The banks are afraid, very afraid. Why? Walmart.

It's certainly an intersting move for Wal-Mart. I've noticed recently that a lot of companies are expanding to other segments of the economy. Every area is owned by a certain company these days. Here in New York City we're run by AOL/Time Warner, they now run every tv channel, they also control any internet connection above dial up. They just broke into VOIP telephony. In addition they own large amounts of real estate and just built an upscale mall. Extortion is the order of the day for them, I won't go into it but you wouldn't believe some of the issues I've had with them.

Anyways, on to the article. I'm no expert in economics but there're towns that spend 75% of their paychecks at Wal-Mart, banking seems to be a natural move. As a company it's the more powerful in given areas than local government and without a doubt controls the local economy. If this goes through I'd expect to see them offering a system where by you deposit your paycheck into the Wal-Mart account and need nothing more than your pin number to purchase products at your local super store. It would be almost like an ATM machine that gives out ugly clothes and fattening snack foods instead of money. Of course such a system would be treated like a credit card and subject to interest and surcharges, and they would allow customers to overdraw, probably by more than a dollar.

God, just imagine, you work at Wal-Mart, and deposit your paycheck back into your Wal-Mart account, then spend most of it at Wal-Mart. Of course you'd be spending more time then ever working just to pay off the surcharges, over drawing fees, and interest. Come summer your kids will work at Wal-mart, and more than likely your wife works there too. When it comes down to it, you have no choice, there are no other stores to shop at, all the facotires are closed down, and on a Wal-Mart paycheck you'll never be able to move.

I'm packing my bags and moving to Australia, this is getting rediculous