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A Further Perspective
Blame Transfer Day
The mainstream media gins up a campaign to shift blame for fees away from Obama, Durbin, and Dodd-Frank.
(Page 2 of 2)
Then, there are Katchpole’s other petitions on Change.org. These include a letter calling on GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain to release his accusers from their non-disclosure agreements, a pledge to “help to win the election by organizing in my community” to repay the president for Obamacare’s mandate for covering birth control in insurance policies, and a demand to stop a Congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood. If Katchpole is indeed living “paycheck to paycheck,” it’s time for her progressive employers to give her a raise!
While Katchpole’s petition and Bank Transfer Day may help deflect blame from Durbin, Obama, and Dodd-Frank, they won’t help consumers and will do little for smaller banks and credit unions. Even before BofA announced the debit fee in September, a Bankrate.com survey found that in the year since passage of Dodd-Frank and Durbin’s measure, just 45 percent of non-interest bank checking accounts were free, down 76 percent from two years earlier, and that the average monthly fee for a non-interest account was $4.37, up 75 percent from a year earlier.
And even though smaller financial institutions are technically exempt from explicit price controls, they are subject to other provisions of Durbin’s measure and fear merchants will discriminate against the debit cards they issue. As the Credit Union National Association has stated: “[The Durbin Amendment] will impose a severe hardship on credit unions with debit card programs, draining the revenue they need to offset the costs of providing card services. Much as they would prefer not to, credit unions will have no recourse but to make up these costs by imposing new fees or service restrictions on their members. How are consumers better off under this scenario? The plain fact is they are not.”
So if consumers really want to stop higher banking fees, they should organize a Bad Policy Transfer Day and tell Congress to get rid of the Durbin Amendment and much of the rest of Dodd-Frank. They can start by “billing” those responsible with “Durbin Dollars,” downloadable on the website of my organization.
Trey Kovacs, a policy analyst at CEI, contributed to this article.
About the Author
John Berlau is Senior Fellow for Finance and Access to Capital at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and blogs at OpenMarket.org.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (10) | Leave a comment
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JP| 11.7.11 @ 7:18AM
And why shouldn't they? The GOP is too cowed to remind people that the Dodd-Frank Bill is filled with all sorts of surprises.
But, you know, I could be too hard on the Republicans. Perhaps, they secretly applaud the Dems. After-all, the political will to overturn ObamaCare and significantly cut spending has all but petered-out. Think about it; one of the presidential front-runners wrote the blue-print for ObamaCare, while the other wishes to give Congress another revenue stream (a national sales tax). This is the best the GOP can do.
My prediction: 2012 will be swan song for the Republican Party.
oldfart| 11.7.11 @ 11:07AM
I see you are following the Alinsky play book.
1blumutt| 11.7.11 @ 10:21PM
JP, Please do some research on this, as to the bills passed by the House that Reid is just sitting on and how 999 replaces---does not add another revenue stream. Please, take the time to do your own research.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.7.11 @ 7:23AM
The American public is too stupid to get the facts.
That's why the MSM (Drive-By Media) continues to sway opinion with lame gimmickry.
Indiana Alex| 11.7.11 @ 9:09AM
The fee was orriginally called "The Durbin Tax", the mainstream media tried their hardest to kill that term, and have been pretty successful.
Gary| 11.7.11 @ 9:55AM
The hypocrisy of the drive bys is monumental when they are "outraged" by a five buck bank fee but support huge price hikes on light bulbs that dwarfs any bank fees and which people must pay to light their homes. The colleges turn out these pinheads who then spread their prejudice and ignorance when they get jobs in the press and media. Absent Fox, talk radio, and conservative websites we would get only one side of the story, which sadly was the case before Fox and the aformentioned.
Paul from SA| 11.7.11 @ 10:51AM
I asked my bank (IBC San Antonio) the other day if they were going to institute a fee for using a debit card. They said no, but they are closing half their branches in San Antonio, mostly ones in grocery stores, to cover the cost of the new regulations. They said may people will lose their jobs.
Infantryman| 11.7.11 @ 4:02PM
If you are infuriated by those strange, sqiggly, inefficient, expensive light bulbs ask your local Republican Congressman why in unshirted Hell they are not raising same against the EPA and the Democrats, and passing legislation to stop the sillyness. I'll tell you why, they are terrified of the press. Well, in their terror, they might try to knock the ball onto the Senate side of the net and let THEM explain why $5:00 bulbs are good for character development while we alreadyhave superb, inexpensive bulbs. And when they lie about it don't let them get away with it. It just takes gumption
Niniane| 11.7.11 @ 11:01PM
This whole lightbulb thing strikes me as creeping socialism, especially with the incandescent bulbs being phased out. I saw that in the old Soviet Union -- central planning committee tells factories to only make blue and white house paints that year -- and my family did end up sending artist colors to friends so they could add a little tone to the white. An elderly lady had ordered a couch and chair for her small living room and it took two years for it to be delivered. They dropped a huge crate and all her neighbors came out broke it open and exclaimed she was so lucky the upholstery was green. Ordering your desired color or fabric was not an option. Choices from the most mundane things to business decisions are continually being eroded and controlled by our central planning committees.
Naturalborn Texicanette| 11.7.11 @ 8:16PM
Unfortunately the liberal press has taken over as the thought process for many people. Most will simply read what the liberal press spews, believe it, and repeat it as gospel.
One reason I like this site and the majority of those who post here.....they make me think, seek, and root the path to the real truth. Whether I like that truth or not.........!
So thanks to all contributors...even the tiresome,
simple minded ones who mostly call other posters vile and childish names........ but for the most part, it is the REAL thinkers, the seekers, the contributors who dig deep for the truth and who challenge ME to think and consider, that I appreciate the most......:)