[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Democratic Senators Cave on Bankruptcy Bill

[Paul Etxeberri]

>This is a MUST read; it well may affect you.
>
>Democratic Senators Cave on Bankruptcy Bill
>
>By Matthew Rothschild
>
>March 12, 2005, The Progressive
>
>http://www.progressive.org/webex05/wx031205.php
>
>On March 11, the U.S. Senate passed the bankruptcy bill that
>will fill the coffers of the credit card companies while
>bleeding consumers dry.
>
>The bill passed by a whopping 74 to 25 margin, with eighteen
>Democratic Senators going over to the dark side.
>
>Here are the spineless 18:
>
>Max Baucus, Montana.
>
>Evan Bayh, Indiana.
>
>Joe Biden, Delaware.
>
>Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico.
>
>Robert Byrd, West Virginia.
>
>Thomas Carper, Delaware.
>
>Kent Conrad, North Dakota.
>
>Daniel Inouye, Hawaii.
>
>Tim Johnson, South Dakota.
>
>Herb Kohl, Wisconsin.
>
>Mary Landrieu, Louisiana.
>
>Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas
>
>Bill Nelson, Florida.
>
>Ben Nelson, Nebraska.
>
>Mark Pryor, Arkansas.
>
>Harry Reid, Nevada, Senate Minority Leader!
>
>Ken Salazar, Colorado.
>
>Debbie Stabenow, Michigan.
>
>"This is not where we as Democrats ought to be, for crying
>out loud," as Senator Tom Harkin noted. "We are making a
>terrible mistake by thinking that we can have it both ways.
>We have to remember where our base is."
>
>The bill is a fantasy come true for credit card companies,
>which have been pushing it for years. But it's not as though
>they're suffering. They made $30 billion in profits last
>year.
>
>The bill severely limits the ability of consumers to wipe
>away some of their debts and get a fresh start.
>
>Half the people who file for bankruptcy do so because of sky-
>high medical bills, and another 40 percent due so because of
>disability, job loss, family death, or divorce, according to
>the National Consumer Law Center. If you make more than the
>median income in your state, no matter how high your bills
>are, you can't wipe the debts clean.
>
>As a result, debtors will be at much greater risk of losing
>their cars or their homes.
>
>And even if your debts are the consequence of identity theft,
>of someone stealing your credit card and running up charges,
>you still are on the hook for them, as the Senate amazingly
>voted down an amendment to shelter victims of identity theft.
>
>Yet at the same time, the bill assigns guilt to consumers who
>are doing perfectly understandable and legal things. "The
>bill presumes that a struggling family that spends more than
>$42 a week on credit card purchases before declaring
>bankruptcy is guilty of fraud," according to the Consumer
>Federation of America.
>
>The bill also requires anyone filing for bankruptcy to get
>credit counseling beforehand. But as Senator Russ Feingold
>pointed out, there are some people who need to file for
>bankruptcy who can't get that counseling. He mentioned a
>person with Alzheimer's, for instance. "Do we think anything
>is to be gained by requiring a debtor who is ill with a
>terrible, incurable disease, not even competent to sign legal
>papers anymore, to take a credit education course?"
>
>He also mentioned U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq or
>Afghanistan. Some of them are going broke because their
>military pay is much less than they were earning at home. On
>the Senate floor, Feingold again asked: "Do we want to
>require a soldier to sit down at a computer and take a credit
>counseling or credit education course while they are in Iraq
>in order to protect his or her family back home from
>financial ruin?"
>
>Meanwhile, the new bill won't do anything to force the credit
>card companies to stop their predatory lending, nor will it
>even make them come clean on how much interest or penalties
>they are charging to consumers who pay only the minimum
>balance or who pay late.
>
>Middle class debtors are the ones who are going to suffer the
>most under this bill.
>
>The poor will still be able to get Chapter 7 protection,
>which releases them from most of their debts. And the
>indebted rich can still shelter their property if they get a
>good lawyer to draw up an asset protection trust in states
>where that's allowed. And many affluent debtors could still
>declare bankruptcy and still keep their mansions. On top of
>that, corporations like Enron could still file bankruptcy to
>avoid paying their employees.
>
>But if you're struggling to keep your head above water, this
>bill has one piece of advice for you: drown.
>
>And eighteen Democratic Senators refused to throw you a rope.
>
>(c) 2005 The Progressive
>
>
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand