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Banks to Start Charging Debit Card Users?

The motivations may have been noble. ...

You have a good point. When I studied under Donald Devine, who served for a brief time as the OPM director during the Reagan administration, brought up the same point. I believe it's just a symptom of the monies in politics. First, the major corporations write the laws, then they lobby the regulators when writing the regulations. The major corporations look after their interest, but small business doesn't have much say on how the law will be implemented, so it ends up the regulations are written to be cumbersome and expensive to comply with as this is a means to stifle competition, as capital is a barrier to entry.
 
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Either they pass it onto consumers or they fire employees.

Either way someone pays for the lost revenue.

Unless they wanted to pass a law forcing banks to provide free debit card service.

Honestly, I think a lot of people (usually of the liberal political persuasion) think that THIS time it'll be different. THIS time the CEOs and board members will take a cut in pay and we'll get those horrible rich people. THIS time will be different.
 
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Honestly, I think a lot of people (usually of the liberal political persuasion) think that THIS time it'll be different. THIS time the CEOs and board members will take a cut in pay and we'll get those horrible rich people. THIS time will be different.

Or it is all smoke and mirrors and they are trying to appease the public and their corporate masters.

Either way we get shafted.

It is how it always has been, one giant scam to screw over the guy with the paycheck.
 
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Honestly, I think a lot of people (usually of the liberal political persuasion) think that THIS time it'll be different. THIS time the CEOs and board members will take a cut in pay and we'll get those horrible rich people. THIS time will be different.


The problem isnt liberal regulation, or regulation in general, or any political ideology.

Though admittedly regulation does have issues as a concept. (it often creates barriers to entry and a specious, easily corruptable relationship between the regulator, and regulated).

But the problem is a lack of anti-trust action and seeing corporations as "people".
If big companies we're split apart when they reach anything close to "big" I think regulations would have a better chance of working.

Basically what I am saying is the only thing to stop a company from passing costs onto the consumer is a fiercely competetive market.

Surely regulation as a concept is vital to a healthy society. But what's needed is to really examine and fix the relationships between govenment and industry. If those relationships are corrupted, it follows that the regulations would be similarly tainted.

My solution? More and better education for all. Get people to turn off the puppet-show "news" regardless of whether thier favorite is coke or pepsi, MSNBC or Fox... This wont fix everything, but I think it's the first step. People wont demand a better world until they understand the one they live in.

OK, yeah that wass a bit of a tangent! :)
 
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The problem is that passing the costs on to the consumer or the employee is not a "big business/evil corporation" thing. I could run a mom and pop hamburger stand and if the price of meat goes up, I'm going to raise menu prices. I'm not going to take that out of my bottom line. Yet people think big businesses should behave differently for some reason.
 
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I don't get it. Just use your credit card (and get points in the process) then pay it off using online banking every month. You get points, don't have to carry cash, and stick to them for trying to charge you to use a debit card.

Win/win/win.

Banks win too since they get crap loads of money from each swipe and people who forget to pay off the full amount each month.
 
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I don't get it. Just use your credit card (and get points in the process) then pay it off using online banking every month. You get points, don't have to carry cash, and stick to them for trying to charge you to use a debit card.

Win/win/win.

You don't win on a credit card. There's a reason why I haven't had one in more than 5 years now.
 
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The problem is that passing the costs on to the consumer or the employee is not a "big business/evil corporation" thing. I could run a mom and pop hamburger stand and if the price of meat goes up, I'm going to raise menu prices. I'm not going to take that out of my bottom line. Yet people think big businesses should behave differently for some reason.


Well there is a difference between passing on the cost of doing business and passing on any ol' cost--all the time--because you have no competition and the government will bail you out if you get in trouble.

I dont mind normal cost increases, and I think most people dont. But unreasonable ones only come when the market is somehow distorted/lacking normal competetion.
 
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Well there is a difference between passing on the cost of doing business and passing on any ol' cost--all the time--because you have no competition and the government will bail you out if you get in trouble.

I dont mind normal cost increases, and I think most people dont. But unreasonable ones only come when the market is somehow distorted/lacking normal competetion.

Any business will pass on any cost to the consumer or their employee though. They never absorb the extra cost out of the bottom line unless they absolutely have to. Any cost from utilities going up to rent being raised to raw materials going up to needing to pay more wages to retain workers all get passed along down the line.

Who defines unreasonable cost increases? The consumer. They define unreasonable by going to a competitor. If a company raises the cost of their product to an unreasonable level, they have other competitors I can do business with.

How do you rent cars, book flights or hotels ?

I use a debit card for all of that.
 
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Who defines unreasonable cost increases? The consumer. They define unreasonable by going to a competitor. If a company raises the cost of their product to an unreasonable level, they have other competitors I can do business with.

Unless of course monopolies (or virtual monopolies) control the market, or if there is price fixing and collusion, or if financial speculators manipulate the market, etc., etc.
 
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I'm sorry you're not responsible enough to pay it off the instant you use it.

I'm sorry I tried that and the credit card company "conveniently" lost my check for a couple of days. Also sorry that employees of credit card companies testified before Congress that this is a common practice. Now I just pay cash and life is easier.
 
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I'm sorry you're not responsible enough to pay it off the instant you use it.

You are a credit card deadbeat.

And it is good to be a credit card deadbeat.

Credit card companies use that specific term, 'deadbeat,' to describe those that pay their balance on time, in full, every month.

Interesting that the term deadbeat is used to define a group of people that the CC companies publicly say they want, yet if everyone became a deadbeat, CC revenue would drop.
 
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