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Show OPINION 1l. ll . MOLLY IVINS JOSEPH SOBRAN COMMENTARY COMMENTARY I Banks winning big over credit unions' lost case. Bill Clinton 's supporters utilizing Tyson defense New and more horrible corporate rip-offs they do with us, and we have to be willing lurking .in near future! Banks win big, and to cut fees." guess who pays? What that means, you poor schnerk, is Thanks to the pinheads on the Supreme that rich folks will not have to pay bank Court, big banks are in a better position fees, but you will. NationsBank did open than ever to continue to rip us all off. A its marble heart and agree to repeal the $1 monster case- First National Bank and fee for blank deposit slips and the $1.25 Trust vs. the National Credit Union monthly fee for debit cards for all Administration-was recently decided in customers. favor of the banks and against the credit Banks used to make money on the spread unions. between their deposits and their loans. Credit unions were formed , and given Since deregulation in 1986, b_anks have special tax treatment, to serve groups with come to rely increasingly on fees for "a common bond"- most commonly all profits. In Canada, according to the the folks working for one large employer. Financial Post, fees account for less than 5 The credit unions wanted to be able to percent of bank profits. Consumer Union says economies of scale open their doors to a variety of groups so a si ngle credit union could serve m ultiple promised by big bank mergers have not groups with multipl e common bon ds. materialized. Studies have shown that as We're not talking about all the guys on a banks grow larger, they charge higher fees. softball team but employees of smaller Mary Griffin of Consumer Union Inc. told companies that don't have credit unions. the Financial Post more than 100 different But the court said no. There are two fees have been introduced by American reasons this is really bad news. banks, which have risen an aggregate of 50 First, fees_ Study after study shows that percent since 1990, or more than twice the do ing business wi th a ..,...._ _..,....._,.,.._ _ _~ ......,..- ---,-,., rateofinflation. credit union saves mucho And :in a new and m ore din ero. I would say the exciting wrinkle for the banks a re nickel-andbankers, Congress has di ming us to death with ordered the government to fees, but it's more like five electronically deliver all bucks here and 25 bucks federal benefits payments, there. They charge us for excep t those from the usi ng their ATMs, and Internal Revenue Service, they charge us if we go in effective Jan. 2, 1999. to see a cashier. T hey No more paper checks charge us for our checking for Social Security recipaccoun ts, they charge us ients or veterans. for our savings accounts, Unfortunately, about 10 and they charge us to fo r million Americans, most what's in our accounts. of them poor, don't have Banks have not o nly bank accounts. Th ink been running record how surpri sed they are pro.fits fo r six straight going to be when they years now, but according open an account so they, to the FDIC, as repo.r ted by can get their checks and the Gannett News Service, their chec ks suddenly the percentage of those start getting whittled profits accounted for by away by banking fees. fees has gone up from less Note also that banks than 25 percent in 1984 to almost 40 have been closing their branches in poor percent in 1997. Accordi ng to FDIC city neighborhoods and small towns. Add documents, banks collected $30.9 billion in lack of access to banks to the fact that fees in the first nine months of 1997, up 15 many who get government checks are poor, percent from the same period a year earlier. elderly and disabled, and you have just a Numero Two-o, what's the biggest trend wonderful scenario ahead. in employment today? Temps, of coursel am always amused when I am told that "contract workers," subcontracting, hiring the "invisible hand"-th e magic of the fewer and fewer full-timers who would be marl<etplace, the wonders of competitioneligible to be in a credit union. Ergo, fewer will take care of these excessive fees. I'm credit union members and more poor fish starting to think th e magic of the for the banks. marketplace is about as real as the magic of But, wait- didn't we just read that . Siegfried and Roy. NationsBank Corp., one of the Very Bigs, is In Chile, which is an increasingly cutting its fees? Well, yes, we did, but read interesting case study of what happens the fine print. According to Knight-Ridder when you let Milton Friedman's pure Tribu ne Husiness News, Nations will no capitalism loose in the world, they are now longer charge its best customers $25 to charging 75 percent annual interest rates stop p~iymcnt on checks, $5 for copies of on credit cards. If we let 'em, they'll do it checks they've written or $8 for incoming here, too. wire transfers. CEO Hugh McColl Jr. told Kni.i:ht -l<idder, "We need to treat people Molly Ivins is a nationally syndicated <.liffcrcnll y based on how much business columnist. If I were president of the United stop chasing women, "you' re goillg States and a lovely woman begged to sc rew up e very th ing you've for my help, I'd fall all over myself worked fo r." She missed the point. trying to play Sir Galahad. The last T he opportuni ty to have women is thing I 1 d want t o do would be t o everything he's worked for. fodeit her respect for me. Isn'.t that Some of Clinton's defenders ate how most men would react? reduced to offering the Mike Tyson Unfortunate l y, the empi rica l defense. You' ll recall when the evidence warrants the judgment that former heavyweight champ was on there ain't a whole lot of Sir Galahad t rial for rape, his lawyer a rgued in Bill Clinton. Kathleen Willey says brazenJy that the girl sho uld have his response to her desperate request known what to expect when sh e was to fondle her. Real crudelike. went to his hotel room. Yet again, Clinton says his accuser N ow we're actually hearing that is lying. Oh no she isn't. Do.n't try Willey should have known what she that with this one, pal. was in for- with the presjdent of the True, .Willey's motives may not be United States, in the Oval Office, in unmixed. ·She did keep her silence, midafternoon! And anyway, whattri ed to avoid testifying and sent ever happened between the two of friendly notes to Clinton long after them was "private." the incident. Her husband had killed No matter how much evidence himse lf that d ay, r-:~ ~~ :::--~ = ~ ~ ~ attests th e sa m e proclivity, Pres. leaving her deep in debt. Clinto n 's trashShe mu st have talking :ind rapidth o ugh t C linton response team of was a lifeline and supporters a lways hoped that if she ba s an aggressive ignore d his conad h oc defense. duct he might still Th e witn esses are help her. And now in it for the money, sbe may have OT they're trailerdecided h e r only pa rk trash , crazy, remaining hop e is o r res en tfu I, or t o go public and they're pare of an sell tbe story she out - of-c o ntrol, has already told illegally lea king under subpoena. prnsf!cutor's vast N o n e of that conspiracy. Seven means she's lying. hun dred pages of It probably means deposi ti ons are a she's run ou t o-f packofli es. options and figures Kathleen Willey, she may as well a longtime Clinton make the most of the truth. supporter, volunteer and donor, has In her 60 Minutes inte rview, n o connect ion with Clinton's Will ey described th e same Bill opponents, but her testimony hasn't Clinton we know from a composite caused the Clinton team to miss a of other women's accounts. When he beat. And yet she's getting the same first saw her he'd sent an aide to get treatment as the earlier witnesses- a her phone number, and later invited chief purpose of which is to scare off her fo r a tryst. After putting her potential future witnesses. hand on his private (well, hi s It's time to drop the polite pretense semiprivate) parts in the Oval Office, that we don't yet know what's been he told her, "I've wanted to do that happening, o r that Clinton could since the first time I laid eyes on still somehow dispel the damaging you." impressions by giving us "the facts." That's roughl y the same story If so many witnesses are perj uring P aula Jones tells: Ba ck at the themselves iQ a concerted effo rt to Excels ior Hotel in 199 l , Clinton destroy the president, the president sent a cop to make the contact with himself should be mounting a full the message that she made his knees investigation of this sjoister cabal. weak. When she reached his hotel But Clinton and his friends don't room, he unceremoniously· offered seem eager to get to the bottom of the aforementioned parts. the conspiracy they allege. Romantic, eh? This is a man who Mike Tyson didn't degrade boxing thinks women will be flattered by as much as Clinton has degraded the his lust. Far from being inhibited by presidency. Not to mention that respect for either w omen or his T yson didn't have as many people office, he considers the presidency helping him do it. the ideal way to get chicks. His old aide Betsey Wright is said fosepb Sob.r an is a nationally to have warned him that if he didn't syndicated columnist. |
