Via email

From: Mike Jacobs
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 2:08 PM
To: regs.comments@federalreserve.gov; Comments;
regs.comments@occ.treas.gov; regs.comments@ots.treas.gov

Subject: EGRPRA

  Small banks are being drowned in overregulation by governmental agencies.
Small community banks are expected to know and comply with the same
regulations as the giant banks which have armies of employees.  The
government taxes the income of small banks and then uses that tax revenue to
hire hundreds of thousands of  people, each of  whom have a small area or
even one statute to learn.  Once that employee is trained, that new
governmental employee then forces banks to comply with that particular
statute.  Banks do not have that luxury! In order for small banks to
survive, they must make a profit.  Yet at the same time, we are being asked
to hire more employees to keep up with the never ending regulatory burden.
Small banks can not afford to hire multitudes at governmental salaries in
order to comply with the "du Jure" politically correct dictate of Congress.
It is an overwhelming, never ending burden and you are slowly forcing small
banks out of business!

  Yet at the same time, you are not regulating credit unions and you
certainly are not taxing them.  I realize thaht they are able to make
political contributions and thereby excape taxation -------- but really,
should they also be able to excape regulation at the same time for the same
amount of money?

Mike Jacobs