Howard's Views

AMERICAN EXPRESS

CO-CONSPIRATOR

DEFINITION OF: BRIBERY

Bribe n something given to influence unduly or corrupt the conduct, allurement--v.t. to influence by a bribe; to gain over; v.i. to practice bribery.
The act of taking rewards for corrupt practices; the act or paying or receiving a reward for a false judgment or testimony, or for the performance of that which is known to be illegal or UNJUST. It is applied both to the one who gives and the one who receives a bribe!
WEBSTERS NEW TWENTIETH CENTURY DICTIONARY (1969)

American Express HAS BEEN STEALING BILLIONS of dollars of profits from the American business community through a simple system that is clearly defined as Bribery. It is a big time fraud against all businesses that accept the American Express Card, and as long as the presenter is determined to gain special awards through the use of plastic in the transaction, it is a bribe offered, a bribe accepted, and an act of extortion committed on their behalf.

AMERICAN EXPRESS WAS PICKING MY POCKETS FOR 8% TO 24% OF MY PROFITS! I GOT MAD, SO...I FIRED AMERICAN EX-CESS FROM MY BUSINESS!! (see picture).

ILLUSTRATION: CASH OR CHECK v.s. AMERICAN EXPRESS (1996)

Let's use, as an example, the sale of a Rolex watch for $14,000 by a Beverly Hills jewelry store to Mr. Famous Producer to see difference between payment by check for the watch, or a sale influenced (bribed) by air mileage so that the buyer decides to use his American Express Charge Card instead.
If Mr. Famous Producer hands the store manager a check, the store deposits it, and gets credit for the full $14,000 to its Bank Checking Account.
But, when Mr. Producer instead says, “John, here’s my American Express card. I am going to take a trip to Europe next month and I can use the mileage,” at that point the jewelry store has just been robbed, yes robbed, of $560! When his card is run through the machine, their bank account is credited with only $13,440!
At that moment, air mileage effectively became a bribe as was originally intended, a bribe by American Express paid into the pocket of Mr. Producer, and a loss of profits for the jewelry store. Mr. Producer and American Express shared the results brought about by that bribe, American Express crediting him with his share of the transaction.
If the Rolex watch cost them $8,000 and they expected a profit of $6,000, they suddenly found themselves with only $5,440. That cost them 9.3% of their gross profit!
In the meantime, Mr. Producer went home, wrote out a check to American Express to pay for the watch and waited for his “mileage” credits to show up in the mail, chuckling to himself because he took advantage of the jeweler so easily (with the connivance of American Express, of course).
That is the reason the Credit Card Cartel devised the plan, not to help the merchants, but to capture a larger percentage of their sales on plastic, and to profit at their expense. Hey, they just made $560 and didn’t have stock a dime’s worth of merchandise, nor put it out on display every day, advertise, stand and wait, cater to Mr. Producer, etc.
Air Mileage has nothing to do with helping to increase business for merchants. It has everything to do with increasing the percentage of sales on plastic. It solely benefits the Credit/Charge Card Cartel.
Will Mr. Famous buy two watches in order to get more air mileage? Don’t ever think he’s that stupid! The only ones stupid enough to swallow the BS that the innovators of this scheme sent out to all the newspapers around the country were...the nation’s financial writers, and they went for it hook, line and sinker.
For simplification I’ve used one large sale of $14,000. But, whether it is 1,000 sales of a $14.00 item, or 2,000 sales of a $7.00 item, the figures run pretty true to the costs. Air Mileage was concocted as a scheme to entice the consumer (Card-holder), while defrauding the Acceptor (merchant) to the benefit of the issuer (American Express) or any other credit card using the same story. It is that simple. All you have to do is to recognize the fact that the King has no clothes. It’s an illusion, designed to fool the eye and the mind.
There is another illusion connected to it though, that the Acceptors has no recourse, because of the terms of his contract with the banks involved. That’s where they made their mistake, because when they changed the terms, they opened up a can of worms. When they struck a deal with I.R.S., bagging more millions in fees, they left more wiggle room for enterprising attorneys who MAY want to enrich themselves at the expense of Citibank, Wells Fargo, American Express and a slew of others involved with the CCC. At that point, they showed us that we really can add those MDR costs to the amount of the sale! If IRS can, why can't we, the retail sellers do the same? Gentlemen Lawyers, start your engines!

I refused to meekly submit to this "shafting" any longer. I asked myself, "Why should I continue to deal with a Company that's picking my pockets of my hard-earned profits (and from millions of other Business Owners too) every day of the week? The answer was simple: FIRE THEM!"

I wrote to Harvy Golub, then their CEO, in 1995, that I was "firing him" from my business because they (American Express=American Ex-cess) were defrauding me of my profits. It was and is still collusion and fraud.

At 4%, their MDR [Merchant's Discount Rate) is the highest of all. That comes right off the top...before our profits. It takes at least 8% (and up to 25%) out of our gross profits. It's like an additional 8% INCOME TAX tax assessed against our businesses. They have earned their moniker: "American Ex-cess.

MASTERCARD SETTLED DEBITCARD CLASS ACTION SUIT FOR $1 BILLION!

This settlement was to a small firm, a one attorney office, if I remember correctly. Why? For excessive fees charged against merchants when handling debit-card transactions. Ah yes, trust the Credit Card fraternity to do the right thing.

VISA USA SETTLED DEBIT CARD CLASS ACTION SUIT FOR $2 BILLION!

Right after Mastercard agreed to settle, an interview with Visa's people produced the famous statement "we will never surrender" or some such silliness. Less than 30 days later they surrendered two billion, just like the French record for success in war, eh? Yep, trust Pascarella's outfit to be fair to the merchants, the guys that stand behind the counter and do the hard work while the sharks at Visa take their bite as big as they can. The vigorish.

MAY 3, 2003 - IF THAT IS NOT EVIDENCE THAT THEY WERE IN THE WRONG, CROOKED, WHAT IS?

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(Q.) Why do you claim it is a bribe?
(Ans.)There are supposed to be three options open between you and your client: Cash, Check or Credit Card.

When the Banks, such as Citibank, offer the bribe of Air Miles or Points to induce YOUR customers to pay with PLASTIC, they effectively cancel out two of YOUR options, the options that would GIVE you 100% of your money, and that's how they steal your profits.

Essentially they've placed a Millstone around your neck. It is the American Ex-cess machine, milking your profits day by day, year in and year out!

ECONOMIC SLAVERY ACT OF 2005 S256 - HR685 THE RAPE OF AMERICA BY THE CREDIT CARD CARTEL

The current Bill, called Bankruptcy Reform Bill and other misleading titles, was a SELLOUT by Cong. Chuckie Grassley (Iowa)*, and other Congressmen to Citicorp, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, MBNA, Fleet/Boston, and other monolithic banking organizations that will aid them strongly in their campaign to entrap consumers in a never-ending cycle of debt. That's their mission, their reason for being...to entrap the lower income Americans in their financial schemes.
High-priced Lobbyists representing the banking industry, as well as the collection industry, put one over on them and the American people, but Grassley, the Judas goat, led the flock into it.
Those who will suffer most are those who have suffered most from a summer of hurricanes in Florida and along the Gulf coast, those who suffer from sudden calamities.

Financial Grave Diggers.

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