Republican Betrayal???
New US bankruptcy law offers loophole for the rich
Mar 2, 2005
http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1000657.shtml
The above article is one of many which provides information about legislation to overhaul bankruptcy laws. It is one of many and a simple internet search will provide many more. The Senate passed the bankruptcy overhaul bill by a 74-25 vote. It goes to the House next month and then to President Bush.
My take on this issue-
Regardless of whether the media is right or left the message is the same. This bill sucks and is detrimental to all middle and working class Americans. I voted Republican, but this act that the Republican majority Senate is trying to pass has me seriously questioning whether I made a mistake. It seems to me that the Reps are trying to go back to the days before FDR where people could be imprisoned for unpaid debts or dispossessed from their homes to die on the streets. Banks and credit card companies, have poured millions into lobbying for this bill and the Republicans couldn't roll over fast enough.
Imagine that you have a catastrophic illness and your insurance has paid out to the max and you still owe medical bills. Are ill people going to have the added burden of worrying about whether they're going to have a roof over their heads? Imagine if you are one of the working poor who makes too little to afford health insurance but to much to be eligible for medicaid. What the hell do you do then? 50% of bankruptcies are due to uninsured or uncovered medical expenses. Perhaps the Senate should piggy-back this bill on a medical overhaul bill.
If all you folks with 401's, good medical insurance, a paid off house, etc. think it can't happen to you, check your medical policy. Many, if not most, have a $1,000,000.00 lifetime cap on spending. Just about all of us are only a cancer diagnosis away from losing everything. The point is you can do everything right and still get screwed. I guess we must now become part of a new faith-based health care system. Pray you don't get seriously ill. (Which is now harder due to the changes in the pollution and liability laws.)
How about all the National Guard Troops who had to leave their jobs to fulfill their service, leaving behind a family, mortgage, debts, etc., while making less money? The majority of their families are already shopping at the local food pantries and/or dependent on food stamp and heap(heating) subsidies. Many are forced into bankruptcy each year. Now they will have the added worry and burden of losing everything they've worked so hard for just to protect all of us.
In addition to the above mentioned, this bill will create a permanent underclass by causing inheritances which raises many into a higher economic strata, to disappear.
Another downside, this bill is just in time for the real estate bubble to pop leaving all those proud "home owners" to face the fact that they don't actually own a home - they are renting it from the bank by paying interest only mortgages. It will be a shock to many to find that they can't pay that $500k in debt the bank loaned them. Instead of walking away and leaving Fannie Mae / Freddy Mac with billions of defaulted loans and foreclosed property not worth what they loaned people to pay for it, we'll have people who have to sell their homes at a loss and get on a payment plan for the next 100 years to pay back the mortgage holders. Hopefully their grand kids will eventually end up debt free.
Are we going to create a version of Mexico here with a small wealthy elite and a massive slave class that will never escape their situation, even if they play by all the rules? Given that so many bankruptcies are resultant of medical debt, and the only plans in the pipeline to lower medical costs are trickle down concepts that don't actually help anyone get insured, combined with deep medicaid cuts, I think that the combo pack is an effective elimination of what little is left of the middle class.
I know there are lazy bums who shirk their responsibilities, but the fact is that every time we let huge corporations just walk away from the financial devastation they leave when they lie, cheat and steal, it amounts to a lot more than hundreds of small-time losers. One Enron or Worldcom hurts more people than a city full of deadbeats, yet virtually every top executive at Enron or Worldcom will waltz right into a high paying job while your average individual loser will pay for his irresponsibility many times over in high fees, high interest and exclusion from jobs and education. Martha Stewart is a case in point! Lets put back the banking regulations they took away in the 80's that forced banks to have honest lending practices and prevented things like 35% interest rates! Lets put the responsibility where it belongs. If you send out a gazillion pre-approvals to risky potential borrowers; if you hand out shirts and hockey pucks and little basketballs to anybody who comes along to sign up; if you give loans to college kids who don't have a job yet, you should deal with that risk rather than run to Congress to save you from your own bad loan practices. Plus, its not like 25% interest doesn't have all that business built into it already.
I think this bill, introduced by Santorum (Santorum is the guy who fantasizes publically about having sex with dogs. How does he get re-elected?) and Hatch, (Why is it that every stupid, asinine, or petty policy is ALWAYS backed by Orrin G. Hatch?,) is outrageous and a betrayal by the very people we put in office. I can't believe they can propose this with a straight face while talking about "responsibility", after years of corporate mismanagement scandals and credit card companies that will issue $20,000 in credit over the Internet and just mail out a card to practically anyone. Yet they call consumers irresponsible and negligent
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, former chairman of the committee, said abuse of the bankruptcy system is "one of the worst things I've seen in my time here."
I beg to differ - one of the worst things I've ever seen in my time is how campaign contributions from credit card lobbyists can propel a bill.
Hatch also said the legislation would send a message to help Americans "become more trustworthy and decent."
Well, here's a message for you Orrin, allowing yourself to be bought by lobbyist is neither trustworthy or decent.
Senator Santorum said on the subject: "A lot of those credit cards charge those higher rates because they have to pay for the cost of people who don't pay their credit card bills, they have to change those rates to make up for the costs."
--[Yep, which is why Household Finance Corporation posted a 15.2% return on shareholder's equity for FY2003, prior to being acquired by HSBC. Those subpremium borrowers are just so doggone unprofitable!]
One day, somewhere, one of these assholes is going to have his/her hand held to the fire, and this vote is going to bite them square in the ass. Whether it's a relative, a friend, or their constituents. They will realize the major mistake they've made. Basic economics tells you it is essential to allow some to forgive debts so they can spend money on goods rather than interest and penalties which do not stimulate growth. Hatch and Santorum would do well to follow this line of reasoning. The Reps might not realize it yet but the passing of this bill might be their death toll as according to the American Bankruptcy Institute the majority of bankruptcies occur in red states: http://www.abiworld.org/statcharts/HouseRank.htm
I urge everyone here to contact your senator and let him know how unhappy you are with a bill that protects modern day robber barons while penalizing everyone else. One thing is for certain- if this bill passes I will never vote Republican again even if it means putting Hillary in office! I am not the only one who thinks this way as there are many people who voted Rep and are as outraged about this bill as I am. Here is an excerpt from a conservative at a forum I frequent:
As if the budget wasn't bad enough, now this. A nice F*CK YOU from Congress. Get sick with a low-paying job with no medical insurance? F*CK YOU! Lose your job and can't find another one? F*CK YOU!
Those fools are turning the place into a damn Banana Republic. Corporations get what they want. Voters get a good "F*CK YOU"! Can't pay your bills? We'll garnish your wages. Need more education? Sorry, we spent money like drunken sailors so there's none left for education. Get sick? Either get better or die. If you need help, you'll owe us for life. The plant has moved to China. It isn't coming back until you start working 16 hr days for $0.16/hr. Need a job in the meantime? We're invading Iran next month. We'll need help.
...but at least two men can't get married. That's what's important. Because we all know Almighty God will smote those who approve of such behavior like he did Sodom and Gomorrah.
Or this...
Bankruptcy saved my life, marriage and family. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
‘I lost my company during the Internet bubble bust and 911 when people stopped hiring consultants. I then had two daughters in the hospital at once. I was no deadbeat. I never missed a payment in my life until everything happened at once. I had 100k+ in the bank. Within a year it was all wiped out and the bills just kept rolling in. I took a test that said I had gone through 6 of the ten most stressful things that can happen to you in a lifetime in under a year. I didn't do anything to "deserve" what happened to me yet I contemplated suicide and my family was being torn apart.
I declared bankruptcy (7) because I had no choice. We had no money coming in at all. Try to get hired as a 45-year-old digital engineer. People will not even hire you to flip burgers. We got to keep our clothes and one old car. My brother in law had to rent a 2-bedroom apartment for us (5 people). I slept on the couch.
Finally my wife got a $10 an hour part time job. Then I got a small consulting gig ($500 a week). If we had to pay off the debt we would have never made it. After the bankruptcy was discharged, we were able to breath again. After 2 more years I got a good job. We are on our way back.
Throughout the 20th century Americas' bankruptcy laws have encouraged people to take chances and build this country. Numerous influential Americas have failed, filed bankruptcy and then created something great. Donald Trump is a typical example.
We are now turning into exactly the kind of country we rebelled against. The autocracy is writing laws to protect the autocracy. You are becoming a slave; you just don't realize it yet.'
People are really steamed about this bill so please contact and complain about it to your senator.Please contact by email, phone or snail mail. Contact Info: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
While you're at it you might also want to look into obtaining an asset protection trust of your own. For more information on this subject http://www.taxprophet.com/tp.htm
For the record Hatch, I'll wait till I'm in my 70's and run up all the cards I can get my hands on having a good old time, then leave the creditors holding the bag when I croak. Sounds like a plan to me!
Mar 2, 2005
http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1000657.shtml
The above article is one of many which provides information about legislation to overhaul bankruptcy laws. It is one of many and a simple internet search will provide many more. The Senate passed the bankruptcy overhaul bill by a 74-25 vote. It goes to the House next month and then to President Bush.
My take on this issue-
Regardless of whether the media is right or left the message is the same. This bill sucks and is detrimental to all middle and working class Americans. I voted Republican, but this act that the Republican majority Senate is trying to pass has me seriously questioning whether I made a mistake. It seems to me that the Reps are trying to go back to the days before FDR where people could be imprisoned for unpaid debts or dispossessed from their homes to die on the streets. Banks and credit card companies, have poured millions into lobbying for this bill and the Republicans couldn't roll over fast enough.
Imagine that you have a catastrophic illness and your insurance has paid out to the max and you still owe medical bills. Are ill people going to have the added burden of worrying about whether they're going to have a roof over their heads? Imagine if you are one of the working poor who makes too little to afford health insurance but to much to be eligible for medicaid. What the hell do you do then? 50% of bankruptcies are due to uninsured or uncovered medical expenses. Perhaps the Senate should piggy-back this bill on a medical overhaul bill.
If all you folks with 401's, good medical insurance, a paid off house, etc. think it can't happen to you, check your medical policy. Many, if not most, have a $1,000,000.00 lifetime cap on spending. Just about all of us are only a cancer diagnosis away from losing everything. The point is you can do everything right and still get screwed. I guess we must now become part of a new faith-based health care system. Pray you don't get seriously ill. (Which is now harder due to the changes in the pollution and liability laws.)
How about all the National Guard Troops who had to leave their jobs to fulfill their service, leaving behind a family, mortgage, debts, etc., while making less money? The majority of their families are already shopping at the local food pantries and/or dependent on food stamp and heap(heating) subsidies. Many are forced into bankruptcy each year. Now they will have the added worry and burden of losing everything they've worked so hard for just to protect all of us.
In addition to the above mentioned, this bill will create a permanent underclass by causing inheritances which raises many into a higher economic strata, to disappear.
Another downside, this bill is just in time for the real estate bubble to pop leaving all those proud "home owners" to face the fact that they don't actually own a home - they are renting it from the bank by paying interest only mortgages. It will be a shock to many to find that they can't pay that $500k in debt the bank loaned them. Instead of walking away and leaving Fannie Mae / Freddy Mac with billions of defaulted loans and foreclosed property not worth what they loaned people to pay for it, we'll have people who have to sell their homes at a loss and get on a payment plan for the next 100 years to pay back the mortgage holders. Hopefully their grand kids will eventually end up debt free.
Are we going to create a version of Mexico here with a small wealthy elite and a massive slave class that will never escape their situation, even if they play by all the rules? Given that so many bankruptcies are resultant of medical debt, and the only plans in the pipeline to lower medical costs are trickle down concepts that don't actually help anyone get insured, combined with deep medicaid cuts, I think that the combo pack is an effective elimination of what little is left of the middle class.
I know there are lazy bums who shirk their responsibilities, but the fact is that every time we let huge corporations just walk away from the financial devastation they leave when they lie, cheat and steal, it amounts to a lot more than hundreds of small-time losers. One Enron or Worldcom hurts more people than a city full of deadbeats, yet virtually every top executive at Enron or Worldcom will waltz right into a high paying job while your average individual loser will pay for his irresponsibility many times over in high fees, high interest and exclusion from jobs and education. Martha Stewart is a case in point! Lets put back the banking regulations they took away in the 80's that forced banks to have honest lending practices and prevented things like 35% interest rates! Lets put the responsibility where it belongs. If you send out a gazillion pre-approvals to risky potential borrowers; if you hand out shirts and hockey pucks and little basketballs to anybody who comes along to sign up; if you give loans to college kids who don't have a job yet, you should deal with that risk rather than run to Congress to save you from your own bad loan practices. Plus, its not like 25% interest doesn't have all that business built into it already.
I think this bill, introduced by Santorum (Santorum is the guy who fantasizes publically about having sex with dogs. How does he get re-elected?) and Hatch, (Why is it that every stupid, asinine, or petty policy is ALWAYS backed by Orrin G. Hatch?,) is outrageous and a betrayal by the very people we put in office. I can't believe they can propose this with a straight face while talking about "responsibility", after years of corporate mismanagement scandals and credit card companies that will issue $20,000 in credit over the Internet and just mail out a card to practically anyone. Yet they call consumers irresponsible and negligent
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, former chairman of the committee, said abuse of the bankruptcy system is "one of the worst things I've seen in my time here."
I beg to differ - one of the worst things I've ever seen in my time is how campaign contributions from credit card lobbyists can propel a bill.
Hatch also said the legislation would send a message to help Americans "become more trustworthy and decent."
Well, here's a message for you Orrin, allowing yourself to be bought by lobbyist is neither trustworthy or decent.
Senator Santorum said on the subject: "A lot of those credit cards charge those higher rates because they have to pay for the cost of people who don't pay their credit card bills, they have to change those rates to make up for the costs."
--[Yep, which is why Household Finance Corporation posted a 15.2% return on shareholder's equity for FY2003, prior to being acquired by HSBC. Those subpremium borrowers are just so doggone unprofitable!]
One day, somewhere, one of these assholes is going to have his/her hand held to the fire, and this vote is going to bite them square in the ass. Whether it's a relative, a friend, or their constituents. They will realize the major mistake they've made. Basic economics tells you it is essential to allow some to forgive debts so they can spend money on goods rather than interest and penalties which do not stimulate growth. Hatch and Santorum would do well to follow this line of reasoning. The Reps might not realize it yet but the passing of this bill might be their death toll as according to the American Bankruptcy Institute the majority of bankruptcies occur in red states: http://www.abiworld.org/statcharts/HouseRank.htm
I urge everyone here to contact your senator and let him know how unhappy you are with a bill that protects modern day robber barons while penalizing everyone else. One thing is for certain- if this bill passes I will never vote Republican again even if it means putting Hillary in office! I am not the only one who thinks this way as there are many people who voted Rep and are as outraged about this bill as I am. Here is an excerpt from a conservative at a forum I frequent:
As if the budget wasn't bad enough, now this. A nice F*CK YOU from Congress. Get sick with a low-paying job with no medical insurance? F*CK YOU! Lose your job and can't find another one? F*CK YOU!
Those fools are turning the place into a damn Banana Republic. Corporations get what they want. Voters get a good "F*CK YOU"! Can't pay your bills? We'll garnish your wages. Need more education? Sorry, we spent money like drunken sailors so there's none left for education. Get sick? Either get better or die. If you need help, you'll owe us for life. The plant has moved to China. It isn't coming back until you start working 16 hr days for $0.16/hr. Need a job in the meantime? We're invading Iran next month. We'll need help.
...but at least two men can't get married. That's what's important. Because we all know Almighty God will smote those who approve of such behavior like he did Sodom and Gomorrah.
Or this...
Bankruptcy saved my life, marriage and family. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
‘I lost my company during the Internet bubble bust and 911 when people stopped hiring consultants. I then had two daughters in the hospital at once. I was no deadbeat. I never missed a payment in my life until everything happened at once. I had 100k+ in the bank. Within a year it was all wiped out and the bills just kept rolling in. I took a test that said I had gone through 6 of the ten most stressful things that can happen to you in a lifetime in under a year. I didn't do anything to "deserve" what happened to me yet I contemplated suicide and my family was being torn apart.
I declared bankruptcy (7) because I had no choice. We had no money coming in at all. Try to get hired as a 45-year-old digital engineer. People will not even hire you to flip burgers. We got to keep our clothes and one old car. My brother in law had to rent a 2-bedroom apartment for us (5 people). I slept on the couch.
Finally my wife got a $10 an hour part time job. Then I got a small consulting gig ($500 a week). If we had to pay off the debt we would have never made it. After the bankruptcy was discharged, we were able to breath again. After 2 more years I got a good job. We are on our way back.
Throughout the 20th century Americas' bankruptcy laws have encouraged people to take chances and build this country. Numerous influential Americas have failed, filed bankruptcy and then created something great. Donald Trump is a typical example.
We are now turning into exactly the kind of country we rebelled against. The autocracy is writing laws to protect the autocracy. You are becoming a slave; you just don't realize it yet.'
People are really steamed about this bill so please contact and complain about it to your senator.Please contact by email, phone or snail mail. Contact Info: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
While you're at it you might also want to look into obtaining an asset protection trust of your own. For more information on this subject http://www.taxprophet.com/tp.htm
For the record Hatch, I'll wait till I'm in my 70's and run up all the cards I can get my hands on having a good old time, then leave the creditors holding the bag when I croak. Sounds like a plan to me!
posted by Concerned Citizen at 3:06 PM
<< Home