The state of Louisiana is issuing a large amount of bonds soon. It is in the process of making arrangements for the sale, and the board that controls that process for the state just voted to bar Citibank and Bank of America from participation in the sale because of discrimination by the banks against citizens of Louisiana. At issue are the restrictions put in place by Citi and BofA for making loans to gun manufacturers and retailers. Citi refuses to make loans to any business that sells guns to people under 21 or that sells large magazines even if such sales are legal where made, for example. It's interesting to see this happen. The banks were busy virtue signaling their liberal gun control bona fides but these rules didn't make much difference to anyone as far as we can tell. Now, however, the banks have lost millions of dollars of business by being excluded in Louisiana, and there may be more states that follow suit. The banks are stuck in a bad place now. If they don't lift the restrictions, they could lose more millions in business from some states. If they do lift the restrictions, they will get their business back, but then there will surely be activists who organize boycotts. That's why it would have been good for them to stay out of the political battles in the first place.
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