Walmart Targets Unhappy Bank Customers With New Prepaid Card--Should Big Banks Be Nervous?

Forbes ^ | 08 Oct 2012 | Halah Touryalai

[TArcher]

Walmart wants to be your new banker.

Walmart launched Bluebird, an alternative to debit and checking account. Should banks be nervous?

Today Walmart announced an alternative to traditional debit and checking accounts in partnership with American Express. The Bluebird accounts target consumers who are fed up with increasing fees from traditional bank accounts.

The Bluebird accounts will have no minimum balance requirement and no monthly maintenance, annual or activation fee. Customers can access their money for free using one of 22,000 American Express MoneyPass ATMs, but will be hit with a $2 fee if they are not enrolled in direct deposit...

[TArcher]

>>now we’re supposed to just hand it all over to them

 

What they're doing bears disturbing resemblance to the "Company Store" sung about by folks like Tennessee Ernie Ford and Merle Travis:

..."another day older and deeper in debt" was a phrase often used by his father, a coal miner himself.^[4] This and the line "I owe my soul to the company store" is a reference to the truck system and to debt bondage. Under this scrip system, workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with non-transferable credit vouchers which could be exchanged for only goods sold at the company store. This made it impossible for workers to store up cash savings. Workers also usually lived in company-owned dormitories or houses, the rent for which was automatically deducted from their pay. In the United States the truck system and associated debt bondage persisted until the strikes of the newly formed United Mine Workers and affiliated unions forced an end to such practices..."

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Tons

 

Fortunately for We the McSheeple - the Waligarchs haven't unexisted the historical memory of their predecessors tyrannical antics just yet; and some of us still know what "COMMERCE BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVE IS DESPOTISM" means, too.

[Chickensoup]

Speak for yourself. I have been here forever, right Jim? And I see Walmart as a blot on the landscape. I think the towns that have denied or managed walmart well in our area have thrived. but in many cases Walmart goes to less well managed towns and eviserates them.

Cheap is not the only thing I am looking for in life, quality counts too.

[Chickensoup]

Speak for yourself. I have been here forever, right Jim? And I see Walmart as a blot on the landscape. I think the towns that have denied or managed walmart well in our area have thrived. but in many cases Walmart goes to less well managed towns and eviserates them.

Cheap is not the only thing I am looking for in life, quality counts too.

[Chickensoup]

Speak for yourself. I have been here forever, right Jim? And I see Walmart as a blot on the landscape. I think the towns that have denied or managed walmart well in our area have thrived. but in many cases Walmart goes to less well managed towns and eviserates them.

Cheap is not the only thing I am looking for in life, quality counts too.

[TArcher]

>>and the leftists that hate Walmart.

Do they hate Walmart more than Communist Chinese Capitalists love doing business with it?

[ansel12]

For a new guy you sure play hard at being a lefty.

[TArcher]

>>I appreciate the WalMart competition against the banks

The "competition" manufactured by lobbying for Dodd Frank: 

 

"the fact of the matter is that while Walmart will save billions of dollars due to the Durbin legislation, mom-and-pap stores might end up having to pay more fees to be able to continue accepting debit cards than they did before the Durbin amendment. This is due to the fact that because under the new system set up, merchants will be charged  21 cents plus 5 basis points of the total and a conditional 1 cent for fraud-prevention. Under the current system, merchants are charged an average of about 7 cents for a $2 cup of coffee. The cost will therefore increase to over twenty-five cents – or about 4.5 times as much as they currently pay."

 

http://politicsroom.com/2011/09/26/the-walmart-bailout-is-hurting-consumers/

That "competition"?

 

How much of its Durbinprofit has Walmart passed on to the consumer?

[TArcher]

Are Communist Chinese State Capitalists leftists or rightists?

[Salvation]

I think someone in China bought U. S. Bank. Am I mistaken. I got out of there a long time ago. Had a second account there. It wasn’t worth the trouble.

[cableguymn]

Beats me.

[ansel12]

Yep, America loves them, but the left hates them, and does not even allow them in many major cities in the nation where you union people are strong enough to pick and choose who can sell groceries in America.

[TArcher]

Are Communist Chinese State Capitalists leftists or rightists?

[TArcher]

Cat got your dialectic tongue?

 

Here's a clue:

 

Communist Party of China 中国共产党 Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng
The emblem of the Communist Party of China.
General Secretary	Hu Jintao
Politburo Standing Committee	Hu Jintao Wu Bangguo Wen Jiabao Jia Qinglin Li Changchun Xi Jinping Li Keqiang He Guoqiang Zhou Yongkang
Founded	July 1, 1921 (1st Party Congress) August 1, 1920 (de facto)
Headquarters	Zhongnanhai, Beijing
Youth wing	Communist Youth League of China Young Pioneers of China
Membership  (2010)	80,269,000
Ideology	Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Deng Xiaoping Theory, Maoism, Three Represents, Scientific Development Concept
National People's Congress	2,099 / 2,987
Website
english.cpc.people.com.cn
Party flag
Politics of the People's Republic of China Political parties Elections http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_China

Now. Whadaya think ansel12 -- Are the ChiComs who supply WalMart  Leftists or Rightists?

[ansel12]

Something tells me this new sign in name is not your first here.

[TArcher]

Tsk Tsk Comrade Ansel12 - answer the question:   Are Communist Chinese State Capitalists leftists or rightists?

 

Meanwhile, while you're waiting for Party approval of your answer -- let's consider the fact that:

"The CPC is the world's largest political party,^[10] claiming over 80 million members^[11] at the end of 2010 which constitutes about 6.0% of the total population of mainland China. The vast majority of military and civil officials are members of the Party."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_China

 

So, Comrade AnsrelTrelve -- do Walmart's transactions with the People's Republic of China transpire with, or without, the approval of the CPC's Central Committee?  

[ansel12]

Yeah, I think it is safe to say that you are one of the more wild eyed retreads.

Good luck with this current account.

[TArcher]

Are Communist Chinese State Capitalists leftists or rightists?

[cynwoody]

So, Comrade AnsrelTrelve -- do Walmart's transactions with the People's Republic of China transpire with, or without, the approval of the CPC's Central Committee?

What about Apple's?

[TArcher]

>>What about Apple’s?

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/05/03/apple_expected_to_expand_store_within_store_presence_at_walmart_target

Good question.

[TArcher]

Tell us Ansel12 is the State Censorship manifested via the CCP's "Great Firewall", (presumably paid for in part by funds derived from transactions with WalMart) - leftist or rightist?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China