Hossfly

Yep, saw that one earlier in the day. Kind of a "talking-down" to the membership with such a statement. My bet is that the bureaucracy will eat twice any profits.

I have little doubt that there are a number of persons that would be happy to have an AMA associated Credit Card (CC), yet in these times, the competition is so fierce out there in the CC business that so many reward the card-holder with so many advantages that I find it unlikely that any significant number of people will go for it.

I make most of my purchases with one of two CCs. My AOL associated card pays my AOL bill. I did a significant remodeling job on the kitchen last year. I have the next 2 years AOL service free in the bank. (BTW I carry NO balances forward each month: everything gets paid when the bill arrives.) Discover card rebates 5% of fuel purchases. That is now about 10 cents per gallon less than pump prices, given $2 per gal. is the area price now. That is significant for one that wants to go to the field a few times a month. Others get big points for travel and such. My NRA CC goes unused except for rare purchases where I am uncertain about the circumstances.

So when people P & M so much about the dues, I don't think they will be adequately fond of giving all the CC perks to AMA rather than to themselves. For example, wife and I drive about 25,000 miles per year. At a 10 cents per gal. rebate that is $125.00 per year. AMA dues would have to significantly increase to off-set that. If AMA should increase significantly, the off-set would be those other CC rebates for the member. Even for a "lifer" like me, I rather have the $$ in MY pocket. As P.J.O'Rourke said, "Giving money to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teen-agers." Methinks 'bout same for AMA.

So, while the AMA may feel so good and toast themselves with bubbly for their great service, this ol' Hoss thinks that the economics of the times will not be overly supportive of such schemes. Hopefully I am wrong.[:-]