Yeah I know damn well this will not be read by anyone. And anyone that does happen to fall into my black hole on the internet either won't care or won't be able to do anything about it. But I just heard something on the news that pisses me off. The Detroit City Council is set to sign a city regulation requiring banks to add a 911 Panic Button to all ATM's inside city limits. This is because, apparently, people are afraid to use the ATMs in the dark. This is presumably because the people are not sure that they are safe from the depredations of their fellow man. And the city council, rather than work on solving the problem (i.e. stopping the criminals,) has decided that a big red button will help. What Next?? Peril-Sensitive sunglasses???? The regulation calls for a $500 fine per machine per infraction, which has the potential for becoming incredibly lucrative. Which, in my opinion, is the reason the city council is contemplating this. They need the money.
The banks, for their part, are claiming that the city does not have the authority to require them to do this, stating that the banks are subject to state and federal regulations, not city. It remains to be seen whether this is true or not. The banks also claim that the buttons will not help solve the problem. The ATMs already have cameras at all locations and that does not seem to be stopping the criminals. The banks and other officials also claim that the new buttons will merely increase the number of false alarms. Imagine a gang out at night, pressing the panic button on every ATM they see. Ooooo this is really helping.
If it were me, and I were running these banks in Detroit, I would already have a press announcement ready. And the minute that the regulations passed the council, I would release it. ANd that press release would say that because the city council cannot keep its money grubbing hands out of our business and has as such saddled this company with an expense far in excess of its intended purpose, effective immediately all ATMs inside the city limits of Detroit will be unavailable, and will eventually be removed from the service area. Bank tellers will be available for all further bank transactions. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but the city council has made this action necessary. If you wish to complain, talk to them.
Useless government regulations only cost money. They never solve the problem they were enacted to solve, and very often make it worse. THis is a situation where the solution will solve nothing, cost more than intended, and in general piss people off.
The banks, for their part, are claiming that the city does not have the authority to require them to do this, stating that the banks are subject to state and federal regulations, not city. It remains to be seen whether this is true or not. The banks also claim that the buttons will not help solve the problem. The ATMs already have cameras at all locations and that does not seem to be stopping the criminals. The banks and other officials also claim that the new buttons will merely increase the number of false alarms. Imagine a gang out at night, pressing the panic button on every ATM they see. Ooooo this is really helping.
If it were me, and I were running these banks in Detroit, I would already have a press announcement ready. And the minute that the regulations passed the council, I would release it. ANd that press release would say that because the city council cannot keep its money grubbing hands out of our business and has as such saddled this company with an expense far in excess of its intended purpose, effective immediately all ATMs inside the city limits of Detroit will be unavailable, and will eventually be removed from the service area. Bank tellers will be available for all further bank transactions. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but the city council has made this action necessary. If you wish to complain, talk to them.
Useless government regulations only cost money. They never solve the problem they were enacted to solve, and very often make it worse. THis is a situation where the solution will solve nothing, cost more than intended, and in general piss people off.
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