Life under Capitalism

How banks rip off their poorest customers

Life under Capitalism, Poverty
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Another great example of how you’re nickled and dimed to death by the banks:

That’s right, an account with fewer features than a normal checking account (without the checks, for example) – and with a core “feature” that is free on every other account – will cost customers $60 a year. That’s not a lot, of course, but consider that the product is designed for low-income customers, who are typically on the knife’s edge with their finances. According to statistics from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the average individual in bankruptcy in 2012 was just $26 a month short on their expenses. So even small amounts count, especially when you’re paying for what should be free services. In essence, customers will give Bank of America $5 a month for the right to not be charged more.

They want you to beg for your healthcare

Life under Capitalism, US politics
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Brad DeLong reveals just why southern Republicans don’t like Obamacare:

ATDAS: “You don’t understand the Republicans we have in the South, and in Texas. You know of Northeastern and Left Coast Republicans. Even Midwestern Republicans–especially Bob Dole–actually think that sick and disabled people, even if they are poor, should be able to get the health care that is good for them, without having to beg. That’s not the case with Republicans down in Texas. Republicans in Texas think that if you can’t pay the doctor out of what is in your pocket and from the insurance policy you bought, then you need to go beg at your church. And only after you have begged at your church, and begged sincerely and abjectly enough, might your church find itself paying for you out of Christian charity–the benefit of which is to save their souls, not your body!”

Me: But…

ATDAS: “They don’t like Medicaid. They don’t like Medicaid because it short-circuits this process. You get treated but you don’t have to beg for it. The only reason they vote for Medicaid–and Texas only votes for grinchy Medicaid–is that the rich doctors of Dallas and Houston who contribute so much to the Republican Party think that Medicaid means that they don’t have to dig into the pockets of their practices to support charity care.”

That’s the hidden not so secret behind the Republican/Teaparty hatred of Obamacare (and any other healthcare and social security programmes): they empower people, make them less dependent on their employers or churches for handouts, their betters losing the leverage they have over them. Any form of social security directly threatens the power of the ruling classes, as they provide opportunities for people outside their control. They’d rather see people die unnecessarily than lose that control.

How to pay off $15 million in debt while spending only $400,000

Activism, creative direct action, Life under Capitalism
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Occupy Wall Street has been buying up cheap debts and forgiven them:

By purchasing the debt at knockdown prices the group has managed to free $14,734,569.87 of personal debt, mainly medical debt, spending only $400,000.

“We thought that the ratio would be about 20 to 1,” said Andrew Ross, a member of Strike Debt and professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University. He said the team initially envisaged raising $50,000, which would have enabled it to buy $1m in debt.

“In fact we’ve been able to buy debt a lot more cheaply than that.”

While the cancelling of debt was one goal of this Rolling Jubilee project, the real goal was education:

“Our purpose in doing this, aside from helping some people along the way – there’s certainly many, many people who are very thankful that their debts are abolished – our primary purpose was to spread information about the workings of this secondary debt market.”

Many people think of a debt something as sacrosanct, something they have to pay off in their entirety, not something that can be negotiated. Just knowing that it can be, can empower a lot of people to do so.