JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Fees "R" Us

It's surprising to see some of the cluelessness of economic commentators on the response of giant financial institutions like JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) to federal regulations which took away a significant source of revenue from them.

We at Everything Gold have said from Day 1 that the banks would find a way to generate revenue by adding fees of other sorts to their customers.

Much of their response has centered around formerly free checking accounts, which was also an obvious choice, from their ubiquity around the U.S., which few people will abandon, especially if they're addicted to large banks.

Smaller regional banks have yet to implement the practice, so there are choices there, as well as with online banking.

This is what happens when the government interferes with the market, something most people should have seen coming.

Most of the whining against the banks didn't come from quality and responsible consumers, but from those who continually drew more money out of their accounts than they had incurring the penalties.

As a service, the banks charged customers so they could complete whatever transaction they were involved in. While there could have been better transparency when enlisting customers in these decisions, how does that excuse their irresponsible behavior? It doesn't of course, and now all of us have to pay because overzealous politicians, in an atmosphere of socialism, now have spread the costs to everyone.

If we want our banks to be regulated as if they were a regulated utility company, then we would have something to be disturbed about. But that would pretty much destroy the banking industry, and leave little reason for them to exist; at least as far as shareholders and investors go.