measure for measure

Somewhere in the midst of a workday last week, I discovered a fee on a bank statement. Something I might not have noticed were I not looking for something else. Relatively minor enough that it could escape comprehension for several more months. Turns out that fee was an accumulation of ‘transaction fees.’ For making deposits. For putting money in the bank. Yup. That’s right. For making money and being fiscally responsible with it.

WTF?

And then… maybe so disillusioned by this warped sense of reality… I thought, okay, let’s listen to some rhetoric from the Republican candidate for Massachusetts governor. Cut taxes. Cut taxes. Cut taxes. Because, somehow, magically, that’s going to fix this economy and create jobs. But… whatever. I’m not going to argue that right now.

I just want to know, honestly, why there is so much anger in this state – this country – about taxes. And no one says a damn thing about fees. In fact, when our government tries to step in and stop these fees, they are exhibiting a fascist domination of the free market. So, um, does free market now mean people can just take money without asking? Because I want to put money into an account and save?

Well, one could argue, that’s what taxes do. They take the money I earn for sacrificing forty hours a week that I could be spending more productively in front of a television set or… at a computer. They just take it without my sayso and put it into a budget that… employs a police force, firemen, schools… fixes roads, preserves my safety abroad, helps those ruined by natural disaster… it takes MY money and spends it on things over which I don’t have a choice. So I should be mad, right? 

Mad like I am about this stupid bank fee. Because in what expense does the bank use its profits for good? It fills the coffers that supply bonuses to CEOs. It employs people, even though there are usually two tellers where there used to be four. Tellers now enshrouded behind bullet proof glass, so friendly conversation is highly discouraged. Oh… okay, the bank does do good for the community. It gives loans for houses and small business… when it wants to. It has philanthropy… if an organization meets criteria. And the CEOs still get bonuses.

So do the government CEOs. I’m not stupid. I know… I know it’s the same… and yet… it’s not. It’s not the same. The bank is faking concern for the public. It’s puffing up smoke and moving behind mirrors so I won’t notice its slimy withdrawal from my account. And I don’t really know where that money is going. I just know that I’m getting less of it. And that… someone is getting more money for being so viciously clever.

I’m not opposed to paying for something. And much though I enjoy a bargain, I am starting to realize my savings is a cost to someone else somewhere. You can’t get something from nothing. And so I don’t mind that my money goes to pay a teacher or a police man… or a man filling a pot hole on an 85 degree day. I don’t want those jobs, but I’m glad that there are people out there doing those jobs. And I feel if I want a society where those things occur, I should contribute.

BUT… I don’t like the gluttony of Wall Street. I don’t endorse the materialistic indulgences of the super rich, siphoning off the hard earned wages of the middle class, working class… just because… because they can. Because we are so loathed of our government right now that we won’t employ them to do their job. We don’t want the government to take our money and spend it to protect US from these bastards who will just take our money by whatever sneaky method they can. Because we’ve let ourselves be convinced that what will protect us is going to destroy us. And somehow these rich people who are already taking our money still deserve to keep their taxes? Because, really? They are going to freely supply road repair and health care when that hole is left vacant? Yeah right. I think not.