POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Everything Must be Free!

Evidently, that's the "common cause" of the Occupy Whatever movement right now.

(By the way, I was warned yesterday of an Occupy Hartford "event" that was occurring around about rush hour, and I was concerned I was going to have an issue getting out of work. I needn't have been worried. The pathetic gathering could barely fill up one block, on one side of the street, on one city sidewalk. There was a smattering of UAW signs, but evidently the bus to bring them to CT's capital must've been very small. Or people had better things to do.)

So I see this bitchery in the NYT:

WHEN Bank of America told its customers recently that it would start charging them $5 a month to use debit cards, it argued that it was forced to make that change because of regulations that altered the economics of the cards. Other banks agreed. The chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, put the effects of the regulations this way: “If you’re a restaurant and you can’t charge for the soda, you’re going to charge more for the burger.” Both banks were responding to the Federal Reserve’s actions to limit the interchange fees banks charge stores each time a debit card is used for a purchase.

But the banks’ simplistic statements are merely an attempt to rationalize and obfuscate one of the largest illegal transfers of wealth from consumers to banks in American history.

No, it's not illegal, dumbass. You don't like debit card charges? Fine. Don't use a debit card, then. No one is forcing you to. No one is forcing you to have a bank account, even. Heck, some of the toniest places in NYC accept cash only, no debit cards, credit cards, checks, or money orders.

I've used a debit card in the past 20 years a sum total of: once. And the only reason I had used the debit card was because it had a smaller use fee than a credit card for the particular transaction I wanted to make (it was paying quarterly estimated federal income taxes, if you want to know). I had a choice. I made it.

Interestingly, after that "illegal" start to his op-ed, the author ends it with this:

Retail customers of Bank of America and of any other bank that follows its lead should swiftly move their business. I am certain that other banks will welcome the competitive opportunity that Bank of America has given them with its arrogant and disingenuous action and justification.

Exactly. People can move their business elsewhere. Nothing illegal is going on, and both retailers and customers can decide what they want to do.

I remember this sort of blather over ATM fees a while back. Funny how I don't hear about that any more, though ATMs definitely still charge fees. The main difference is that I'm explicitly told the fee before I complete the transaction, and I decide if I want to continue. Well, there's no hidden fees here, either, so you make a decision whether you want to be hit with it or not.

OWS: Free the bathrooms!

Panini and Company Cafe normally sells sandwiches to tourists in Lower Manhattan and the residents nearby, but in recent days its owner, Stacey Tzortzatos, has also become something of a restroom monitor. Protesters from Occupy Wall Street, who are encamped in a nearby park, have been tromping in by the scores, and not because they are hungry.

Ms. Tzortzatos’s tolerance for the newcomers finally vanished when the sink was broken and fell to the floor. She installed a $200 lock on the bathroom to thwart nonpaying customers, angering the protesters.

“I’m looked at as the enemy of the people,” she said.

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.

Man Who Begged Obama at LinkedIn Forum Positively Identified

The man who begged Obama at LinkedIn's online forum to "take me up the butt, please" has been identified as a former Atlantic blogger.

The Blaze's Meredith Jessup also discovered the story behind this piece of guerrilla theater:

Turns out that Robert, who describes himself as a Bolivian Marxist, is indeed a student at Georgetown Law, and does have parents.  After that, though:

According to the Daily Kos, Robert should be commended as “a patriot” for spelling out the reason people are protesting.  “If you can watch it without being affected, you are as heartless as Dick Cheney,” the site notes.

There’s just one problem: Robert Stephens’ story is (surprise!) completely bogus.

Phone inquiries into the county property records & taxpayer services office reveal that the Stephens family home is not and never has been in foreclosure, that property taxes had been paid in full this year and the remaining balance on their mortgage for the half-million dollar home is less than one year’s worth of tuition+fees at their son’s law school.

The nail in this empty protest‘s coffin is a delightful phone conversation I just had with Robert’s mother, Marquita, where she admitted Chase Bank indeed was not “taking” their home from them. Instead, due to a recent “reduction in income,” they’ve decided to hold a “short sale.”

When I asked Mrs. Stephens if she and her husband planned to stay in their suburban St. Paul, Minn., surroundings after the sale, she told me they weren’t too keen on the idea.  The area is “a bit too conservative,” she said.

Much more fun at Conservative Commune, where I also have up a bleg that so far has netted me $5, in case any of you remembers me.  I've been en fuego on Solyndra/LightSquared there, if I do say so myself.  So . . . in your orisons.

I'm going to reboot this blog, too, as I'll have time on my hands after work in Wisconsin, as soon as I can get out there.  Hope to see you around.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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That Man Said Bad Words at Me

It seems Mr. Mayor of Chicago told off a union rep:

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis says Mayor Rahm Emanuel “exploded” at her during a conversation in his office about his signature longer-school-day effort, pointing his finger at her, yelling and telling her, “F--- you, Lewis.”

“I just want to call it immense disrespect for me and the Chicago Teachers Union,’’ Lewis told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday. “I didn’t appreciate the way he talked to me.

“My father never talked to me like that. My husband’s never talked to me like that.”

Emanuel — long known for his salty rants — would not go into specifics Friday about the exchange, and said the meeting weeks ago ended with a hug from Lewis.

“I’m not going to get into a he-said, she-said. We had a good meeting. It was not a long meeting. We talked about a longer school day and we talked about focusing on elementary kids,” the mayor said.

So, let me understand this. You want better treatment from the mayor of Chicago than from your own family members? How, exactly, does that work?

I don't know about you, but I got (and get) the best treatment from my dad and my husband.

In any case, this seems like a desperate ploy to garner some sympathy for the teachers union, because nobody is feeling all that sorry for them having to work marginally longer hours. The retort on that is likely: "You still have summers off. And you have a job."

It's a weak ass attempt to get sympathy, though.

Rahm cursed you out? Congrats. You're now part of the club.

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.