A Banking Thought

My brother in law is upset because he now has to pay for his checking account. For many years banks have avoided this by charging exorbitant overdraft fees. Now that they are unable to do so they are charging for a service they provided for free in times past. His bent on the situation was that he was being screwed because the era of overdraft usury had expired. "I was responsible," he said, "Why should I have to pay for my checking account now just because irresponsible people couldn't keep track of their account balances?" What he didn't realize or didn't care about was the fact that he had been getting a free ride his entire life. He had received a service for nothing. Now, thanks to new legislation, he had to pay for that service. Oh the humanity! And he blamed people that had been taken advantage of by this system for so long. Fact is, bro, that you are the one who has been taking advantage of other people's "irresponsibility," as you call it. They have been paying for you for years. You have had the privilege
of a wellfare checking account for as long as you've had one. And now you're upset because someone else isn't paying YOUR WAY? Doesn't sound like a conservative value to me. Let's face it. You're upset because you have to pay for something you didn't have to pay for before. There is no other reason. So forget all the arguments you've concocted about the "unfair regulation of banks." You just don't want to pay more. And you don't give a damn who it hurts in order to keep more money in your wallet. That, unfortunately, IS a conservative value.