Squeezing the poor
Two news stories today reminded me of the way in which big companies, with government support (or at least tolerance) are making the market less fair, so that the less well-offs and less technically sophisticated end up subsidizing those two already are loaded. No, I'm not talking about the federal tax cuts that enormously favor the rich, but that's part of the pattern, too.
Today, Continental Air Lines, following in wake of a number of others, announced that it will now add fees for those who books flights other than through its Web site. In other words, those people who phone the airline or, even worse, actually walk up to a counter to buy a ticket, will be assessed added fees. The fees won't apply to high-mileage preferred customers.
So, if you are not sufficiently plugged in and computer savvy (something upper-middle class people do much more readily), you pay more, even though you probably can't afford it as readily, Screw you, lower classes.
Also today, TXU Corp., an electric utility in Texas, announced to its customers that those with lower credit ratings will pay more for electricity. Customers with bad credit may end up paying 10% more for electricity than those with good records. In other words, the poor will pay more for electricity.
While credit scores have been used in the past to set initial deposits for utilities, this is a new application. You can imagine the lower classes paying more for the most basic services like water, heat, and telephone service. Drug companies and hospitals charge higher rates to the uninsured.
Of course, banks have been using similar differential rates with credit card and auto loan rates for a while..Bank accounts cost more for the less well-off, and the fees for such matters as overdrafts are getting higher. Insurers in many states deny coverage to bad risks
It's getting expensive to be poor. But big companies, with their seats at the regulator's table, are being given license to bend the market to give the well-off a head start, even when they are supplying what is a basic human need. Meanwhile prices are stabilized but the fees and premiums that support low prices punish those who can least afford them.
8:48:32 PM 
|
|
