BWC is Now The Law of the Land!

While Congress and our so-called leaders debate who caused what or who spied on whom or who can we blame for whatever we don't agree with corporations are continuing to rape American consumer any way they see fit!  And while this goes on the charade that is the Republican Majority in the House of Congress will once again try to repeal the health care bill aimed at helping the average citizen!
A perfect example came today in my cell phone bill from AT&T which included a slight increase, as always!
I decided to have an on-line chat with an AT&T agent about this latest slap at a long time moron, I mean customer.
What appears below is that chat.  Please read it and see if it rings true with your experience dealing with impersonal corporations these days.

Thank you for your patience!

Your AT&T Representative will be with you shortly.

Welcome! You are now chatting with 'I removed the name lest the person be fired for possible honesty' 

BRUCE M RESCH: Hi AT&T Person

AT&T Person: Hi Bruce, I can help you with the charges on your account.

BRUCE M RESCH: My bill has been $197.82 for ages and while it's way too high for the actual service provided at least it was a constant.  Now the bill is over $200 and it looks as though the rise was merely a BWC increase.  Is that true?

AT&T Person: I can have that check for you. Let me review your bill.

BRUCE M RESCH: ok

AT&T Person: Please give me 2-3 minutes to run through your bill.

BRUCE M RESCH: sure

AT&T Person: Thank you for waiting.  Upon reviewing your account, I found out that your monthly bill is always $197.99.

AT&T Person: The reason why your bill went up to $200.70 is because of the additional fee that was being charged to each of your line.

BRUCE M RESCH: An additional fee for what may I ask?

AT&T Person: If you will take a look on your bill, each line has a corresponding surcharges and other fees.

BRUCE M RESCH: yes I see that

AT&T Person: The additional fee that was added on each line was the Administrative fee which costs $0.61.

BRUCE M RESCH: So I was right, It's a BWC

AT&T Person: What is BWC?

BRUCE M RESCH: BWC stands for "Because We Can!" It's a fee charged by all large impersonal anti-human corporations to make even more money for doing nothing and causing those of us who must go along with their greed to suffer. In other words, bullshit!

AT&T Person: I understand you. But the the Administrative fee covers a small portion of certain expenses AT&T incurs, including but not limited to: Charges AT&T or its agents pay to interconnect with other carriers to deliver calls from AT&T customer to their customers Costs and charges associated with cell site rents and maintenance

BRUCE M RESCH: Did you actually type that with a straight face? Forget it - I cannot beat you guys. But when I decide to leave because your inane unfair extra fees are too much you will NEVER get me back no matter what you do.

BRUCE M RESCH: It's truly a crock of shit! The small increase of which you speak in AT&T costs could easily be covered by the unbelievably high rate you charge for nothing! I am speaking of texts etc. which cost you zero! In fact you had to invent a way to keep track of texts just so you could charge for them! But as I said I can not win & I realize it is not you personally who is at fault so I'm done here - Have a nice life.

AT&T Person: I understand where you're coming from. That's the initial reaction of most of our customers when they learned about this fee.

BRUCE M RESCH: I wonder why!

BRUCE M RESCH: Most Americans have not gotten a raise in years but AT&T & others like you continue to raise fees and make more profits and hand over our hard earned money to a bunch of useless shits at the top of the corporation who think only of how to make even more money on the backs of the customer. As I said - This is not personal but THEY are criminals!

AT&T Person: I understand you. We all work hard to earn money and who does like to have their money wasted? No one. I understand how you feel.
BRUCE M RESCH: enjoy the weekend - I'm out of here - Have to think about this situation further. Thanks

Note the line about having to pay increased costs due to connecting with other carriers.  Of course those carriers are using that same bull shit line to collect their own BWCs.

The collusion is on all sides of the equation and the only ones being hurt are the customers!

If anyone cares to add all the bills they pay and track the changes in each of them since we handed control of the country over to the large corporations who now own Congress I believe they will notice the same trend toward new BWCs.

Can we stem the tide of corporate greed?

Can we get Congress on the side of the people who actually vote them into office?

Can we make it through a month without House Republicans attempting to repeal the ACA aka Obamacare?

Sadly I feel the answer is a definitive NO WAY!

But still I rant and still I complain and at least in a small way I am a thorn in the side of corporate hypocrisy.

Never turn your back on these criminals and do not let them get away with what they do without at least complaining.  Who knows, maybe one day the meek really will inherit the Earth.

And by the way, when we do I'm going to hit all the bastards of the former corporate world with so many BWCs they heads'll fall off!

The Verizon Intelligence Agency?

Fixing a problem without getting rid of the underlying cause is a blueprint for disaster. An unwillingness on the part of one company to share even the most inane of information with another company is what led in part to the disasters of 9-11. Information sharing between our nation's two covert agencies, the Fedral Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency proved fatal as each jealously held onto their own pieces of a puzzle. And just as in a jig-saw puzzle if one or more parts are missing the final picture may never be seen.
Naturally the following story is nowhere near as momentous as the events of that September day but in a small way it shows that big business has not learned from others' mistakes and probably never will. Their only line is the bottom one.
In the Newsday’s Community Watchdog section of Sunday February 10, 2008 it was reported that a problem had been fixed. A large overgrown tree in someone's back yard had to be cut down as it was embedded in the overhead phone lines. Unfortunately after the tree was removed wood remnants remained stuck on the lines. To make matters worse the wood occasionally showed signs of smooldering.
Aside from being a fire hazard the wood posed a danger to anyone unlucky enough to be under it when gravity took over. This included children playing in the back yard.
Repeated calls to Verizon produced no results and it was not until the home owner found out that the lines were actually owned by Cablevision that the wood was removed.
It seems that when Verizon originally sent their people to examine the problem they discovered that the lines belonged to Cablevision so they chose to do nothing. A simple inexpensive phone call between the two giant companies would have removed the danger immediately as was subsequently shown by Cablevision’s prompt response. I am certain that the lady who had made the original complaint would have been glad to foot the bill on that call.
Granted that the two companies are competitors but one would hope that Verizon would think of the consumer and safety first instead of behaving like the FBI or the CIA.