Timothy Kline: Thoughts and Reflections

When Benjamin Franklin wrote the words, “‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” I seriously doubt he would have known that in time we’d have to tack on “fees” to his infamous phrase. But there’s no question that “fees” are the new taxation system of our time.

Taxes are something that our government imposes on us, usually backed by some obtuse law and the assurance that the imposition will result in some sort of benefit for us—well, at least some of us. But taxes are the sole jurisdiction of government. At least that’s how I understand it.

And that’s what makes all of these fees so maddening. Clearly, they are really a tax. They just can’t call them taxes because they aren’t imposed by governmental bodies. One of the most laughable yet stupefying “fees” that these fee-collectors enjoy inflicting on us is the fee to pay the bill that they send us. They aren’t content to collect the money that we owe—no, they insist on charging us to pay it. Most places call it a convenience fee—and they’re absolutely right about that: it’s a pure convenience that they get to charge us that extra bit of money every time we go to pay their bill.

One such case is my electricity and natural gas provider here in Michigan. Originally, they charged $5.25 if I paid my bill. Now, they charge $6.25 every time I do. Now, from what I have been able to find out through online resources, they have around 1.8 million consumers. That means that they have the potential to earn over $11 million in additional revenues—just from people paying their bill. That’s every month. Result: an extra $135 million every year.

Now, I say that they have the potential to earn that—which would certainly explain why they are pushing so hard for everyone to pay the same way! But, at this point, everyone isn’t on the same pay method. So, for the sake of argument, let’s say that 1 in 4 pay like I do. That still amounts to nearly $34 million annually, doesn’t it? That’s above and beyond the profit they are earning from their rates.

But it doesn’t start there. Examining my bill, I see a mind-boggling array of other “fees,” such as “Delivery Surcharge,” “Securitization Charge,” “Securitization Tax Charge,” “Elect Interim Surcharge,” “Energy Optimization Charge,” and, of course, “System Access Charge.” And that isn’t even all of them!

Did I mention that’s just ONE monthly bill.

Check your telephone bill, your cell phone bill, your cable/satellite bill—you’re going to see a lot of “fees” that are above and beyond the charges you owe for the service you are subscribed to. And to add insult to injury, even my own mortgage company charges me $9.95 to pay my mortgage payment every month!

Everywhere you turn, we are being hit by fees, surcharges, and charges in order to compel us to pay monies above and beyond what we owe. But since they don’t call them taxes, they are legally able to continue the practice unchecked.

Just try to argue with them about your obligation to pay one of them, and see what happens. A good example is the monthly fee that most telephone companies charge you in order to “protect” your phone number so that if you move, your phone number can go with you. Most bills list it as a “portability” fee. Call your phone company and tell them that you do NOT want that service and that you want it removed and you’ll see how it feels to bang your head against a brick wall. And what’s even more inane is that they won’t port your number to whereever you move if it’s to anywhere except within your current town/city. Nor will they refund your monies you paid in for portability service when they can’t fulfill their end of it—even after collecting the money from you month after month, year after year. At that point, it’s free money to them.

And I didn’t even touch on the fees imposed by our banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions just so we can keep our money in an account!

No taxation without representation. That’s what Benjamin Franklin would have said. And the same should be true of all these pseudo-taxes: No fees without representation.

All that's left to do is flush...

There’s a line from one of the most popular movies of recent years that goes like this: “Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?” (The Matrix, Warner Bros.)

These past couple weeks have been, if anything, a waking nightmare from which I keep hoping I’ll awaken. But the odds of that happening diminish with every passing day, every passing hour, every passing moment. And what’s even worse is that nobody really seems to care–assuming that they even notice.

I mean, I hate expending blog space to such idiocy when there are more dire situations going on. But last night, my mind was made up. I had to vent…  or, in this case, vomit from the poison that we’re being fed by the bucketfuls on a daily basis.

Not all that long ago, we saw the American taxpayers forced to bail out the richest corporations and financial institutions in the world, under the boastful delusion that they were simply “too big to be allowed to fail.” If these CEOs, and other elite from Wall Street and across the nation were actually allowed to experience the results of their indiscretionary greed and speculative stock marketing, it would hurt every Tom, Dick, and Harry on “Main Street.” By helping them, it would help “Main Street.” Or so we were spoon-fed and eagerly sucked down like infants at the breasts of a nursemaid. It took some coaxing and some carefully chosen words issued in an enthusiastic spiel from the latest President, of course, but we sucked it down, nonetheless. The coffers of the richest of the rich who have entitled themselves to earnings in the millions, multi-home estates, private jets and exotic cars, were suddenly flooded by American taxpayers, with little to no oversight and certainly no accountability or prerequisites on how the money would be spent. It was given unconditionally, while publicly we were assured that we would see a return on our wise investment that would prove that this was just the right thing to do at this precarious moment in our history.

Well, the months since then have passed and allowed these financial institutions to take the money we gave them, and they swiftly bolstered up their bank accounts. It wasn’t long before it became evident that the money that we had lent them was not making its way down the food chain. Only the cream of the crop were being found worthy to refinance to better mortgages. At the same time, employment skyrocketed to startling new levels, businesses closed, layoffs commenced, and the marketplace found itself in dire straits as money slowed. People were starting to notice that instead of feeding the money through to Main Street, things were continuing just like they were before—the difference now being that the banks were being even more tight-fisted with the money we gave them. Unless you had top-grade credit scores, you were out of luck and on your own. People began to get grumpy.

Once again, Obama assured the American people that everything was going as planned. That it was going to take a while. That there would be some discomfort during this period, but that everyone was feeling the pain and that we would get through this process if we stuck together and were patient.

Almost as soon as those words were issued, reports from the Associated Press and other news outlets started announcing that some of the companies that taxpayers had bailed out were already preparing to pay out significant bonuses to their employees and executives. A few were even reporting a sudden profit.

Even more ironic, there are now some 37 states that are on the verge of economic disaster, foremost being California. California has decided to start issuing IOUs for the meantime. The banks’ response: No way are we going to accept IOUs! You pay or you go without! This from the same financial instutions that were handed billions of American taxpayers’ dollars to head off “failure.” To add insult to injury, on the heels of that announcment of refusal to accept IOUs until money could start flowing again, AIG announced another series of bonus payments to itself, and according to reports, the Federal government will be given its blessing so as to stave off any public backlash that might occur.

Did I miss the punchline somewhere along the way? What is there about this that makes sense to the American public? Where is the level of public indignation that this travesty deserves in response? How is this even possible? The rising bile in my throat and mouth leaves me gagging every single moment that I expend my brain’s caloric burn in trying to wrap my head around this. And still things are allowed to perpetuate and continue.

Oh, sure, people whinge, p*ss and moan. In their coffee shops, in the break rooms, at the bus stops. But that’s all they seem to be willing to do. God forbid that people should band together and say enough’s enough. Revolting against injustice is something best left to Iraqi folk who risk their lives out in the streets, crying out for justice and to be heard. Taking back control of one’s nation is best left to Hondurans in the poorer third world. We continue to believe that we’ll just solve our problems at the next election, where we’ll once again fasten ourselves to the bloated nipple of some full-of-empty-promises, smooth talking politician who comes along swearing up and down that he or she will nurture this nation back to its former greatness, when hard work really paid off and corporations and financial oligarchies were kept in check by a people who had endured through the Awakening of a Renaissance and Industrial Age and the freedom of the Press.

Our inaction is proof that we don’t care one bit. Not really. We hide behind the delusions of “democracy” but fail to live by it: a government by the people for the people. We are a pathetic nation that deserves not even a modicum of pity as we plummet over the edge into oblivion and self-destruction. And, hey, if you get a little indignant at my selection of derogatory words in regards to the so-called “greatest nation on earth,” then prove me wrong. Show me where you and your friends and coworkers are getting ready to march on Washington and demand real change, and demand a stop to idiocy and nonsense, and I’ll sign on. I’ll march with you.

Why don’t you let me know when enough really is enough.