Look up “self-absorbed” in the dictionary, find Bryan Moynihan’s picture:
(I figure I might as well just post this direct to the Pit, since it’s going to end up there anyway.)
“has a right to make a profit”?
Well, it’s no dumber than “too big to fail,” I guess.
Well, he has a right to try to make a profit. I have closed my BoA accounts. It was coincidental but I don’t mind them thinking it was due to the fees.
Much as I’d love to jump on the BoA hatewagon, it sounds like he was addressing employees rather than whining to the public at large. I would assume morale at America’s eponymous bank isn’t at record high levels lately, and this was probably his best attempt at a pep talk.
We want you all to remember that we appreciate everything you do and we’re behind you 100%! (Until the mass layoffs, anyway.)
If you look at the bottom line of a lot of large financial institutions, their net profits would be cut in half without these fees. They no longer rely largely on the spread between the borrow rate and the lend rate to earn their income, they rely on dinging their customers with late charges and credit card fees.
Still, if fully informed people will pay then why shoud we stop them. Just like Netflix losing 800K customers and having many of the ones taht remain go from online+disc to a lower fee online only or video only.
Yeah, that article makes no sense. First it says
Then it says:
Buwh?
But no one has any kind of “right” to make a profit.
I wonder how “incensed” he’ll be when he’s strung up by the ears from a lamp pole by an angry mob?
Well, they have the right to price their products as they wish, just as consumers have the right to shop elsewhere.
The comment “You ought to think a little about that before you start yelling at us.” is directed at his employees rather than the public at large? 
Huff’s article is poorly written. It doesn’t make any distinction between what Moynihan said to his employees and what he said to public critics. The link to Bloomberg from HuffPo says:
Bolding mine. But the HuffPo piece just says:
Quoth Lemony Snicket:
Yes, but as you imply (I think) that doesn’t guarantee them the right to make lots of money off it.
Thank you, Bosstone, that makes more sense. I don’t think it’s right to yell at BoA’s employees for a corporate decision, but yelling at the CEO? Why the fuck not?
Pretty goddam incensed, I’d say! 
As for this issue-- meh. If you don’t want to pay the fee, bank somewhere else. No one is forcing you to use a debit card.
In its insensitivity, the comment reminds me of this one, by former BP CEO Tony Hayward, “There’s no one who wants this [i.e., the Gulf oil spill] over more than I do. I’d like my life back.”
Besides, if banks don’t charge all those fees, they won’t be able to pay dividends to their little old lady stockholders on fixed incomes, and they’ll starve.
Think about that before you whine about the debit card fee.
His point about charity is well taken. He and his fellow bankers gave millions of Americans a lot of extra time to work on charity, not being bothered by having to go to work any more.
I have to wonder how much of that “charitable giving” is United Way-style crap, too.
It’s funny how everyone wants jobs but no one wants companies to make profits.
If by “companies” you mean “companies with shitty business models,” absolutely.
Bank of America made a $6.2 billion profit last quarter, but they sold off a major division for $3.6 and added $4.5 billion as a result of accounting adjustments. Without that $7.8 billion in additional income, they would have lost $1.6 billion last quarter, just like they lost $4 billion or so last year.
I am no fan of BoA, but they are certainly entitled to do whatever they need to do actually turn a profit. And that includes charging debit card users the fees that they are no longer legally allowed to charge merchants.
And the people complaining about the debit card fee are, unfortunately, mostly idiots like this guy, who’s a fucking financial advisor of all things:
You stupid dipshit, you don’t have to pay any interest on a credit card if you pay off the balance each month, just like you have to treat a debit card (in fact, a credit card is actually better because you can wait until the end of the month to come up with the cash).
If you’re too goddamned stupid to keep track of your spending throughout the month and overspend on your credit card, maybe you chose the wrong line of work.
Incidentally, I got sick of Bank of America’s crap business practices two years ago and I switched banks. That’s really the only “protest” that means anything to them. If you’re mad, don’t be mad at Bank of America, be mad at all the idiots who put up with this bullshit and continue to give them money.