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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (263498)	7/23/2010 1:20:00 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 306849

Financial “Reform:” the End of Free Checking By Jeremy Weltmer • Friday, July 23, 2010 americanshareholders.org When most Americans think of financial reform, they envision some sort of abstract change in rules to cut the profits of cigar-smoking investment bankers jetting across the globe in private airplanes, yet the reality of the recent Frank-Dodd Act hits much closer to home. In response to Section 1075 of the legislation, introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin, the largest US banks, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase, have ended their free checking programs. Section 1075 allows the Board of the Federal Reserve to establish “reasonable” limits to the interchange fees charged by banks to merchants when consumers use debit cards as a method of payment. Moreover, it allows the Federal government to assemble data on every debit card transaction without providing any explanation of how that information would be used or for what reasons it would be collected. But in setting limits on the amount of those fees that banks charge, the profitability of debit cards plummets for banks. On top of the recent CARD Act, which prevents banks from charging massive overdraft fees for debit card transactions that go over an account’s balance, financial institutions have fewer and fewer sources of revenue to pay for checking account operations. Moreover, as the Wall Street Journal reports, “more than half of all checking accounts are currently unprofitable, according to a report issued last month by Celent, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos. It costs most banks between $250 and $300 a year to maintain one of the roughly 200 million checking accounts, according to industry estimates.” As government regulators and anti-commerce Democrats exert more and more pressure on banks’ sources of revenue for retail banking, firms have no choice but to find other sources of funding. Because the accounts cost close to $300 per year, banks need to find some way to offset those costs through fees. For account owners with larger balances or high debit card activity, banks will waive the fees as an account perk, but this leaves lower income and low balance customers out to dry. In short, this bill designed to “protect consumers” will cost those households least able to pay at least $9 per month. If Democrats actually want to help those most in need, they should reconsider their anti-businesses and anti-commerce stances, for economic growth cannot come from anywhere else.

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (263498)	7/23/2010 1:24:45 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Respond to of 306849

Chavez doesn't hate America. He hates America's interventionist foreign policy. You know, the parts like trying to overthrow him, calling for his assassination, expanding US run military bases in his neighboring country... gee, what's not to like?

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (263498)	7/23/2010 1:58:17 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 306849

Caesar Chavez was an American born in America: en.wikipedia.org "Chavez was born on March 31, 1927, in the North Gila Valley near Yuma, Arizona. By 1938 the Great Depression had driven the Chavez family off its small farm and they became migrant farm workers in California. Chavez attended numerous schools but never finished the eighth grade."