Madonna takes up cause of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank 'victim'
It's far from the "get" of the century. But according to sources, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric has booked drugstore clerk Loundia “Windy” Byrd, a worker at a New York City Rite-Aid making approximately $8 an hour who was charged a $32 fee by J.P. Morgan Chase Bank for being overdrawn by one cent in her checking account, for an upcoming interview.
Ms. Byrd has become the center of a small amount of controversy because the J.P. Chase Morgan fee is equivalent to half a day's pay for her.
According to sources, the singer Madonna has taken up Ms. Byrd's cause, because when she first moved to New York City Madonna herself worked in a low-paying minimum wage job -- not at a Rite-Aid, but at a Dunkin' Donuts.
Earlier this year, Democratic Presidential candidate Barrack Obama made opposition to extorionate bank fees such as this a part of his platform. Madonna is a major supporter of Obama.
Republican contender John McCain has remained silent on such excessive bank fees, which target low-income families least able to afford them.
According to one study, low-income families lose $1 billion a year in New York City alone from such extortionate fees, and up to $40 billion nationwide.
"To me, to charge a person a half-day's pay for an overdraft amount of a single penny sounds like fraud," said Couric, known throughout her career for taking up the cause of the underdog. "But I'm going to wait until I hear more on this from our research department before committing myself to that statement."
Whether Madonna will accompany Ms. Byrd on the interview remains unclear.
Numerous excesses in the American financial sector recently caused a major Wall Street crash. "Wall Street got drunk," said President George Bush in explanation of the phenomenon.
But Byrd's bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, may actually be one of the beneficiaries of the recent financial chaos, having tentatively acquired the nation's largest savings and loan, Washington Mutual, for pennies on the dollar.
The Washington Mutual transaction must still be approved by state and federal regulators.
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