Multimillionaire Laura Ingraham takes bold stance against debit card program for low-income Oakland residents

Appearing on Fox & Friends this morning, conservative radio host Laura Ingraham took the city of Oakland to task for a program that allows city-issued identification to double as a debit card.

Ingraham mocked the card and called it “ridiculous”, lamenting that while the card -- which would be available to all city residents, including undocumented immigrants -- would be able to hold up to $1,000 (in prepaid funds), “most of us can't get a thousand dollars on our debit cards.”

Oh really?

In a recent Newsweek profile of Ingraham for its “Power 50” issue, the magazine estimated her annual income at $7 million. Soon after that profile was released, TV Newser reported that Ingraham had re-upped her contract with Fox News Channel for “seven-figures.”

It's probably a safe guess that Ingraham has at least $1,000 on her debit card.

As far as the policy behind the card in question, the AP reports:

The goal is to help any city residents, including illegal immigrants, who may have difficulty obtaining a state-issued ID.

Card holders would also be able to load money onto their cards and use them wherever ATM cards are welcome. Oakland officials say that would allow people without bank accounts to avoid high check-cashing fees or the need to walk around with large amounts of cash.

The program is designed to allow people who don't easily have access to banks (most likely due to their low income) to save the money they earned and keep it secure, yet it's opposed by a multimillionaire like Ingraham who most likely doesn't have to worry in the least about such things.