By Douglas V. Gibbs
Bank of America plans to begin charging debit-card users $5 a month to pay for purchases. The move is not a surprise because in an attempt to "protect the consumer" the federal government has produced a new rule that will limit how much they can collect from merchants.
That is what business does. If the government is going to force them to lose money somewhere, they will make it up somewhere else, and that somewhere else always turns out to be the consumer.
Bank of America's announcement is one of many on the horizon by banks.
Customers will only be charged the fee if they use their debit cards for purchases in any given month. Those who only use their cards at ATMs won't have to pay.
As banks are doing away with free checking accounts, watch for the membership of credit unions to start rising drastically.
It amazes me how when the banks increase ATM fees, how everyone gets angry at the banks, and they don't put two and two together to realize that the reason for the fee hikes is because of the federal government hammering the banks. What were the banks supposed to do? Lose the money, which could very well result in layoffs? Then the people would be angry at the banks over the layoffs. Oh, that's right, the liberal attitude is that sticking it to those big bad corporations is the goal, here. They are supposed to just take the hit, and lose business, and lose funds. And who would get hurt then? The big executives? I don't think so. Eventually, it would trickle down to you and I. Eventually, retirement funds, or stocks, or percentage rates would take the hit. That is how business works.
So the right answer?
The federal government needs to back off, before they destroy yet another segment of the private sector.
The fault lies with Dodd-Frank, the Financial Regulatory Reform Act. This is the modus operandi of the democrat party. This is what they do. Attack a part of the private sector in the name of "consumer protection," but screwing the consumers worse in the long run.
Dodd-Frank dictated that the fee banks charge institutions for using their credit cards be cut in half. So the banks decided to obey the law, and then get that money somewhere else.
The liberal democrats never consider anything beyond their little plans. On paper they think that everything is static. They decided they were going to punish the banks, and never took into consideration the reality of the world. They failed to calculate this because these people don't understand the free market, and they don't understand how business works. All they understand is that they hate capitalism, so they want to punish the institutions, and in their attempt to punish the institutions, they punished the people instead.
The good intentions of the democrats screw the little guy every time. That is what government involvement does, that is what communist style government dictates against a capitalist system does. The only way they could get their soviet-style governmental dictates to work would be by taking the plunge, and nationalize the banks like they are trying to nationalize everything else. They don't get it. You can't be "kinda" socialist. They are on the path of full fledged communism, whether they think so, or not. The liberal left thinks it can grow government, and grow government, but that somehow it is not similar to Marxism because they say it isn't. Either, they are going to have to back off, and trust the American system, or they are going to finish their progression towards complete tyranny.
The only way to stop this kind of Marxist activity is to vote them out in 2012, but the democrats know this, and that is why some are even suggesting that we dial back the democratic process.
And, of course the people aren't stupid, either. They will start writing more checks rather than use their ATM card, or abandon banks and run to credit unions. That is how you destroy an industry. . . with ridiculous government regulations.
The problem here is not the banks, it is Frank and Dodd and Obama and their feeble attempt at consumer protections. Your debit card fees are going up, and ultimately it is because of big government sticking its nose into a private industry.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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