On-line protesting is a powerful tool.

The sweet smell of success. It is intoxicating, is it not? On September 29, 2011 I wrote ------------- "Sometime next year the banks will charge you a monthly fee of approximately $5 to use your debit card. To be fair, you will be charged that fee only if you use your debt card. And who do think we can thank for this auspicious additional hole in our wallet? Congress. Thanks to the efforts of the federal reserve and your congress, you will pay the price for a congress that does not understand." Consumers revolted at the notion.

Guess what? The banks have all rescinded this debit charge. Bank of America made its announcement yesterday.  Some protesters got more than 300,000 on-line signatures threatening to change banks if the debit card charge was not revoked. It worked. The banks backed down. It was a genuine victory for consumers and also for the use of the Internet to harness consumer interests to achieve a common goal. The elections are next.

The most interesting aspect of this situation to me is the failure of the administration to kill this prospective debit card charge before it even reached embryonic stage. And where was Obama's new consumer protection bureau with its $100 million budget? Good question.

On-line protesting is a powerful tool.