The anti-big-bank movement is growing with organizations like Showdown in America, the Occupy movement, National People’s Action and MoveOn.org coordinating efforts that urge consumers to move their bank accounts to smaller, friendlier, local banks and credit unions.  This is a monumental shift in the right direction for Americans who, to big banks, were merely sheep–branded with a FICO score–and willing to pay any type of ridiculous fee or suffocating wave of overdraft charges that banks could dream up.

In so doing, empowered consumers will do the job Congress should have done when they took taxpayer money from struggling Americans and used it to bail out the banks, who had momentarily conned legislators into believing they were “too big to fail.”

These banks are NOT too big to fail.  And the bigger they are, the harder they SHOULD fall.  By moving their money to local banks and credit unions, fed up consumers will be strengthening their communities and planting the seeds for a locally-based economic revival in the United States.  Not to mention: Enjoying more favorable banking terms and customer service.

Perhaps the “too big to fail” banks, who have allowed the U.S. economy to stagnate by choosing to lend only to the global corporations that move American jobs overseas, will now be pushed to the side of the road, while local banks and credit unions enjoy the benefits of investment in America.

Pull your big bank account and go local! Automatic payments can be changed in a matter of minutes and you’ll have a shiny new debit card, in your hand, within a week. NO EXCUSES!  Big banks and Congress have failed to secure us a bright future, but consumer movements like these show that a bright future can be achieved when everyone participates.

November 5th: Close your BIG BANK account!

Also see:  Bank of America Fee Retraction Shows Effect of Consumer Rage

Living within your means is an important step towards extricating yourself from corporate control.  For years, customers simply put up with ridiculous, one-sided, cell phone contracts.  These outrageous agreements rendered consumers completely helpless, with no voice, as the phone companies casually added fees and overage penalties, while covertly raising their rates and all the while, they did little to address mediocre service, dropped calls, lack of coverage or any other grievance customers expressed in vain.   Cell phone companies did this knowing they had their customers conveniently locked up in contracts that required cell phone users to forfeit enormous sums of money to break them.  Where is this so-called “free market” when customers are essentially barricaded from moving to a competing cell phone carrier?

Prepaid phones changed all of this.  And it was the consumer who improved the terms of prepaid, no contract phone usage through their change in behavior.  In the beginning, prepaid cell phone packages were somewhat more expensive minute-per-minute, text-by-text than their adhesion contract counterparts.  There was limited coverage, no internet and of course the inconvenience of having to refill minutes.  Because of the economic downturn, huge numbers of cell phone users could no longer afford the small-print terms embedded in these exploitative adhesion contracts and were thus willing to endure limits on their phone usage and the minor inconvenience of refilling from time to time.  Consumers were forced to live within their means and to exercise a bit more discipline.  Rather than being penalized for going over their minutes, the prepaid phone simply shuts off service–No more overage penalties, just the inconvenience of having to refill.  Even better, for people still willing to accept one-sided contracts, the FCC has now been compelled to file Truth in Billing administrative rules that FINALLY address the deceptive way carriers “let” their customers go over their minutes or texts, so they may gorge themselves on iron-fisted overage fees.  Win-win for the company, lose-lose for the consumer, who is forced to accept these unfair terms as a condition of service.

As with all tyrants and monopolists, the phone companies pushed too far at a time when the economy could no longer accommodate their greed-based hold on people.

Consumers wised up and went to prepaid phones, where their increasing numbers brought prepaid phone service more in line with contract service.  Now prepaid subscribers enjoy many of the same benefits–low prices, unlimited talk and text, full web access and coverage.

This is a great example of how consumers still wield power in the marketplace. But instead of waiting for the economy to force them into more disciplined behavior, people need to start electing on their own to turn away from abusive, overly-dominant companies, even if it means a little inconvenience.  Prepaid customers enjoy an invaluable peace of mind, knowing they won’t be confronted with “bill shock,” and that they are fully in control of the service they are paying for.

A call by citizen workers and consumers to restore a reasonable balance of power between society’s interests and corporate interests, such that the former may be the sole determiner of their governance and may exist superior to the latter so that conditions fundamental to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” may prevail over commerce.

Manipulative marketing by financial institutions and credit reporting agencies has conned people into believing that they MUST have a credit card or they will lose out on gimmicks like “cash back on purchases,” or frequent flier points or they will somehow be caught short in a desperate moment, or not be able to rent a car or get a hotel room.  (See this breakdown of some Experian propaganda and then immediately disregard it.)

There is not a single benefit to credit cards that exceeds the benefits of having a rainy day fund–either in cash or in a savings account at a local bank or credit union.  Cash on hand will get you around ALL of the hurdles these diabolical credit agencies have manufactured to make themselves more profitable.

Banks do not give ANYTHING away.  Unless you are among the tiny minority of Americans who pays off their credit cards every month, you are paying dearly for that cash back and those frequent flier miles.  Even those who pay off their credit cards every month may still pay an annual fee for their cards.  The people who are really getting soaked are those who carry a balance from month to month (revolving credit) paying interest all along, and those who pay late fees and the accelerated interest rates that result when payments are late.

Despite all of the excuses, there are no compelling reasons to own a credit card.  The use of credit cards simply means that:

1. You are unwilling to plan ahead and either go to  your bank, in person, or go to an ATM when you need cash
2. You don’t really have the money for what it is that you want to buy
3. You believe it offers some sort of abstract protection
4. You are unaware that hotels, flights and rental cars can be reserved with debit cards and collateralized credit cards.
5. You feel that credit cards elevate you in status

People who are truly panicked about carrying around cash can still use DEBIT cards, which accomplish everything a credit card does, without the gimmicks.  Debit cards offer similar protections, if they are stolen, but the money for your purchases comes directly out of your checking or savings account rather than becoming one more IOU to pay at some point in the future.

A really important concept to grasp moving forward is that of “cognitive disconnect.”  People who use cash, and to some extent people who use debit cards, engage a COGNITIVE CONNECTION between what money they actually possess and the depletion of that money as they make purchases.  This “cognitive connect” is essential for people to experience in order to become fundamentally responsible with their money.  They must FEEL that bittersweet sensation of parting with their money as they acquire goods and pay for their chosen services.  Credit cards, on the other hand, insidiously disguise this “cognitive connect” by dulling the pain of expending hard-earned money.  Consumers swipe their credit card and momentarily feel rewarded with their purchase.  There is a cognitive disconnect between the expenditure they just made and the long, drawn out, lesser pain of parting with future earnings.   Bit by bit, with each monthly statement, they will still  have to pay for those purchases, but with interest.  This is a ridiculous and unnecessary situation to put yourself in.  Why suffer over time, just because you lack the will power to wait until you actually have the money you need to buy what you want?  Cash forces you to make prudent decisions about how you spend your money.

Credit card companies and banks count on this aspect of human nature to make billions of dollars every year off of people who delude themselves into thinking not only that debt is okay, but that it is somehow a mark of high status.  This is pure folly.  Once you enter the Consumer Underground, you will learn that high status is achieved by having ZERO debt and plenty of cash in the bank.

The credit bureaus have facilitated America’s addiction to debt by requiring indebtedness in order to prove credit worthiness.  “You can’t build credit without using credit.”  What a complete trap.  People inflate their egos and actually brag about their credit scores, when all the while they are simply dupes, falling prey to a system that seeks to enslave them in a lifetime of indebtedness.  Look at where all of this pride in “good credit” has gotten us.  Americans are slaves to monthly payments, which then makes them slaves to their jobs.  Slaves have no choices, no future and no quality of life.

Isn’t it infinitely better to bite the bullet right away and prevent that cloud of debt altogether?  Why create a situation of anxiety for yourself by making purchases that will then loom oppressively overhead, slowly eroding any sense of exhilaration you felt while shopping?  People who run up their credit, acting as though they have the same lifestyle as Carrie Bradshaw or the Kardashians, fail to understand that there is not only a huge penalty to pay for such fantasy, but there also exists an equal sensation of exhilaration to be felt by saving up and paying cash for that long-desired item.  Unlike credit card purchases, paying in cash, in full is an exhilaration that lasts indefinitely.  The item you bought outright is entirely yours, with no future payments to confront later on.

This credit delusion has consequences far beyond any individual’s indebtedness.  Credit cards have created a new normal in America, where debt has become acceptable and has actually disguised an erosion of wages going back to the 1980s.  Rather than people growing angry at their loss of income, through wage stagnation and a persistent decline in buying power, Americans have anesthetized themselves by making up for this loss of income with credit.  Take away the credit cards, force the people to live on what they actually earn, and the people will suddenly see that corporations have made out like bandits, while wage earners have been driven into the ground.

Background on the true state of workers, debt, wages, jobs and the American economy can be found in this article:

Wage Stagnation, Growing Insecurity, and the Future of the U.S. Working Class

So, getting back to entering the Consumer Underground, you must first begin by changing your entire perspective on debt.  If you truly want to free yourself from the current American system of debt enslavement, you must resolve to give up ALL debt.  You must resolve to live the life you should have been living if you had never had a credit card or line of credit to begin with.  It is sobering at first to not have the false security blanket that credit cards hypnotize people into growing dependent upon, but going underground requires courage.  Not having debt and having a cushion of money in the bank gives you a REAL sense of security that credit cards couldn’t possibly match.  Money in the bank and no debt means you now have choices for such things as changing your job and it means having power as a consumer for things like airline specials and discounts that are offered by paying for health club memberships and auto insurance in full or by having the money to buy things when they go on sale.  Debt is enslavement and slaves do not have choices or power.

Here’s how to begin your journey underground:

• Get rid of your debt RIGHT NOW!

If you can switch gears and begin living your life as though you have no access to credit, then do so immediately.  Use any extra money to pay off your debts and to begin building your savings.  If you do not have extra money then you really need to make some hard choices.  People have really impressed me with giving up things I really didn’t think they would allow themselves to go without.

One friend gave up his slightly used, but very nice car AND in Los Angeles.  It can be done.  I used to listen to his weekly whining that he just couldn’t keep up with his payments, that his life was hardly worth living if he was just working, that he had no QUALITY OF LIFE.  He finally sucked it up one day and sold his car on Craigslist.  Do you know what I hear from him now?  No, not whining that he can’t get around, but about how free he feels without the car payments, the insurance payments, the parking tickets and the stress of finding a parking spot every night.  With the freed up money, he was able to accelerate payment on his other credit accounts and now he only has student loan payments left.  With all his extra income every month, he is going out and enjoying himself with friends, traveling and growing more secure as his savings account balance increases.  On top of this new found security in cash, he is enjoying the greatest sensation of all–a total lack of anxiety and dread as he checks his mailbox everyday.  Gone are the invoices, gone is the looming fear of whether he will have enough in his paycheck to cover his bills for that week.  He has defied the credit system by adjusting his lifestyle to match what he actually earns.  Somewhere a bank is crying as they mourn the breakup that he initiated.

• If you absolutely cannot pay off your debt, file for bankruptcy.

People freak out way too much over this option.  Bankruptcy law is a foundational protection in our country–it is a RIGHT.  An absurd stigma is placed on people who file bankruptcy, yet where is the stigma for the BANKS and CREDIT BUREAUS who recklessly approved all of this debt, that people are now drowning in?  By relying on a ridiculous FICO score, (outsourcing due diligence) rather than really getting to know their customers, banks and credit card companies brought this era of massive default and foreclosure on themselves.  Do not give a single thought to discarding your debt and throwing it back on the banks, who destroyed our economy, got bailed out and then took ZERO responsibility for it.

The human life span is only so long, so you cannot let your ego prevent you from starting over as soon as you possibly can.  “But what about my credit rating” the people cry.  What about it?  You’re never going to use credit again anyway, right?  Only slaves worry about their credit rating.  And here’s another secret:  Within two years, your credit will be good enough to rent, or get a mortgage anyway–provided you have a healthy amount of cash saved up.  Do not live in Hell because of some irrational notion that you need to protect your credit score.  Chances are that if you cannot pay down your credit cards and loans, then you have most likely entered a state of bad credit anyway.

Banks depend on you suffocating in debt so much that they had their lobbyists change the U.S. bankruptcy code to make it even more difficult for people to free themselves from their financial shackles.  Do not let this discourage you.  Stop paying your credit cards and loans and use your money to save up around $1500.  This is generally what a standard bankruptcy costs.  If you can do this in two to three months, all the while ignoring collection calls and notices, your creditors will not have enough time to sue you, much less garnish your wages.  Make sure during this time that you pay on your secured debt, like your car, as repossession can occur very shortly after missing your first payment.  The only good thing about these giant banks is that they’ve become too big to sue everybody who defaults on their loans.  They just send it to collections knowing that people live in constant fear of a lower credit score and will be intimidated into paying.  Don’t let yourself feel threatened by these corporate henchmen.  Even if the bank, credit card company or collection agency can get a judgment, the bankruptcy will clear it away.

You can avoid collection calls by canceling your home phone and getting something like Vonage or by getting a PREPAID cell phone, with a new number and canceling your current cell phone.  Don’t worry if you have a contract because that can be bankrupted on too.

The only other hassle when filing for bankruptcy is that you now have to take some online financial management courses, but it’s worth it and you might learn something.  Life after bankruptcy is like walking out of a cold, dreary penitentiary.  Rather than waking every day to fear and dread about bills and monthly payments, your existence becomes one of opportunity and peacefulness.  Everyone I know who filed for bankruptcy came out stronger, wiser and happier.  They were able to move on with their lives.  But the option of bankruptcy should be a mechanism of freedom, not the beginning of another cycle of indebtedness.

• Resolve to PREPAY for everything

The road to freedom, through the Consumer Underground, also requires ridding yourself of monthly payments.  People sign up for the stupidest things and then end up getting bled to death every month through recurring payments and automatic withdrawals from their accounts.  Do NOT do this.  First of all, NOTHING should come out of your checking account automatically.  This is just another hazard, disguised as a “convenience” that can mess you up and get you into overdraft trouble.  Get your monthly payments down to rent or mortgage ONLY.  This is so freeing and so doable.  And don’t be lazy.  You can write one or two checks a month and put them in the mail.

What are your monthly payments?  First of all, get rid of stupid credit “protection” things like Lifelock and freecreditscore.com.  These cottage industries are the byproduct of a dysfunctional credit system that you are no longer a part of.  If you’re worried about identity theft, then FREEZE your credit.

Get rid of ANY monthly payment for a service you can pay in full.  This means health club memberships, car insurance, online subscriptions, etc.  Really scrutinize what accounts you have and ask yourself if you REALLY need them.

If you must keep any monthly payments open, switch out the bank account they are drawn from with a prepaid debit card.  Your checking and savings accounts are sacred and should NEVER be open to automatic withdrawals.  There are so many horror stories associated with automatic withdrawals that it would take another website just to go into them.  Just because everyone else has been duped into thinking automatic payments are convenient, or the new normal, doesn’t mean you have to fall for it.  Setting up monthly payments on prepaid debit cards (if you absolutely feel you have to have these services) is a good way to satisfy gym memberships (if they can’t be prepaid a year at a time) without the hassle of them taking payments after your membership has run out–which happens OFTEN.   And by often, I mean YOU Ballys.  Similarly, online stores and so forth are prevented from taking more than they are entitled to, which sometimes happens–forcing you into a time-consuming fight to get your money back.  Only put the amount on the prepaid debit card that ought to be coming out each month.  Most places will let you know if a payment didn’t go through and will give you a chance to make the payment.  It’s better that they have to chase you down to get their money than the other way around or for you to incur overdraft charges because they screwed up the debit–all because you naively gave them full access to your checking account.

• Make YOURSELF your credit card

By methodically adding the money to your savings account that is no longer going to credit card and loan payments, you are creating the optimum situation where YOU can be your own credit card.  If you have an unexpected emergency, need tires for the car or need standby money for hotel room holds and security deposits, you can borrow from YOURSELF, interest-free, without fees and then pay yourself back just as you would your former credit cards.

When you’re no longer in debt, you are in a much better position to pay for things in full instead of making installment payments.  This will not only save you money, but the ease of living you will experience by not having to constantly stay on top of recurring payments will be totally fulfilling.  You will no longer have to go into debt when an unexpected expense or emergency arises.  You will find yourself ahead of the game and with cash surpluses building up every month.

When I suggest the above strategy to people, a lot of times their initial reaction is to become defensive about their expenditures and financial habits.  It resembles any kind of denial associated with addiction–smoking, drinking, eating unhealthy foods, refusing to exercise.  What people need to be made aware of is that the credit and banking system, as it exists, is designed to fleece you and trap you into habits that are profitable and convenient for THEM.  Do not be fooled by slick marketing like “plastic is faster than cash” (probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard).

Technology may appear convenient, but when it comes to your money, it is riddled with hidden booby traps and you are vulnerable to errors that can become a huge problem later.  Cash is ALWAYS better than credit, so get rid of your debt, get rid of your monthly payments and start saving!

1. If credit can affect your life so considerably, why isn’t it treated like getting a driver’s license?  Shouldn’t you be informed as to what credit bureaus do and be trained in all matters of credit, BEFORE they automatically begin compiling information on you as a teen?  Shouldn’t you at least be allowed to register with them and give your permission before they begin tracking you?
2. Why can the for-profit credit bureaus co-opt your Social Security number for their own business purposes?  Isn’t the Social Security Administration funded publicly by taxpayers?  Why don’t the credit bureaus have their own number to track you?
3. Why can you only freeze your credit or block your credit, but you cannot un-register yourself completely from the credit bureaus?
4. What gives the credit bureau authority to intrude into your right to work and obtain housing or insurance when these things are not even CREDIT?
5. Why is the FICO score calculated in secret?  Since it is, how do you know they have calculated your score correctly?  If the scoring is a function of mathematical formulas, then why is your score different with each reporting agency?  Could an incorrect score be considered defamation?
6. Why is your credit history required to approve you for housing, when your rent payments are not even recorded on your credit report?
7. Why are positive activities like good job performance not recorded on your credit report, but your credit report can be used to consider you for jobs?
8. Why are you penalized for responsible activities like paying off a loan early, paying off your credit cards every month and closing credit cards accounts that you’ve paid off?

It seems that the credit bureaus operate without anybody asking these important questions and yet the consequences for people with average or bad credit can mean much more than not getting a loan.  This system can stall and even ruin people’s lives.

Bad credit ratings can force people into homelessness and joblessness.

Bad credit ratings limit the array of jobs a qualified individual could ordinarily get if consideration for the job was properly focused on skills and experience.

Bad credit  forces individuals to pay inflated auto insurance premiums, even if they have perfect driving records.

Bad credit forces people into renting informal or contractual off-the-books housing (without leases), leaving them with minimal or no protection under the the city or state’s landlord/tenant laws.  Renting without a  lease can place tenants in situations where the landlord refuses to perform repairs or fails to give fair notice to vacate and it provides tenants with no written lease that can be used as a future reference.

In an economy like the one we’re in, millions of people have experienced a drop in their credit rating.  (Something the revered FICO score failed to prevent, by the way.)  Do people really need the additional burden right now of having their future homes and jobs put into peril because of a credit reporting system that has not only exceeded its apposite role to simply rate a person’s ability to repay a loan, but now uses unproven pseudoscience to drastically harm a person’s ability to survive?  Landlords are already protected under eviction laws and employers still reserve the right to fire employees who do not work out.  There is scant evidence that credit reports do any better than proper due diligence when selecting a tenant or employee, but the harm credit reports cause in denying people housing and employment is monumental.

This is a system that needs to be reigned in.  One way to begin limiting the power of these credit bureaus over our lives is to render them ineffective.  This may seem radical, because people are so fearful about how to go about living their lives without nurturing and protecting their credit rating, but it is what needs to be done.  Americans do not need to surrender to credit bureaus to live a good life.  In fact a good life is less attainable under this current system.

If you resolve to not use credit, then you do not need to care what is on your credit report.  There are ways to find housing without credit and with reader participation, a list of businesses who hire without examining credit reports and a list of insurers who assess customers without credit reports can be compiled.

Also, as the movement grows, petitions can be circulated that call for the banning of credit reports for anything that is prepaid every month and is not CREDIT–such as rent and insurance, or how much your security deposit should be for cable TV or for cell phone service and most certainly for jobs.

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE NOW:

Here is how to opt out of mailing lists and other instances where credit bureaus share your personal information:

• Federal Trade Commission Instructions

This option does NOT affect your credit or access to your credit report, should you apply for a loan, a job, insurance or housing.

Here is how to FREEZE your credit so no new accounts can be opened in your name:

• State Security Freeze Laws

Instructions vary by state.  Freezing your credit does not affect your credit, but it restricts access to your credit report even by YOU.  After freezing your credit, you are given a PIN number.  In the event that you want to temporarily lift the freeze, so that legitimate applications for credit can be processed, you can do so using your PIN.

As of yet, there is no way to OPT OUT completely from the credit reporting system.  Freezing your credit is a good way to mostly have nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, the credit reporting agencies will still make money off of you because you must pay around a $10 fee to EACH agency in order to put the freeze into place.

Just like Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-NC) proclamation in August that “the most important thing we can do for somebody who’s unemployed is to see if we can get them a job,” Sen. DeMint seems to be another politician–also opposed to an extension of unemployment benefits–claiming to know where there are available jobs.

So, job hunters, FAX Sen. Jim DeMint your resume NOW and start scooping up all those jobs that lazy South Carolinians are refusing to take, so they can continue to bask in the luxury of their unemployment benefits and food stamps!

And MAINSTREAM MEDIA, when you’re interviewing politicians like Cantor and DeMint who make declarations like this, why don’t you ask them as a follow up question: WHAT SPECIFIC JOBS ARE AVAILABLE, THAT THE UNEMPLOYED ARE REFUSING TO TAKE?  Why don’t you do something to help the unemployed by asking Cantor or DeMint the names of these businesses that they speak of–those ones with available jobs–so that you’re actually performing a service for your unemployed viewers?

Here are Sen. Jim DeMint’s office locations, so take heart knowing that a potential job is only a FAX away!

Have you been living off of “pumped up unemployment benefits” for quite some time now, when you would rather have a job?

Or, perhaps you’re a 99er, who invested your former unemployment benefits so well that you presently lack the focus to find a job.

If you’re tired of continuous unemployment benefits, which are preventing you from getting a job, then you will be relieved at the brilliant solution introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and revealed to CNBC host Jim Cramer:

“Jim, the most important thing we can do for somebody who’s unemployed is to see if we can get them a job.”

With that spirit of American ingenuity, Representative Eric Cantor is pleased to introduce:

The Cantor Job Placement Service.

All you need to do is be an American citizen and send or fax your resume to any of the following offices:

The Honorable Eric Cantor:
4201 Dominion Boulevard, Suite 110
Glen Allen, VA 23060
Tele: 804-747-4073
Fax: 804-747-5308

or

The Culpeper Office:
736 Madison Road, Suite 207
Culpeper, VA 22701
Tele: 540-825-8960
Fax: 540-825-8964

or

The Washington D.C. Office:
The Honorable Eric Cantor
United States House of Representatives
303 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4607
Tele: 202-225-2815
Fax: 202-225-0011

I have submitted my own resume to this ingenious new service, with the following cover letter. Make sure you stop back to this web page, where I will update my progress working with Mr. Cantor’s new job placement service.

Dear Hon. Eric Cantor,

When you told Jim Cramer “the most important thing we can do for somebody who’s unemployed is to see if we can get them a job,” I felt for the first time that SOMEONE in Congress had a proactive solution to my own, personal situation of unemployment.

Representative Eric Cantor is going to see if HE can get me a job!

So, please find enclosed my resume. You will see that I have spent $90,000 (plus accruing interest) on an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a masters degree from the University of Chicago. Certainly in this great country of ours, such an education makes me surpassingly employable. My background is in U.S. and World History, political science and green innovations.

I am a published writer, a world traveler and have been employed since I was age 14. Many of the jobs did not offer health insurance, but such are the sacrifices people like me need to make for the opportunity of living in a free society. It saddens me that people in Japan, Canada, all of Europe, Central America, Australia and places like that are not willing to sacrifice so that their country’s corporations can excel. How socialist/communist to demand that the government pay for education and health care when the free market requires workers like me to contribute.

I look forward to hearing what your placement service has to offer me in the way of a job. I do not understand why the Democrats could not come up with such a solution. It’s amazing how many clever innovations just sit there, staring us in the face, before somebody finally identifies them.

The Cantor Job Placement Service is such an innovation and I am honored to be submitting my resume to you.

Sincerely,

(me)

So doesn’t it seem timely, with unions protesting these corporate-backed governors across the nation like Scott Walker, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Ohio governor John Kasich and others like Texas governor Rick Perry who support them, to hit these corporate campaign donors where it REALLY hurts by breaking them from the inside with the formation of employee unions?

And what better place to start then with Target® Corporation?  With over 1,700 stores in 49 states and nearly 400,000 workers, having to suddenly pay a living wage, along with full benefits, might just reduce their coffers when it comes to campaign donations.

So I propose that Target® Corporation should become a target of unionization as a symbol of the restoration of the middle class in America.  What is so fitting about this idea is that these large corporations are essentially parasites that decimate local business, local wages and ultimately local communities by consolidating individual industries such as retail clothing, hardware, household products, groceries, automotive supplies, furniture, jewelry and so forth under one umbrella of limited choice and products made outside of the country.  As such, shouldn’t they have to balance their parasitism with some compensation to the residents of those communities who slowly watch their consumer choice and their pay dwindle to what the big box stores like Target® deign to give them?  Think of a world without the big box stores, where entrepreneurs of every type have the opportunity to enter the marketplace, set up shop and deliver quality goods of limitless variation.  Think of working for a smaller entity that doesn’t track you with swipe cards and cameras all day long.  Think of a paycheck that actually gets you somewhere besides simply to the next pay period.  Think of the cash people would have on hand to make your local business prosper, while you take that money and in turn re-invest it in your community.  Instead of your money evaporating out of the community to shareholders worldwide, it would actually be used to make the place that YOU live in vibrant and healthy.  This is the direct antithesis to the oppressive marketplace model we all live under today.  People forget that communities thrived under the small business model.  The workplace was a second family, not a roofed metropolis of employees who come and go on a weekly basis.

While unions are currently under attack and are threatened with extinction, I see no better time to fortify the union movement then now, by creating NEW, private-industry unions and why not start with Target®?

Start with Target®, then move on to Wal-Mart®, then on to Best Buy®, then on to Home Depot® and Lowe’s® and McDonald’s® and so forth until all of these parasites have paid the money back to us through wages.

-

Like all treacherous situations through the ages, the hazards of engaging in today’s marketplace–especially online–reveal themselves very gradually.  The imperceptible nature of these creeping menaces combined with the pathology of humans to just “go with the flow” creates these conditions where our society finds itself repeatedly locked in various states of dysfunction.  For instance, it has been proven over and over again that if Americans would just replace processed foods with garden vegetables, organic meats and fish, current levels of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes would immediately plummet.  But Americans won’t do it because they’re “caught in the flow.”  They don’t think they’re doing anything wrong, but before they know it, they’re fat, their kids are fat and everyone has type 2 diabetes.  How did that happen?  Who saw that coming?

So it is on the internet.  Consumers are so locked into a shocking state of dysfunction–obsessed with “convenience” and immediate gratification that they’re “caught in the flow” and do not even question the terrible practices which online companies dictate to them through adhesion contracts, manipulative text and the rigid structure of their websites.  Thousands of Americans are burned every week by online companies who deceive them in a myriad of imaginative ways–perhaps it was by withholding information, or perhaps the company was intentionally unclear about the terms of the transaction.  Maybe that day, the website had “malfunctioning” check boxes.  Maybe the consumer tried to clarify how the transaction would work, but only found obscure instructions or no FAQ that exactly matched their concern.  Whatever the tactic, the company always wins online, and the consumer always loses.

I am extremely scrutinizing about everything I do online.  I rarely purchase anything on the internet.  I no longer pay any bill online and sadly, I’ve even given up eBay because of the questionable practices of its subsidiary PayPal (i.e. holding funds far longer than necessary, payment reversals: “When you receive a payment through the Service you are not protected against a subsequent reversal of the transaction, except as set forth in the Seller Protection Policy set out in the User Agreement,” and a USER AGREEMENT that is currently ten separate documents of tiny-print, legalese on multiple pages).  I will use Orbitz, but with trepidation, as I have seen people incorrectly billed for travel insurance in which they specifically checked that they did NOT want it.  The online marketplace is saturated with land mines ready to blast a hole in your budget, your credit rating and your expectations.

Using skillful cautiousness, developed from countless disputes with online and Earth-bound corporations, I endeavored to redeem a coupon for a Facebook Ad, given to me by my web host.  Sadly, as much as I like Facebook, I was very disappointed to see a successful, multi-billion dollar company resort to the same deceptive practices as any fly-by-night internet operation.

When anyone gets a coupon from the newspaper, the terms are pretty clear and are limited to what can fit on one or both sides of a little piece of paper.  Not so with Facebook.  I happen to already have a page I wanted to advertise, entitled “ETrade Class Action Lawsuit.”  I had never intended to advertise the page, but with the coupon being presented to me I figured I’d at least put it to use.  Now, when you go to the grocery store with a coupon–for lets say a free two-liter bottle of soda–the clerk does not make you leave your credit card information do they?  You give them the coupon and you leave with your bottle of soda.  The end.  Facebook, on the other hand utilizes the first of many one-sided transaction tricks:  Forcing you to invest your time and energy.  It may not seem like a big deal, but many people will complete an unfavorable transaction simply because they put a lot of preliminary effort into it, before they reached the “gotcha” page.  For Facebook Ads, this entails entering all of your information about the page you’re advertising, tags, the countries and languages you want the ad to appear in, which of your friends you want to market through, etc.  It can take anywhere from ten minutes to a half hour depending on how detailed you want to get.  When everything is all ship-shape, you click “continue” and guess what comes up–the credit card information page.  Since I had a coupon, I immediately scanned for a place to plug in my coupon code.  I finally found it at the bottom, in a link that asks if you have a coupon.  When you click on the link, a coupon code input box appears.  I entered my coupon code and expected that I would get a confirmation page telling me my ad is up and running.  That’s not what happened.  The subsequent instructions insisted that I enter all of my credit card information anyway.  If you don’t enter your credit card information, the coupon is essentially useless.  This is one thing that really angers me about internet commerce.  They want to promote, promote, promote on every page.  We endure annoying pop-ups, incessant banner ads and deceptive lures every day, but nearly every promotion is phony, impossible or unrealistic–a dozen hotel stays between now and next Friday gets me 10,000 frequent flyer points?  Really?  I’ll jump right on that.

Why not enter my credit card information?  Why not just “go with the flow?”  I want the ad right?  What could it hurt?  Well, how you are charged for your Facebook Ad is based on the number of clicks your ad receives.  Facebook determines the price-per-click.  Mine was set at sixty-five cents.  I picked twenty-five countries that my ad could show in.  How on Earth am I supposed to know how many people will click on my ad?  Facebook doesn’t even know.  Clearly, if I was going to enter my credit card information, this adhesion contract had to have limits.  One limit is a feature that took a lot of digging to find.  You can set your daily budget.  Yet, I didn’t even know how much the coupon was good for.  I did some more digging and found a page that showed an amount-tendered-thus-far kind of thing, which totaled–$25.  I went back to the other page and set my “daily budget” for $25.  It was all set, but they still weren’t going to get an open-ended credit card of mine for back up.  I went out and got a pre-paid debit card with $5.00 on it.  Still, I’ve seen enough Judge Judy to know that a lot still lies on the back of the consumer to make sure their questions are answered prior to the transaction.  My question was “How do I know WHEN my coupon will end and my credit card will be charged?”  I went to their Help Center, which does not allow you to send in a question that you write yourself.  You can only write a question if it is directly related to a topic they have pre-written.  After spending MORE time and going through several links and several windows, I found this:

Today, I got my Bristol West auto policy renewal.  First of all, let me fine tune this and point out that Bristol West is owned by Farmers Insurance Group.  Not enough corporate layering for you?  Then let me add that Farmers Insurance Group is owned by Zurich Financial Services Group of Zurich, Switzerland.  I believe it’s important to know just how many levels of billion-dollar companies there are in the entity I will be on equal bargaining ground with as I wield my mighty leverage as a consumer in this “free market.”

So when the state of Wisconsin became the second-to-last state (New Hampshire is still the hold-out) to mandate that all motorists carry minimum levels of car insurance, Bristol West, like many other insurers jumped at the chance to hike up their rates.  “Wait a minute,” you say!  If MORE people are buying insurance, then why would rates go UP?  With more people in the insurance pool, rates should go down, right?  Isn’t that the argument Massachusetts Republicans made as they crowded around their Republican governor to get mandatory HEALTH coverage passed in their state?  In 2005, Governor Mitt Romney fortified this movement by repeating the platitude “personal responsibility” when promoting his plan to forcibly insure everyone in his state by making it illegal not to carry your OWN insurance.

You see, it’s about “PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.”

It’s not about “CORPORATE” responsibility.  It’s about “PERSONAL” responsibility.  However, I have been personally responsible about my auto coverage for decades and after the Wisconsin law, which mandates auto coverage, went into effect in July, I already had the minimum required coverage, except apparently for Medical Payments.  The state wants $10,000 and I had $1,000.  No problem, GEICO only charges $6.30 for $10,000 worth of Medical Payments coverage.  Other insurers I checked were about the same–all under $10.  Not Zurich-Farmers-Bristol West, though.  Apparently $10,000 Medical Payments coverage at my company is $19.00.  So, did my policy increase from $205 in July to $224 for the renewal period?  No.  It increased $51 to $256 with no other explanation given–A 25% increase!  Twenty-five percent!  Well, it’s about “personal responsibility” so I must have done something to deserve a whopping 25% increase in my car insurance premiums.  Let’s see, did I have any accidents during the last coverage period?  No.  Did I have any traffic citations during the last coverage period?  No.  Have I had ANY accidents or traffic citations in the last FIVE years?  No.  In fact, my agent told me at the last coverage renewal period that my premium would go DOWN because when I first signed up with Bristol West a year ago, I had a “lapse in coverage” when I decided to store my truck for awhile and use public transit.  Premiums are higher if you have had a lapse in coverage, but only initially.  At the first renewal, that lapse is gone and that penalty to your premium is eliminated.

Well, if I had no lapse in coverage, no accidents, no traffic citations, Medical Payments coverage is under $10 across the board and now ALL Wisconsin drivers have been forcefully added to the insurance pool, where does this $51, 25% increase in my coverage come from?

The answer is:  Companies like Zurich-Farmers-Bristol West raise rates NOT because of “personal responsibility” or to balance market forces, but because they CAN!  They can because they’re way bigger than any one of us will ever be.  THIS is how the “free market” works.  Because Republicans grovel at the feet of all corporate giants–something commonly done when you’re a free, liberated citizen–they believe corporations are of god-like stature and through them and the magic powers of the “free market,” consumer subjects like you and I will prosper with low, low prices and the highest level of efficiency.  Only the GOVERNMENT takes away your freedoms.

Now, take my auto insurance situation and apply it to something as ingenious as Mandatory Health Care through Private Insurance.  Just two years after the push for “personal responsibility” began in Massachusetts, health insurance premiums went up 7% to 14% and co-payments increased as well.  This is at a time when profits rose 428% at 10 of the nation’s largest insurance companies from 2000 to 2007.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY is not even on the radar scope.  According to Republicans, corporations do not need to worry about responsibility because the “free market” cures any abuse and the consumer is always “free” to vote with their dollar and go to another company.  What’s strange about that argument though is that I left GEICO after seven years because my premiums kept going up for no reason, every year, beyond the rate of inflation.  I voted with my dollar and went to Zurich-Farmers-Bristol West where I was certain my power as a consumer would surge again and yield total subservience from the insurance industry.  Apparently, that elixir wore off because a year later, I’m the serf again in this feudal system Republicans call the “free market.”

Well, I’m sure the Zurich-Farmers-Bristol West manor is doubling the number of guards around its fortress as I prepare to lay siege as a consumer and refuse to pay that 25% increase in my premium.  Or, maybe they’re just laughing all the way to the bank at my expense.