The Washington Post’s Michelle Singletary has a column in today’s paper demonizing the overdraft fees that banks charge to customers who spend more money than they have.

Here are some phrases she uses:

“financial institutions are preying on the carelessness of their customers”
“the government has a right to rein in an industry practice that in many cases has become predatory by design, allowing customers to overdraw their accounts.”

She describes “a troubling trend that just won’t die: the financial industry continues to greatly profit from consumer’s love affair with their plastic.”

“This issue should be of concern because many of those who are paying for overdrafts are doing so at a time when they are least able to afford the service.”

“Financial institutions have crossed the lines of fairness.”

So, Ms. Singletary would use the “heavy hand of government” to regulate and reduce the profits of a business.

Again.

Crazy.

By what moral right does a government sacrifice one entity (in this case a business and its shareholders) for another?

Here’s the solution. Don’t ask for a debit card. No one forces you to get one. No one forces you to use one.

Use cash. If you don’t have enough money don’t buy something.

No one is forcing the consumer to be stupid and the government should not use its power to reduce bank profits. Banks can’t “make” people do stupid things. People DECIDE to do stupid things.