For the past 50 years one of the standard key messages of the Republican party is that they stand for the 'common man,' and 'Main Street' and not for big corporations or wealthy interest groups and lobbying organizations.
That is why their new public stance in being more closely positioned with large Fortune 1000 companies that charge service fees that consumers notoriously hate is a new, unchartered territory for the GOP, according to a column published in New Republic.
The service fees are hidden in a variety of word play and innocent sounding terms: resort fees, passenger fees, customer deposits and non-refundable down payments amongst other terms. American consumers have been used to the implementation of these fees as a standard part of doing business, but now, with high attention being paid to the consumer because of inflation and it being an election year, these wallet-zapping fees are getting a closer review.
Even President Joe Biden spoke nearly 300 words about these fees during his State of the Union Speech.
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However, these taxing consumer service fees weren't mentioned in the GOP rebuttal by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The Republicans were quick to jump on the Live Nation and Ticketmaster bandwagon during the Taylor Swift ticket fiasco in 2022, but have not identified the subject as one where they could lead bipartisan efforts to make a difference to the consumer.
It would seem that this subject would be the perfect starting point to flex the party's muscle to lead an effort to eliminate or dramatically reduce these fees from hotels, car rentals and airline flights--the three areas where Americans spend their hard-earned discretionary income. This would be an easy victory leading up to an election year that is expected to be in the middle of the recession.
But as Biden supports the removal of these annoying fees, Republicans may choose their party anti-Biden stance over practicality and ignore the opportunity to put money back into the purses and wallets of the American consumer.
