Recently, Bank of America announced that it would be charging debit-card users a $5 monthly fee for using their debit cards. Appropriately, there has been uproar over this, but is Bank of America the proper target of this anger?

Several complaints seem to be about Bank of America ‘stealing’ the hard-earned money of its consumers, but let us carefully consider this. Bank of America does provide a service to its clients; it allows one to avoid carrying large amounts of cash on them for their daily transactions and to make purchases over catalogs and the Internet. A $5 monthly fee is hardly much compared to these services.

Do you disagree? Then simply close your account with Bank of America.

That is beautiful thing about the market, is it not? You are never forced to purchase any service or good. You can elect to be the patron for any company as you please.

If you wish to terminate relations with, you simply do so. A company can offer all the discounts in the world, but ultimately, it can’t force you to do business with them.

Compare this to our government, which does not allow you this luxury. You cannot simply choose to no longer be a citizen of the United States. You can nominally terminate your citizenship, but you’ll be forced to leave your home under the threat of violence.

Coincidentally, it is the state’s mandates that have forced Bank of America to charge the monthly fee. Previously, it would have been acquired through vendors, but someone in the state decided to ‘help’ and ended up shifting the burden to consumers directly.

Sincerely,
Michelangelo Landgrave
CSUN economics student