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The cat is coming out of the bag

In the last couple of weeks we have had testimony to Congress revealing that in the credit card industry people who pay off their balances each month are known as 'free loaders'.

And in the health insurance business that actual payouts of covered claims are called 'medical loss'.

At one point in time credit and insurance were services for which providers charged a fee. And particularly for the former were controlled by regulation in the form of usury laws. Deregulation simply flipped that service model on its head, now the money is to be made by extending credit to people with bad credit and offering health coverage to people who don't need it.

I knew we were in trouble when American Express upended its whole business model, back in the day you were not even allowed to carry balances from month to month, now they continually badger you to 'go Blue', i.e. start paying interest on carried balances. 'Service' has been mutated into 'exploitation'.

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by: Bruce Webb @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 11:56:44 AM CDT