Monday, July 13, 2009
Jim Hightower is still waiting for his “thank you” card from the bailed-out banks. He argues that every taxing-paying citizen deserves a big “thanks” from the financial industry for the trillion-dollar bailout that kept it from going belly up from its own reckless mistakes. But instead of thanking Americans, banks are sticking it to them, Hightower writes.
He points out how Bank of America raised its fee for a basic checking account by 50%, how Citibank jacked up the interest rate on some of its cards to 29.99%, and how JPMorgan Chase more than doubled the required minimum payment on its cards.
The “geniuses” running the industry, “who made an ugly mess of the core business of banking,” have reduced themselves to “flim-flam fee-scammers” who now rely on consumer fees for more than 50% of all banking income, according to Hightower.
Bank officials counter that they have no choice but to raise fees because consumers are at greater risk than ever of defaulting. “Glade doesn’t make enough ‘Spring Lilac’ to cover up the stench of this argument,” he writes, adding, “It was the greed and incompetence of Mr. Jolly Banker that wrecked our economy, caused the recession and forced the odious bailout on us. They want us to pay for that?”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Big Bankers Mounting Sneak Attack on Consumers (by Jim Hightower, AlterNet)
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