Obviously there is the seen versus the unseen as put by Frederic Bastiat and rehashed by Henry Hazlitt. And I'm sure the that the Dodd-Frank financial-regulatory overhaul bill passed last summer has already had several unseen unintended negative consequences.
But for the first time, I just heard on the radio today a negative effect that this law will have directly on consumers. Part of the law limits the fees that banks can charge businesses for accepting debit cards. So of course, this will reduce banks profits - unless the banks find other revenue sources - which is what they are trying to do. Bank of America announced that they will be charging BoA debit card users $5 per month, starting in early 2012!
Of course this will hurt poor and middle class people who pay for gasoline, groceries, and every day expenses with their debit cards. As far as I'm concerned, it is a VERY REGRESSIVE TAX (but I thought Democrats were AGAINST regressive taxes!)
It could also drive more people into credit cards (except there are many poorer people now who can't even get credit cards, after either Dodd-Frank or some other law/regulation capped interest credit card companies can charge). This would certainly help encourage excess, and it has the potential to entrap even more people into the misery that is consumer debt.
Now, I'm not a fan of the current banking system or of the banks which take part in it, but I will not blame the banks for charging their customers to use debit cards in order to replace revenue lost by government imposed caps on these banks.
Here's a similar, but more comprehensive article about this from the Heritage Foundation .
And Forbes reports that Sun Trust bank has already started this and that Wells Fargo has been trying it in various markets.
And yeah, this bill was passed under the guise of protecting consumers! There is evidence that it is already hurting consumers!
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