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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2018)
Page 2 The Skanner August 29, 2018 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Is Trump Looking Out for Workers? Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor T Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2017 MERIT AWARD WINNER The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2018 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS d ay ! • L i ke u s o n F ac it Updated daily. to y • ebo m me • nts o k • learn • co TheSkannerNews his may seem strange, but there are appar- ently unions that feel that President Donald Trump’s policies on trade are in the interests of workers in the United States. I am a bit perplexed. If you leave aside for a mo- ment the horrendous assaults that Trump and his Republi- can allies have been conduct- ing against American work- ers and their unions, it is still difficult to see how Trump’s views on trade are helping American workers. Let’s look at the North American Free Trade Agree- ment (NAFTA) for a moment. Trump has repeatedly sug- gested that the U.S.—as a na- tion—has been the principal victim of NAFTA; that turns out to be less than true. Work- Bill Fletcher Jr. The Global African ers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico have all been victim- ized by NAFTA. For instance, NAFTA destroyed Mexican agriculture, and forced a mas- sive migration of Mexican farmers into the cities of Mex- ico and later to the U.S. Many U.S. manufacturing plants have closed and gone to bor- der areas of northern Mexico where the workers are under- paid. Canadian companies have left Ontario and moved to the U.S. in search of cheap- er labor. What does Trump say about this? Nothing, as a matter of fact. Instead he acts as if the people of these other coun- tries are out to carve up the U.S. the way that you carve a “ It is still difficult to see how Trump’s views on trade are helping American workers turkey at Thanksgiving. This leads to another ques- tion. If Trump is squeezing U.S. workers through his judicial appointments, de- struction of worker and en- vironmental regulations, and siding with the corporate “Right” against workers, why would anyone assume that in dealing with NAFTA negoti- ations or negotiations with China that he would be par- ticularly concerned about the interests of U.S. workers? I suppose that I look at it this way. If the neighborhood bully regularly assaults me and then one day comes to me and says that “we” should join together against some people on another block, why would I believe them? In fact, why would I believe that my inter- ests and those of the bully are at all aligned? Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a talk show host, writer and activist. Fol- low him on Twitter @BillF- letcherJr, and Facebook. Senate Bill Goes After Predatory Tax on Paychecks F Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 in y o u r c o m m u n Opinion or many people, little things can in time lead to big problems. When personal check- ing accounts are involved, transactions without avail- able funds in checking ac- counts can trigger a series of fees that wind up taking a big bite out of the next paycheck. What’s more, many times consumers have no way of knowing the real cost until af- ter a bank statement arrives weeks later. Banks and other deposito- ry institutions market these fees as convenient “overdraft protection.” What they do to consumers is strip billions of dollars each year from personal checking accounts, while generating a lucrative, no-lose revenue stream for these institutions. New research by the Cen- ter for Responsible Lend- ing (CRL) finds that last year among the nation’s largest banks, overdraft fees were a $11.45 billion bonanza. “Un- fair Market: The State of High-Cost Overdraft Practices in 2017,” analyzes both how overdraft fee revenue is gen- erated, as well as the practices borne on the backs of Ameri- ca’s working poor. “Instead of serving fami- lies fairly, banks are driving many customers deeper in a hole and often out of the banking system altogether,” said Pete Smith, the report’s author and CRL senior re- searcher. “Over the last 15 to 20 years, many financial in- stitutions have betrayed the trust of their account holders by replacing what was once an occasional accommodation with an exploitative system of routine high-cost overdraft fees that drive account hold- ers deep into debt.” “Banks set up systems at every turn where they can Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist maximize the revenue they generate with these fees,” con- tinued Smith. “They’ve found a way to turn mistakes into a revenue source.” Among the report’s key findings: The 2017 overdraft fees charged by the largest banks represent an increase above similar revenues recorded for both 2015 and 2016; “ New research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) finds that last year among the nation’s largest banks, overdraft fees were a $11.45 billion bonanza The 20 banks with the high- est volume of fees received $9 billion or approximately 79 percent of the total reported $11.45 billion for 2017; and Although a few banks do not charge fees for point-of- sale (POS) and/or ATM trans- actions, all 10 of the nation’s largest banks charge over- draft fees higher than $30 per transaction. These fees also come with unfair or abusive bank prac- tices designed to maximize revenues. For example, some banks allow five or more overdraft fees to be charged per day to customers. If the overdraft fee is $35, a single day’s overcharges could be $175 – that will be taken by the bank from the next deposit or payroll. Consumers who rely upon debit cards for day-to- day purchases may unknow- ingly incur hundreds of dol- lars of charges in just a few days. Other suspect bank practic- es add extended or sustained fees beyond the original over- draft fee. Yet another is to manipulate postings to cus- tomer accounts to generate the largest possible overdraft revenue. Last summer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) also released an inde- pendent report on overdraft fees. The Bureau identified the consumers most prone to incur these fees: those who have less than $350 as an av- erage end-of-day account bal- ance and have median credit scores of 600 or less. About 20 percent of consumers with frequent overdrafts do not have a credit score and are considered ‘credit invisible’. Under CFPB’s first director, this research was to become the factual basis for rulemak- ing. However, under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, rulemaking plans have been shelved. But where there’s a will, there’s also a way. Two U.S. Senators have co-sponsored legislation that if enacted, would crack down on over- draft fees. Entitled, “The Stop Over- draft Profiteering Act of 2018,” the bill would: • Ban overdraft fees on debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals; • Cap the number of over- draft fees on checks and recurring payments, with no more than six fees in a calendar year; • Require that the amount of overdraft fees be reason- able and proportional to the institution’s cost of cover- ing the overdraft; • Require that banks post transactions in a manner that minimizes NSF and overdraft fees; and • Improve consumer disclo- sures related to overdraft coverage by banks. “Overdraft fees are a tax on paychecks already stretched thin,” said Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, a co-sponsor of the bill. “This bill keeps hardworking Americans’ money in their pockets and stops big banks from slapping big fees on customers for small overdraft amounts.” The other bill sponsor, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, added his comments as well. “For millions of hard-work- ing Americans, every day is a struggle – they find them- selves one late check or un- expected expense away from financial free fall,” said Book- er. “Wages aren’t going up but the cost of everything else is, from prescription drugs to housing costs to pocket- book pain points like the fees banks charge consumers for overdraft services.” Booker continued: “Worse yet, overdraft fees fall on those least likely to be able to afford them—individuals for whom a $35 overdraft charge could push them over the brink into financial ruin.” Charlene Crowell is the Cen- ter for Responsible Lending’s deputy communications direc- tor. She can be reached at Char- lene.crowell@responsiblelend- ing.org. nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
