I got a notice from BankOne today telling me they are changing the terms of my agreement. The basic change is the interest rate, which is now going to prime plus 15.7%, which makes it 19.95%. If you should dare to be late, the rate goes to 22.95%.

Who the hell do these guys think they are? Interest rates are at their lowest levels since the Hoover administration. The cost of money to BankOne is less than it has been in decades, and yet they are raising my rate to one that would have made the temple moneychangers gasp in disbelief. I could get a better deal from the Mafia.

The only satisfaction I can take from this is that I don't revolve balances, so I don't pay those usurious rates, but there's another principle involved here.

When a fee is based on dollars, you can justify a periodic increase as just part of the cost of living. But when a fee is based on percentage, that is not the case: the take rises as the underlying cost rises. Raising a percentage fee is nothing but pure profit-taking greed, and that's what BankOne is exhibiting here.

They've always had a very high commercial-to-news ratio, but now they've taken it a step further. At 11:26 PM, they break for a 2-minute commercial break. When they come back, they do a single tidbit of fluffy feel-good news -- your basic public interest story -- for a full 50 seconds, and then they break for commercial again! This time, they take a full 3-minute commercial break, after which they do their 15-second goodbyes, and flow into another 3 minutes of commercials before rolling into Jay Leno.

Did you count that up? In the last 9 minutes of the newscast, there is exactly 65 seconds of content, and all of THAT lightweight.

I changed to the channel 8 news when the local CBS station (KOIN) hired on a bozo-and-bozo team (Jeff Gianola and Kelly Day) to do their evening news. I might have to consider switching again.