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| People's Direktor of Banking |
They’re Doing it for the Money!
I love it when liberals level this ridiculous charge. Of course “they” are doing it for the money. How many friends do you have who are working just for the pure joy of it? People invest their own money into a business in order to make more money. Nothing wrong with that. I go to work because I need money to support my family. It’s a bonus that I love my work, but money is a motivator, no doubt.
Congress also does it “for the money.” Your money. China's money. Corporate money. Old people's money. Lock box money. Damn the inevitable unintended consequences.
Dick Turban, Socialist Senator from the failed state of Illinois, championed a bill capping those nasty debit card transaction fees that banks charge businesses, and now comes the blowback, as bank of America announces a five dollar monthly fee for cardholders:
“Bank of America is actually being quite straightforward about its rationale for instituting this new fee: it blames the government. Bank of America has said it expects the caps, which the industry lobbied against for months, to erase $2 billion in revenue annually.” (Atlantic)
Issuing customers millions of free plastic cards and buying the telecommunications networks that allow you use them almost anywhere in the world has a cost, and banks pass those costs on to the consumer. What did you think, that they ate them? When you buy a car, you’re paying for all the parts and the labor that went into making it, with some extra tacked on. Is GM gouging you because they made you pay for the side mirrors? Carmakers must make a profit or they can’t stay in business. A bank is no different.
Still, people are outraged. Outraged! At this “gouging.”
Still, people are outraged. Outraged! At this “gouging.”
…one angry Bank of America customer, saying that she feels the bank is "gouging" her. That's not quite right: she paid this fee before -- she just didn't know it. It was incorporated into the prices of the goods and services that she purchased with her debit card. The fee was then paid to banks by the retailer where she shopped.
Now Bank of America is just cutting out the middle man to collect a portion of the fees. This move isn't meant to create new revenue for the bank, but to replace the revenue that Congress forbid them to collect through their old fee policies.
It's actually the retailers that are gouging us...
The stores no longer have to pay the debit card fees to banks, but they are not lowering their prices as a result. They're pocketing that money that used to go to paying the transaction fees.
The author makes an even more important point. This is actually a good thing because it brings a hidden fee that was buried in the price of goods and services out into the open. If only peculating socialist diddlers like Durban would bring the same transparency to government.
Thank Walmart for Your Bank Card Fee
The Durbin Fee
The stores no longer have to pay the debit card fees to banks, but they are not lowering their prices as a result. They're pocketing that money that used to go to paying the transaction fees.
The author makes an even more important point. This is actually a good thing because it brings a hidden fee that was buried in the price of goods and services out into the open. If only peculating socialist diddlers like Durban would bring the same transparency to government.
Thank Walmart for Your Bank Card Fee
The Durbin Fee
