Exercising My Option In The Free Market
If I ever start thinking that my profession, poker player, is maybe not the most honourable way to earn a living, it's nice to be reminded exactly how much of a bunch of cunts some of the more "reputable" professions are. Here's something I found out today about banks (the hard way of course). Suppose you withdraw £300 cash from your (zero balance) credit card on the first day of the (effective banking) month. The next day, you pay the £300 back in. Then you do nothing with your card for the rest of the month. Take a guess how much interest you are charged on your £300 :
A) One day's worth
B) One month's worth
You bet. We are left with, as Terry Wogan used to say, the choice of B. How can they fucking do this ? And, on top of that, if you have a setup whereby you automatically pay the balance of what's due on your card every month, so that you are, according to the large print, not paying any interest, your cash withdrawal can be levied for interest for up to two months. What kind of society have we created, where we allow this to happen ? Where we elect governments who do fuck all about this kind of robbery ?
No doubt if there are any Boris Johnson types reading this they will say "Well it's your own fault for not reading the small print we live in a capitalist society where you are free to take your business elsewhere". Well maybe that's what I'll fucking do. I am inclined to pull all my business from the bank in question, and mainstream banks in general. To cash in my pensions. Who knows what these fuckers are doing with my money anyway ? For all I know they are [and by extension I am] the shareholders that the oil companies and airlines are lying about climate change for. For all I know they'll be at this arms fair this week checking out the best deals on guns, mines and torture implements, virtually if not in the flesh. And pensions are a con anyway. They're floated as being safe, prudent investments but in actual fact they're just a bunch of city wide-boys gambling with my money on whatever takes their fancy, and skimming off their cut while they're at it. To hell with them. I'm inclined to pull the lot and try to find the most ethical savings account I can, and stick it all in there. And if that costs me 1% a year then fine. Not a problem. I don't need to squeeze out the last drop, and the more I think about it, the more this desire to extract every last penny is the main cause of so many problems.
You can laugh if you like, but who's laughing tomorrow morning when I'm sleeping in late and you're stuck in the tube or on the road, on the way to stress yourself out all day earning money so you can buy crap you don't need just to get one up on your mates. More and more people are seeing through it every day. And with every person who says, in the style of Cartman, "Screw you guys, I'm going home", the whole tottering edifice slips that little bit closer to the edge. It's coming. The bill's in the post. Mark my words.
A) One day's worth
B) One month's worth
You bet. We are left with, as Terry Wogan used to say, the choice of B. How can they fucking do this ? And, on top of that, if you have a setup whereby you automatically pay the balance of what's due on your card every month, so that you are, according to the large print, not paying any interest, your cash withdrawal can be levied for interest for up to two months. What kind of society have we created, where we allow this to happen ? Where we elect governments who do fuck all about this kind of robbery ?
No doubt if there are any Boris Johnson types reading this they will say "Well it's your own fault for not reading the small print we live in a capitalist society where you are free to take your business elsewhere". Well maybe that's what I'll fucking do. I am inclined to pull all my business from the bank in question, and mainstream banks in general. To cash in my pensions. Who knows what these fuckers are doing with my money anyway ? For all I know they are [and by extension I am] the shareholders that the oil companies and airlines are lying about climate change for. For all I know they'll be at this arms fair this week checking out the best deals on guns, mines and torture implements, virtually if not in the flesh. And pensions are a con anyway. They're floated as being safe, prudent investments but in actual fact they're just a bunch of city wide-boys gambling with my money on whatever takes their fancy, and skimming off their cut while they're at it. To hell with them. I'm inclined to pull the lot and try to find the most ethical savings account I can, and stick it all in there. And if that costs me 1% a year then fine. Not a problem. I don't need to squeeze out the last drop, and the more I think about it, the more this desire to extract every last penny is the main cause of so many problems.
You can laugh if you like, but who's laughing tomorrow morning when I'm sleeping in late and you're stuck in the tube or on the road, on the way to stress yourself out all day earning money so you can buy crap you don't need just to get one up on your mates. More and more people are seeing through it every day. And with every person who says, in the style of Cartman, "Screw you guys, I'm going home", the whole tottering edifice slips that little bit closer to the edge. It's coming. The bill's in the post. Mark my words.