Long ago, in another life, I watched a documentary about neoliberalism in Jamaica. A dairy farmer complained about how imported powdered milk destroyed the local agricultural base. Right now I'm waiting on line to buy $6 of powdered milk because it's all I can afford.
The person ahead of me swipes his card. Nothing. The clerk suggests retyping the password. Swipe. Nothing. Swipe. Nothing.
The clerk tries to help, punches in some numbers. "Looks like you have only $4 left." The customer looks down at his two items, triages the most valuable, pays for that.
* * * * * *
Another $50 drained from my vanishingly small bank account. This wasn't bad planning on my part, but an accident due to the debit card float -- the time it takes, sometimes a week or more, for debit purchases to register in your checking account. It looked like my account had enough money, so I sent in my rent check, but the debit charges hit at the last second. Overdraft fee: $25 per transaction.
What I didn't realize is that this means each and every transaction. Access your account again, and you pay another $25 fee. So now I'm out an extra $50 that I can't afford. That's on top of my $88 traffic ticket and charges for a check lost in the mail.
Yeah, just pile it on, transnational capitalism, just pile it on. Kick me when I'm down.
You'll regret not killing me when you had the chance.
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