The Kings of Tryon Street seem to have found an ingenious way to repay all the bailout money taxpayers gave them. Associated Press is reporting that a man in New Hampshire used his BofA debit card at a gas station to purchase cigarettes and was charged — get this — more than 23 quadrillion dollars (specifically, $23,148,855,308,184,500). Read about it here. As an American consumer, you’ll also appreciate the last line of the AP story. I wonder if the N.C. General Assembly ever considered using this kind of price hike when they were looking for ways to discourage smoking.
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2009.
