Surcharges Are Suddenly Everywhere--And Grumpy Americans Are Paying Up

[DFW]

20. Following Europe's example

Europeans have been suffering from this for decades. My mom-in-law's bank once offered her--at age 90, mind you--an "investment" in a 30 year bond of some kind where the fees exceeded the interest earned. My wife was with her, and told the tie-wearing kid at the bank that he was a crook in a suit for even daring to offer such a thing. My wife yelled at him, "do you expect my mother to live to age 120?" He didn't offer much of a coherent answer.

The Europeans tack on fees to just about everything. I guess that when the USA saw that airline passengers didn't revolt with guns and baseball bats at having to pay to check luggage, the rest of the country decided the airlines were on to something.