Web Seminars

Jon Stewart, whose "Daily Show" has channeled consumer anger over banks and credit card industry practices before, devoted the opening segment of last night’s show to the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. (Or, per Gawker.com, “Jon Stewart Sums Up Everything That is Wrong with America in Under Four Minutes.”)

During his extensively detailed rant, Stewart mocked both cardholders and issuers for some of their behaviors.

“All we needed was the information!,” he said about the law’s new disclosure requirements. “Like when they put up the calorie charts at McDonald’s and you knew exactly how many calories were in the Big Macs and large fries -- that you continued to eat no matter what!”

But Stewart didn’t let the card industry off the hook, either, and he saved some darts for issuers that are now experimenting with new types of fees. His outrage reached a peak with the inactivity fees and annual fees that some banks have added to accounts where cardholders spend below a certain limit. 

“Let me see if I can reenact the meeting where they came up with that,” Stewart said, before pretending to be a card executive. “’Uh, it’s not like we can charge people for not buying things – what, why is everyone kissing me?’”