Mentally and Morally Bankrupt

The I.S.O.A.A., a man who has dedicated his life to helping the Murican people unnerstan' that he knows nothing about everything:

By restoring integrity to the bankruptcy process, this law will make our financial system stronger and better. By making the system fairer for creditors and debtors, we will ensure that more Americans can get access to affordable credit…

Our bankruptcy laws are an important part of the safety net of America. They give those who cannot pay their debts a fresh start. Yet bankruptcy should always be a last resort in our legal system. If someone does not pay his or her debts, the rest of society ends up paying them. In recent years, too many people have abused the bankruptcy laws. They've walked away from debts even when they had the ability to repay them. This has made credit less affordable and less accessible, especially for low-income workers who already face financial obstacles.

The bill I sign today helps address this problem…

...This new law will help make credit more affordable, because when bankruptcy is less common, credit can be extended to more people at better rates.

The new law will also require credit card companies to let card holders know up front what they are expected to pay, and what the penalties they will face if they are late on a payment. When people get a credit card, they should not be trapped by a provision in the fine print.

Remember that? That was awesome! That was back when Preznit Sleepyhead used to actually sign bills Congress brought to him--and back then, he signed all of them. And the Preznit signed a bill into law that would make credit more affordable, that would lower interest rates charged by credit card companies, and that would prevent people from being from being trapped by sneaky provisions in the small print.

God bless you, Mr. Bush!

WASHINGTON (AP) — Credit-card executives on Tuesday deflected congressional criticism of their practice of using falling credit scores to charge customers higher interest rates.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, said customers who consistently pay on time are getting whacked by credit-card issuers that raise such rates without an adequate warning or a clear notice.

"The bottom line for me is this: when a credit card issuer promises to provide a cardholder with a specific interest rate if they meet their credit card obligations, and the cardholder holds up their end of the bargain, the credit-card issuer should have to do the same," he said Tuesday.

Levin's subcommittee, which has been investigating the industry, looked at how credit-card issuers raise consumers' rates, to as high as 30 percent, when their so-called FICO credit scores decline — even if they've paid credit-card bills regularly and promptly. In many cases, consumers have little notice of the increased rate, which are automatically triggered by declines in FICO scores for reasons left unexplained, the subcommittee found…

In one of the cases cited by the subcommittee, Marjorie Hancock of Arlington, Mass., wound up with interest rates on her four Bank of America credit cards of 8 percent, 14 percent, 19 percent and 27 percent, even though her credit risk is the same for all four.

Thirty percent interest rates. People getting whacked by provisions in the small print. And nobody got any cheaper credit. At all.

That was your Republican Congress and your Republican President--passing and praising a bill that did nothing for anyone except twist the screws a little bit tighter and a little bit longer for the weakest and poorest people in the richest nation in the world.

Never mind that this bill was signed into law with a little lecture about preventing irresponsible people from using the bankruptcy laws to walk away from their debts by a man who has bankrupted every business he ever ran.

And walked away from it with money in his pocket.

And this cretin wants to scold Congress that it has a lot of work to do?

Goddam right it does. But, sorry, George, not on your agenda. It's going to take all of Congress's time for at least the next eight years to unfuck the ridiculous mess you've made.

Comments

[Kit E]

One of the first things that needs to be done when the National Embarassment is out of office is a reform of that goddamn bankruptcy law. Here's the facts: just over 50% of the people who declare bankruptcy do so because of medical reasons, and of those people, 75% HAD health insurance when they first fell ill. Obviously they either became too ill to continue working and therefore continue to have insurance, or the co-pays and policy caps nailed them eventually. The most disgusting thing about that bankruptcy bill? There is no "out" now for being broke due to medical bills; that bill closed that loophole.

I have to hope that once a few more, or hell, even a lot more middle class people get reamed by this Bush-dynasty kleptocracy that they'll finally vote for their own interests rather than for who hates gays the most. I am sick of this shit.