How It Ought To Be Done – Big Banks Bend To The Will Of The Little Guy

This is a shining example of how to make a real difference on a large scale without government involvement. Recently, Bank of America led a, well, charge, pardon the pun, to introduce a monthly bank fee for account holders who use a debit card in a given month. Wouldn’t that be, uh, pretty much everybody? As my dad used to say, “Smooth move, Ex-Lax.”

But instead of camping out in the streets and petitioning the government to further regulate a private industry, consumers, some of whom have jobs, just started closing their accounts at these banks en masse. And over the weekend, the banks started retreating and announced that they were dropping their plans for the new fees.

Market forces did the job here, not the introduction of bills, congressional hearings grilling bank executives, name calling and overreaching. Instead, millions of consumers just said, “Enough.” And banks got the point.

The same could happen with your cable television rates, by the way. It could happen with major league football tickets. It could happen with education. It could happen with (gulp) mortgage lending. It happened 25 years ago with New Coke. It happened this past month with Netflix. This is the real “power to the people,” people. Power to the government is enslavement to the people, make no mistake. Just ask the Native Americans.

There are exceptions, I will admit. But overall, the more government stays out of private enterprise, the more free market forces are to act in maintaining and equilibrium that allows the best products, services, and opportunities to rise to the top as a natural condition, for the benefit of consumers, investors, employees, and entrepreneurs. It can be done. It works. And it’s a beautiful thing.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9QO3NO80.htm

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• Bank of America cancels debit card fees (usatoday.com)
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• Durbin: Bank of America’s Ending Fee Proves Consumers Have a Voice (abcnews.go.com)
• Bank of America Scraps Debit Card Fee; Victory for Occupy Wall Street (blippitt.com)
• Goodbye to Bank of America Debit-Card Fee (blogs.wsj.com)
• Big banks back off monthly debit card fees (abclocal.go.com)
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• Bank Of America Is Dropping Its $5 Debit Card Fee (BAC) (businessinsider.com)
• Bank of America (last bank standing) drops debit card fees (sfgate.com)
• Bank of America’s Qwikster Moment (blogs.wsj.com)
• Bank of America Cancels Debit Fee, I’m Still Leaving (bargaineering.com)

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