Hidden fees and bad math

Greg Mankiw links to:

1) A guest lecturer in his economics class whose recent column in the NYT explains why companies have "hidden" fees.

Their argument assumes the existence of two kinds of consumers — sophisticates and “myopes.” Sophisticates play the hidden-fee game well. They seek out low advertised rates and whenever possible avoid or find substitutes for the hidden fees, using cellphones at hotels, steering clear of the minibar and setting their printers to draft mode. Myopes, by contrast, obliviously sip $5 Cokes.

2) According to Verizon $100 = 100 cents. I laud the patience of the caller (a math teacher), because I would have been have hung up long ago. The call also provides anecdocal evidence of the state of math education in the US.