PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

WHEN IS A “VICTORY” NOT A VICTORY: THE BANK OF AMERICA CASE

Okay, so Bank of America pulled back from charging five dollars a month for using an ATM. Wow, the voice of the people was heard and now everything is all right? No. By removing the fee, Bank of America gets to continue to make billions by jacking it out of the pockets of its “customers”. The most flagrant action has been withdrawn, but the same old business practices will go on. And, in a short time, when no one is paying attention, BofA will find a way to make more money than it would have with the five dollar fee.

The monthly fee was a kind of political act to start with. Congress passed legislation limiting what banks can charge stores when you use your ATM to buy something.  So, BofA said, “We’ll show you!” and added the fee. It was thumbing its nose at the United States Congress and at merchants and consumers who were demanding more fairness. Well, that didn’t turn out so well for the bank, did it?

The entire business model of Bank of America is to hammer its customers with fees, again and again. They pick on the customers who have the least amount of money in their accounts and who are probably having trouble keeping up with their bills. In effect, BofA has already told these customers: LEAVE THIS BANK. WE DON’T WANT YOU. But, if you stay, you are going to pay and pay and pay.

American banking companies have gone off the deep end. They use a predatory model of business as their only method for making mega profits. The president of BofA told ABC News when the five dollar fee was announced that it helped to pay for the services offered to customers. Yeah, and for big bonuses for executives and corporate jets, resort retreats and all the other grand perks that go along with being an executive at a company making tons of money.

Had the five dollar fee not been removed, then hundreds of thousands of customers would have been encouraged to move their accounts. Now, some, perhaps many, are likely to decide it just isn’t worth the trouble.

We need a lot more than the Occupy movement in this country. We need awakened citizens who are smart enough and tough enough to organize and make certain they are heard on any important issue. One million people organized around the idea of not getting screwed over would have a major impact, even an astounding one. Ten or twenty million people could rock the business world back on its heels.

This recession and the predatory moves many corporations have used, like Bank of America, to keep their profits high while people are suffering is a perfect time to organize or now and the future. The 300 thousand + who signed a petition against the five dollar fee would be a good start. As long as people are silent and take the mistreatment that is dialed out, it will continue and get worse and worse. No question. If, for one, am very hopeful that we are reaching some sort of turning point in America where people decide to stand up against being ripped off right and left.

Doug Terry, 11.2.12

YOUR BANK IS NOT YOUR FRIEND: FEES MEAN BILLIONS

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