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By charging customers different interest rates depending on how likely they are to repay their debts and by adding substantial fees for an array of items such as late payments and foreign currency transactions, the major card companies have managed to keep their profits rising steadily even as personal bankruptcies have soared, industry figures show
Gosselin also did an investigative series on Bush's Raw Deal for working people that are all linked to in the above diary. Wages for working people have been stagnant for the last thirty years and credit card industry profits are soaring, as is clearly illustrated by the graphic charts to the right of the story.
"The idea that companies are losing their shirts on bankruptcies is a lot of bull," said Robert B. McKinley, chief executive of CardWeb.com, a Frederick, Md., consulting group that tracks the credit card industry. "With these rates and fees, the card industry is a gravy train right now."
"That really opened the flood gates. It set off a fee frenzy," he said.
An interesting observation is that Chait's editorial was written before the Senate vote on this abysmal piece of legislation. Why would Joe Biden vote for this garbage anyway?
There's just one issue that's the exception. And that's what's wrong with most of the Democrats: There's always one issue that's the exception. But before we get into that, let me explain Biden's particular problem.
Biden supports a bill in Congress that would make it harder for people to declare bankruptcy. This is one of those abysmal pieces of legislation that exists only because businesses with a vested interest in it have lobbied hard for its passage and that would have no chance of success if more than a tiny fraction of the public were aware of its existence.
Chait does us the service of explaining the real problem with bankruptcy filings that the bankruptcy bill in no way addresses:
The most popular state for such trusts is corporate-friendly Delaware.
Delaware, of course, is home to Joe Biden. It's also home to many credit card companies, the driving force behind the bankruptcy bill. You don't have to connect a lot of dots to see the picture here.
It's not just the DLC Joe twins and Ben twins. Chait points out how some of the most prominent and respected Democrats can be counted on the be Republican scum bags du jour:
On the other hand, Northeasterners like Lieberman and Schumer staunchly impose tougher mileage requirements on the auto industry. Alas, the auto industry staunchly opposes such requirements, and therefore so does Carl Levin of Michigan, normally a supporter of such liberal causes as a clean environment.
There's plenty more. Rural Democrats can always be relied on to support giveaways to agribusiness. Washington Democrat Henry "Scoop" Jackson, an old New Deal liberal, was known in his day as "the senator from Boeing."
This is how Bush and the Republicans will continue to crush working class Americans for the next three years; with a little help from their DLC friends on our side of the aisle.
The ultimate problem is that even liberal Democrats consider being in the pocket of a home-state industry an acceptable indulgence. A little bit of shame might go a long way.
I don't know if Joe Biden has any shame. I sent him an email inviting him or his staff to stop by and clarify the record if they so desire.
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