lawsuit for $ 385 million that was filed in 2017 concerning their customers andNational General Insurance.[127]CEO-to-worker pay ratio[edit]Pursuant to Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, publicly traded companies are required to disclose (1) the median total annual compensation of all employees other than the CEO and (2) the ratio of the CEO’s annual total compensation to that of the median employee.[128]Total 2018 compensation for Timothy J. Sloan, CEO, was $18,426,734, and total compensation for the median employee was estimated to be $65,191. The resulting pay ratio was determined to be 283:1.[129]See also[edit]San Francisco Bay Area portalCompanies portalBanks portalList of Wells Fargo directorsList of Wells Fargo presidentsWells Fargo ArenaWells Fargo Center

Aside from a low electricity bill, going green is an increasingly lucrative move for commercial real estate investors who use state and Federal incentives to get more bang for their buck.Take a look at which states offer the best incentives for owners and investors who go green:1. California: The Golden State has been at the forefront of the green movement for years, taking advantage of plentiful sunshine and the need for more power as its population continues to grow.2. Hawaii: The island paradise comes with ample sunshine — and opportunities for investors and owners to soak up some savings. With the highest electricity rates in the country, many have already taken advantage of existing government programs that encourage the commercial use of renewable energy.Developers and owners who install new solar electricity systems, for example, qualify for tax credits on 35 percent of the cost, up to $500,000.3. Illinois: The Land of Lincoln has provisions in place that make solar power king. In Illinois, it’s all about Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs). Owners and operators who are interested in harnessing solar power can turn the energy they produce into SRECs, which are created every time a megawatt hour (MWh) of solar energy is produced.The state requires utility companies to buy SRECs as part of their renewable portfolio standard, so there is readymade demand for this alternative energy source.The state also initiated what it calls the Adjustable Block Program, slating prices for SRECs that are fixed for 15 years.4. Massachusetts: Do you have a basement or other space in your building that isn’t contributing to your bottom line? If you’re in Massachusetts, the state’s Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program could help.The program allows owners to add to their net operating income by leasing otherwise unused areas of buildings to the state’s utilities to store or produce renewable energy.The program can also help pay for building upgrades such as new solar-paneled roofs or carports, all of which increase the value of a building.5. New Jersey: Much like Illinois, New Jersey operates on a system that uses SRECs. However, New Jersey’s program is more established, having been in place since 2001, and prices are already set.