If you have not already, some of you might start getting charged a monthly fee for debit-card usage.
One bank instituting this charge is Bank of America, which plans to charge $5 a month. Other banks such as Wells Fargo and Chase will be implementing fees in some states around the country.
As we have seen in the last few days, those involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement are quite upset with corporations.
In this instance, however, anger should be directed at the government for causing banks to charge this fee.
Previously, banks charged businesses (or those "evil" corporations) a fee of about 44 cents every time someone used a debit card for a purchase.
The financial regulatory reform law, also known as Dodd-Frank, capped the fee that banks could charge at 24 cents per swipe. This new regulation is expected to cost banks billions of dollars in losses. To make up this loss, banks have now taken the burden off of business and placed it on consumers with new fees.
Recently, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Americans frustrated with this fee to "vote with their feet" and leave Bank of America for this outrageous action.
This is ironic considering that the very amendment Durbin sponsored when this bill was in Congress was the one that capped the debit card fee at 24 cents.
So, the government meddles in an area which only really affects businesses and ends up unintentionally hurting consumers in the end.
Then, members of the government and sponsors of the very laws that hurt consumers have the nerve to blame this action on banks
The unintended consequences of government regulation are boundless.
Unfortunately, it is easy to predict the possible responses to this editorial.
"Bankers make billions of dollars every year. They wouldn't have to charge consumers if they gave up some of their outrageous salaries."
What right do you have to determine how much the bankers make? They are providing you with a convenient way to store, transfer and save your money.
If you don't like bankers' salaries, take out all of your money and put it in your mattress. Otherwise, shut up.
The current anti-corporate movement should direct its attention not at corporations, but at the cronyism that occurs when government officials give favors to businesses.
Do you really think it was consumers who advocated for a cap on debit-card fees? No, it was businesses who thought they could use the force of government to pay less to the banks.
Maybe a few protestors should leave Wall Street and head to Washington, D.C., to protest the corporatist policies of our federal government.
And maybe someone should look into who funds Dick Durbin's campaigns.
