Bank Of America In Trouble?

March 13, 2012

Rolling Stone

By Matt Taibbi

It looks like Bank of America might have started circling the drain before the Occupy movement even had a chance to launch its campaign against the company. For weeks now there have been ominous signs of trouble at the bank, and yesterday we heard yet another dark piece of news.

Last year, there was an uproar when Bank of America announced a plan to slap customers with a monthly $5 fee for debit card usage. The bank eventually backed off that plan when the public and some politicians cried foul.

Now it seems the company is going to try to put a new package on the same crappy idea and sell it again. This time, the plan is to add charges that range from $6 to $25 a month. From an MSNBC report:

Pilot programs in Arizona, Georgia and Massachusetts are experimenting with charging $6 to $9 a month for what’s called an “Essentials” account. Other account options being tested in those states carry monthly charges of $9, $12, $15 and $25, but give customers opportunities to avoid the payments by maintaining minimum balances, using a credit card or taking a mortgage with Bank of America, according to an internal memo cited by the [Wall Street] Journal.

It’s a very bad sign that a bank is in a desperate cash crunch when it tries repeatedly to gouge its customers. David Trainer, an analyst for Market Watch, a WSJ publication, wrote that the new fees are a sign of series trouble at BAC. He writes:

Click here for the full report.

Top 11 Ways Big Brother Loves Us

October 24, 2011

Before It’s News

By Zen Gardner

There were too many options for naming this story…”Current Surveillance State of the Surveillance State”, “Technocracy Gone Wild!”, “What New Intrusions You’re About To Experience”, “Mr. Scan Man Bring Me A Dream”, or maybe “A Funny Thing Happened To Me On The Way To The Police State”.

Yes, folks, all this is necessary…

You see, those remote control bombers-in-a-cave who baffled America’s defenses and brought down 3 towers in NYC and smashed through the recently reinforced facade of the accounting division of the Pentagon that was trying to find Rumsfeld’s missing trillions he announced the night before…yes, those guys, who we can’t seem to find or kill off after 10 years of war in Afghanistan and later Iraq and now all of frikking NATO attacking the whole damned region can’t find by the most sophisticated military in the history of mankind…

…We are being protected from THEM!…clearly they’re VERY CLEVER!..and WE NEED PROTECTION!!

“Thank you, police state, for this wonderful Homeland of Security! Let’s all bend over and get that exam underway, citizens. We just can’t be too careful these days. Something sinister might have crawled up there….”
Let Me Count The Ways…We’re Being Eyeballed, Indexed and Monitored to Oblivion:

1. Credit/Debit and RFID use: Every transaction, ID and passport use is monitored and tracked. Your buying habits are sold to corporations and your personal information given to the US Department of Justice in some form. Rely on it. Your privacy rights have vanished. RFIDs are soon to be in all forms of ID, used for medical records, are in your food and products for “tracking” and soon to be under everyone’s skin. Beware. That one’s a biggie.

2. Phone and Internet use. Forget it, they know everything. The NSA is in bed with the servers and providers so kiss internet and cellular privacy goodbye, subjects. Don’t believe that? Go googling. Now. Before it disappears.

3. GPS and Drones. “Thanks for the self-bought tracking device, Philbert.” They can pinpoint anyone. GPS, phone, lowjack, OnStar…those just help. Watch for the policing drones and other technologies to follow soon. You are not alone…anywhere!

4. Smart Meters. They read all your home’s devices, track your activities and give off more radiation than a cell phone tower! Nice, eh? Clever bastards.

5. Chemtrails and EMFs. By now we’ve all inhaled, eaten and drunk enough barium, and aluminum, to be tracked from space. EMFs from cell and GWEN towers screw with your nervous system more than ever and influence your thoughts, as does your TV. Happy yet?

6. The Obvious CCTV cameras…and the Not Obvious ones. In the UK they’re IN the busses as well as outside the busses…never mind in trees in the countryside! Yes, it’s gone that far, and will in the US soon too. Smile. There’s 8 to 12 every intersection…don’t you wonder the hell why?

7. Scans and More Scans. Old news. Airport, transport, mobile and soon to be everywhere: Metal detectors, feel-downs and ups, and the latest: backscatter machines that unzip your DNA! Getting the picture?

8. Fingerprints and Iris scanners. Notice how many want fingerprints now? And iris scanners are already in place in many airports, in fact I’ve heard this is the first thing the NYPD is doing to anyone arrested at OWS. Beware.

9. Facial recognition technology. “Yay! We’ll catch all those buggers now! But why am I suspect?” Coming “officially” in January (which means they’ve been experimenting and using it for some time already…..) and..

10. Precrime detection! Yes, movies DO come to life! They’re working fervently on detecting your MOOD and will summarily assume at will you have BAD INTENTIONS with this one! Beware being pissed or on a bummer in public…YOU could be a terrorist!!

11. Intention To Trespass Outside the Country? Yup. Here’s a brand new doozy. “You gonna circumvent your domesticating home country’s laws on substance regulation, you wild and crazy thing? Damn you…you get back in the house right now!”

Comforted yet? I hope so. We are getting so safe we should sleep peacefully for 12 hours a night now. In fact, most Americans are sound asleep fulltime by now, so overwhelmed with safekeeping.

If not, “the intrustions will continue until morale improves..”
Sweet dreams………..or wake the hell up

…time’s running out. Sittling still means you’re stupified and controlled, if you didn’t know by now. Surprise!

If you’re not mad about this idiocy, you’re not awake. C’mon now. This is ridiculous.

Click here for the full report from Before It’s News.

Using Cash Could Lead To Healthier Eating Habits

July 12, 2011

Huffington Post

Using debit and credit cards have become second nature to most people who don’t want to run to the bank every time they’re out of cash, but new research shows that cash could help your eating habits.

Over a six-month spread researchers looked at the register receipts of a random sample of 1,000 loyal shoppers at a Northeastern supermarket chain and analyzed what they bought and how they paid for it, reports MSNBC.

The study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that shoppers were more likely to buy items considered “unhealthy” when they paid with credit or debit cards than if they paid with cash, and that weekend shoppers were more likely to stick to a list.

Researchers say they were surprised to find that debit cards had the same psychological effect as credit cards, since money is deducted from bank accounts immediately, but with any kind of plastic payment seems people are willing to spend more.

But to make sure that the spending patters weren’t more related to penny pinchers versus those who like to live large, the study also analyzed 125 students in a computer simulated shopping task.

Click here to read the full report from Huffington Post.