How things have changed.

So, for the past week or so, my wife and I have been getting letters from banks. Now, these are not just any banks, they are banks that issue credit cards. More to the point, they are banks that issue branded store and gasoline company cards. The interest rates on these cards are approaching (within tenths of a percent) 30% interest. Now, when I was a kid, loan sharks charged that kind of interest. In fact, we had laws against charging exorbitant interest. Those laws were called usury laws, and those who broke them were considered the lowest of the low.

I think it is time we begin to recapture that particular bit of our heritage. So, the next time you see your neighbor who works for Citibank (I use them because at least four of the letters we have received came from them: J. Jill and Mobil are two of the name branded cards that come to mind), or any of the other big card issuers, spit at their feet and move away. Grab your kids and tell them what horrible people work for the banks. And cut up those cards. I plan to cut up my Mobil card and send it back to the company with a note saying that my never darkening the entrance to one of their service stations is all I can do (other than start writing online at any and all opportunities) to protest their greed.

No, think about it. How much do the banks pay you for the use of  your money? Savings accounts pay...what?...3 or 4 percent? CD's brag about a 5% return, and you only get that if you lock in for two or three years. And yet the banks are then turning around and charging you 30% to use their credit cards (which actually use your money to make those "revolving" loans. Fucking incredible. And we are supposed to respect and even admire these people. Hell, my family once were Wall Street stock brokers and bankers. When my uncles presided over the fall of the family business, I was pissed. But now I thank my lucky stars that I am not engaged in this slimey, evil business anymore.

'Nuff said, at least for the time being...