Read Their Lips...

The Times editors give us a peek into LibWorld with this article blasting Bank of America's new debit card fees:

The news on Thursday that Bank of America is imposing a $5 monthly fee on people who have the nerve to use their debit card to buy things probably should not have come as much of a shock.

...Still, the scale of its changes mean that most debit card shoppers who do not have Bank of America mortgages or more than $20,000 in account balances will need to pay that $5 monthly fee. It is a tax on pretty much every customer without a healthy salary or investment income, plus those who want to keep their savings elsewhere for whatever reason.

It's a tax?  The way my monthly subscription to the Times is a tax?  How are the destitute meant to stay current on world events (not to mention the sales at Saks) if the Times insists on imposing their regressive tax at the newstand?

Well, at least they write "it's a tax" as if that is a bad thing.  Baby steps.  I should also note that the theme of the article is that people could switch banks if "taxes" are too high for the level of service.  Obviously, many have switched news providers.

Comments

[Gmax]

Well congrats TM, you have found a "tax" that the NYT and by proxy progressives everywhere are not wildly enthusiastic about! Take the win and put it in your pocket, to be pulled out and marveled at on a deary rainy day!

[Threadkiller]

If you "tax" BoA customers you have no heart.

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/02/13/bank-of-illegal-aliens-in-america/

[Army of Davids]

Thomas Donahue, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, on the mandates, new taxes, uncertainties and new regulations in ObamaCare.....

"it's a job killer"

This is the issue Republicans need to hammer.

[MarkO]

Ah ha. A new slogan for Times readers: Taxation Without Representations. Next? A Times Tea Party.

[MarkO]

Oh, goody, an extra "s". Forge on.

[Danube of Thought]

The Times once again engages in economic baby-talk.

As I understand it, BofA announced this policy in response to an edict--whether buried somewhere in Dodd-Frank or in some regulation--that the amount the bank receives per swipe of the debit card be reduced from 44 to 22 cents.

The free lunch will forever elude us.

[Army of Davids]

I understand Herman Cain was on Leno.

Good....

the more visibility he has the better.

Cain/Rubio 2012

[Alice still lives here]

Funny, I would have thought this was the sort of thing NYT would like, since it could easily be turned into an argument for people moving their banking relationships away from the monster International institutions and back to the morally superior Mom and Pop community banks. Who due to size, will have to provide more limited services but so what? It isn't the quality or scope of products available that matters, so much as we all pay the same amount. Right?

[Gmax]

Gasoline prices drop to $2.99 / gallon this AM in my neck of the woods. Its nostalgia time! When was the last time you saw a 2 handle on gas? Who said Big Ben is not fighting inflation ( by using deflation! )?

[MayBee]

The free lunch will forever elude us.

Amen.

Our government, forever growing and seeking new ways to raise revenue, somehow thought banks would just give up trying to make the income that was being regulated away?

[Ignatz]

--As I understand it, BofA announced this policy in response to an edict--whether buried somewhere in Dodd-Frank or in some regulation--that the amount the bank receives per swipe of the debit card be reduced from 44 to 22 cents.--

I believe this is the doing of the Consumer Credit dragon set up by Dodd-Frank and which that delightful Stalinist Elizabeth Warren so wanted to use to get those unruly kulaks into line.
Somehow the peasants eventually always get it in the neck whenever the Bolsheviks take an interest in their plight.

[glasater]

It's the Durbin fee that is the problem.

[glasater]

Years ago -- 'way before the Patriot Act -- a customer paid me with a BoA check. When I went to the BoA bank to cash the check I had to give a one digit fingerprint to get the money. I would never do banking business with BoA.

[Porchlight]

They still will blame the banks for being greedy. The banks are expected to provide the free lunch.

[peter]

My thought is gas prices have gone down due to lack of demand. IF you don't have to drive any where except the unemployment office, you don't use much gas.

[MayBee]

My bank branch called me this week to help me make sure I was doing what I needed to do to stay fee-free. They also called about my son.

[jack is Back!]

Air Force is up 7 - 0 and getting ready to score again. But if you have a chance go to CBS and look at their uniforms. No name on the back. The Offense has SERVICE and the Defense has FREEDOM. The last few years they have done this. Surprised Navy isn't doing something similar.

Go Falcons!

/Obama eundum - Obama Quisque sed

[MarkO]

Navy? They have a football team? Wow. Could they beat Duke?

[Ignatz]

--Years ago -- 'way before the Patriot Act -- a customer paid me with a BoA check. When I went to the BoA bank to cash the check I had to give a one digit fingerprint to get the money. I would never do banking business with BoA.--

Yeah, same here.

[Danube of Thought]

They led South Carolina in the 4th quarter two weeks ago, but they ain't looking so hot today.

[narciso]

Ouch, that does look brutal 21/3.

[Forbes]

Can I change governments if I don't like the taxes charged?

[Army of Davids]

Wonder if the Marxist march w/ Michael Moore crowd realizes that Solyndra and TARP have a lot in common?

Fannie/Freddie roided Crony Capitalism or Venture Socialism.

Is there really any difference?

I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

[hit and run]

Hah. The Durbin Amendment is going to make my company a good bit of cash money.

I didn't ask for this. I would never have voted for it,and I think it's stupidity on stilts riding in a clown car. But I won't apologize for being part of an effort to profit from it,greedy captialist that I am.

But allow me to take a moment to thank the esteemed Senator Durbin for another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences and Be Careful What You Wish For, Federal Government Edition.

[Neo]

"... people who endorse actions consistent with an ethic of utilitarianism—the view that what is the morally right thing to do is whatever produces the best overall consequences—tend to possess psychopathic and Machiavellian personality traits.”

That's comforting ?

[Danube of Thought]

How about them Mids? Eighteen points in the final nine minutes, and we're going to overtime, 28-28.

[daddy]

DoT,

Hike me the Ball.

I'll drop back into the Saturday Morning Thread, and then hit you with a long pass in the left corner of the End Zone on the Fast and Furious Thread.

Down, Set, Hut, Hut, Hut....

[jimmyk]

It's the Durbin fee that is the problem.

Not just that, but the Durbin amendment left it up to the Fed to decide where to put the fee limits, and the Fed, despite knowing better, bent to political pressure and cut the fees by more than 50%.

[Extraneus]

Banks wouldn't pull this carp if they were nationalized. Same with oil companies.

[Chubby]

every debit hard holder in that category should to withdraw every penny in their account and demand it in cash. Wonder if they'd have the reserves to cover even a small bank run like that.

[Ignatz]

I'm against almost every government intervention including this one, but on the plus side at least debit card users are bearing more of their own costs rather than having it spread over all shoppers as it used to be through merchant fees.

[glasater]

Charlie Gasparino has a lot of respect for Jamie Dimon -- head of JPM -- and on a Fox show this AM said Dimon is pretty fed up with Obama and is really upset with Dodd Frank.
I believe Gasparino has a pretty direct line to Dimon.
Oh, and Dimon is going to be contributing to Romney.

[Chubby]

I cannot figure out why supposed Wall Street geniuses were hookwinked by Obama in the first place. Such ill informed people in control huge financial engines is a bit scary.

[Rick Ballard]

"Such ill informed people in control huge financial engines is a bit scary."

Zombies are supposed to be scary. The fact that more people don't realize that we're dealing with a zombie oligarchy is what I find surprising.

[glasater]

Chubby-

I'm reading a book by Gasparino called Bought and Paid For and if you read any of the reviews at the link, they explain how Obama got Wall Street to contribute. It's an interesting read.

[Chubby]

glasater

I'm reading the comments now. This one is a standout:

((I'm not able to read more than a few pages at a time without my blood pressure shooting up. How can we, I, be so ignorant? DC and Wall Street are just one big hog trough......and We The People are the hard working farmers, dolts, feeding the pigs. Please don't read this book if you are taking heart medication. You might want to have your doctor write a Rx for Zoloft for you. Well written book and, unfortunately, well documented. ))

[Chubby]

this was a good read at the Daily Mail today LUN

has corruption and greed ever been more rampant?

Frankenstein finance: How supercomputers preying on human fear are taking over the world's stock markets
By Robert Harris

[Ignatz]

Chubby,
Dougie Kass examined the same theme today; Kill The Quants Before They Kill Us.

[glasater]

Chubby-

Thanks for reading the reviews of "Bought and Paid For". There were strings being pulled for Obama but it wasn't Soros at the start.
And thanks for the Daily Mail link. If you listen to CNBC at all concern for another flash crash seems to be "out there".
Ignatz-
I think cathyf and Chaco were quants at one time, weren't they?

[pagar]

From Hit and Run's 0206 Link

"The poor will hurt the most."

IMO, all bills written by Democrats do that.
I cannot understand why a poor person would ever vote for a Democrat.

[Iggy]

--Ignatz-
I think cathyf and Chaco were quants at one time, weren't they?--

They'll be sorely missed.

[~FR]

"Well, at least they write "it's a tax" as if that is a bad thing. "

Money being taken from us by the government isn't a tax- it's a 'revenue enhancement' - remember?

Money being taken from us by a politically unpopular business? TAX!

We should put George Orwell's body in a dynamo- it must be spinning so quickly at this point that we could recharge our electric cars.

[narciso]

Well this time, Bourne's adapter not Polanski
will be involved

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8768591/Robert-Harris-puts-his-mouth-where-the-money-is.html

[Rick Ballard]

"I cannot understand why a poor person would ever vote for a Democrat."

Here ya go.

It explains the "poor" part as well.

[Jane]

Over at American thinker, Tom Lifson has a video where Obama refers to his wife "Michael". It is hysterical. What a moron.

I can't link, sorry.

[daddy]

Jane's Link.

Fortunately you only need to suffer through 35 seconds of his 11 minute speech.