that discusses some of the ways that banks and the companies that provide credit cards, cell phone service, cable TV, internet access, mutual funds, rental cars and hotels have found to tack on fees and or otherwise obscure the true price of their product or service.The average consumer is estimated to be losing somewhere between 1,000 to 4,000 dollars per year as a result of these misleading practices which seem to be totally outside of the Federal Trade Commission's ability to control ( partly due to the fact that the FTC's staff has been cut in half in the last couple of decades).
He was on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross earlier this week, and Marketplace last week.
He mentions that this is a situation where, instead of someone stealing thousands of dollars from one person, companies have figured out ways to steal a dollar or two from thousands of consumers using very sophisticated techniques which are are legal - because we have not put in place the rules and oversight necessary to maintain a true free market economy in which buyers make decisions based on actual prices of products or services.
These hidden costs are a drain on the economy since they are not associated with any real goods or services, which provide jobs and subsequently - wages to drive the economic engine. Banks whose main business should be to profit from the interest on money they lend are depending more and more on fees to make a profit - which does nothing to help the economy.
Waiting for the government to step in may be a long wait, so the best thing a consumer can do is to educate themselves before making a decision to buy a product or service, choose a competitor or go without.
Related story - The Hidden Economy - The Boston Globe
