You may have never heard of “interchange” fees, but you’re paying them.  A lot of them.  And, right now, you and merchants around the country have absolutely no control over that.  These fees are a huge moneymaker for banks and credit card companies -– approximately $48 billion last year alone.  

Interchange fees are a way for credit card companies and their banks to get rich quick, while passing the bill on to the America’s consumer.  Interchange fees are charged to merchants every time a credit or debit card is used to pay for a purchase.  These hidden fees can be anywhere from 1 – 4%, and they’re on top of interest and all the other fees that actually show up on a credit card statement.   It’s like a hidden sales tax, but, a sales tax over which no one has any input or knowledge.  Imagine the outrage if states arbitrarily tried to raise sales tax 1 – 4%, without any warning, especially in this economy?  But that’s what banks and credit card companies are being allowed to do right now, in secret.

via The Politico

In the spirit of openness and of drowning you all in information, we at the Politico are pleased to make available the full contents of Rudy Giuliani's 140-page campaign plan, which the campaign lost possession of under murky circumstances at the beginning of November, and whose contents I reported on in the New York Daily News earlier this month.