Page 2 The Skanner August 29, 2018
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Is Trump Looking Out for Workers?
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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.
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