The Department of Yet Another Law That Won’t Apply To Them raises the red flag this morning on the bankruptcy bill that the House is poised to take up this week, the bill having passed the Senate last week.
Seems that several members of Congress are in five-digit debt, despite earning six-digit salaries and untold amount of perks.
More than 40 members of the House reported carrying at least $10,000 in credit-card or charge-card debt in 2003 and parts of 2004, according to a survey of financial disclosure reports conducted by The Hill.
The findings come as the House is poised to take up a bankruptcy-reform measure that would give banks and credit card companies expanded powers to seek repayment from debtors who file bankruptcy.
Opponents of the bill drew hope from the data, suggesting that lawmakers who nurse high-interest debt might be more likely to sympathize with indebted consumers.
BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…!!! (snort)
That’s good, Hill.  Tell me another one…
High credit-card debt is often a factor in the decision to file for bankruptcy, although the root cause is usually related to a life-altering event such as a divorce, illness or the loss of a job, experts said.
“Members aren’t that much different than regular Americans. Some run up high credit-card bills when they shouldn’t. One would hope that it would make them more sensitive to regular Americans earning far less money that are threatened by this bill,” said Travis Plunkett, legislative director at the Consumer Federation of America, which has opposed the bill on the grounds that it favors credit-card companies at the expense of average consumers.
Oh, so I  can write tons of NSF checks at the House bank like they used to be able to do?  I get to embezzle and engage in drug transactions like they used to do?  And what do you want to bet that Visa & Mastercard will look on my debt as favorably as they will theirs?
(Hint:  If you think they will, come talk to me.  See, I have this bridge…)
And Plunkett, do you really  think that these Congressfolk will have to live under these laws themselves?
They have their own retirement system, so no Social Security laws they write ever apply to them.  They’re exempt from affirmative-action hiring laws (not that those laws are good, you understand, but that’s another post) that the rest of us have to follow.  Do you honestly  believe they won’t exempt themselves from this legislative crock o’…?
Disclosure guidelines require that lawmakers list their assets and liabilities by checking boxes indicating a range of values for each account – for example, $15,000 to $50,000. For members with multiple accounts, The Hill used the total of the lower number on each account to determine the member’s rank in the survey.
It is important to note that members are required to record the highest debt incurred on any account at any time during the filing period. Thus it is highly likely that some members with multiple accounts did not carry high debt on all their accounts at the same time.
Oh, so I can just take a Visa balance, transfer it to a new Mastercard account, then after that introductory rate expires, slide the balance over to an American Express account, just as easily as you can,  Congressdolt? 
Ackerman (ED. NOTE:  Gary Ackerman, D-NY), for example, said that he routinely transferred a high balance from one account to another, which would be reported in the same way if he had carried a high balance on all the cards at the same time.
“If you do it carefully, you wind up paying nothing in interest,” he argued. “If someone is going to give you free money, I want to be in that line.” Asked if he planned to pay off the balance for good, he said, “If they keep offering zero percent interest for three months, I’ll do it forever. … Do you wanna loan me a couple of bucks at no interest?”
That depends, Congresscritter:  Do you wanna grease the skids for me and put in a good word with Visa, Mastercard and AMEX so that I can open an account by just signing my name on an application, no questions asked?  Because I’m positive  that’s what they’d do for you, now isn’t it?
As hard as this for me to do, I think I have to side with the Demoscum who are against this POS legislation.
For those of us looking at bankruptcy, thanks to humongous credit-card debt run up while just trying to survive after some fat-assed bitch up and quit her job without a good reason (Stephanie Dawn Stewart Crager, call your office)…this bill just made our lives a lot harder.  And mine isn’t the only hard-luck story out there, and this legislation purports to kick us in the head after we’re down.
A $30 billion (with a B) industry now wants an extra five billion.  GOP, ask yourselves if it’s worth the risk of losing, say, about four million votes nationwide.  Because I guaran-damn-tee you – a lot of folks whom are going to be hurt by this bill voted Republican in the last election.  And they’re going to remember this.
I know I  will.
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I, um, agree…
?
Yeah, we sitzpinklers are a real, stinky, skanky bunch! I want Islamophiles to suck my hairy, ball-less liberal dick!
Islam is backward and violent – I am swishy and limp-wristed.
[Cut & paste, cut & paste, cut & paste, bee-yotch.
I can do this as often as you can post – if  I don’t decide to just delete the damned things…  -LSI]
From Crager’s article:
“Members aren’t that much different than regular Americans. Some run up high credit-card bills when they shouldn’t. One would hope that it would make them more sensitive to regular Americans earning far less money that are threatened by this bill,” said Travis Plunkett, legislative director at the Consumer Federation of America, which has opposed the bill on the grounds that it favors credit-card companies at the expense of average consumers.
David’s response:
Haven’t these fools heard of leadership by example?
Excuse me, that was a stupid question!
In a rational world, we would elect leaders who would set a good example for the rest of society.
Actually this is a pretty clear measure – the lawmakers in Washington, all players for the same team, are passing legislation that marries people to their debts so that when our economy REALLY goes down, those people will essentially be slaves. After all, how can you sell a house on which you owe $300,000.00, when it’s only worth 1/2 to 2/3 of that?
I think the best thing for all Bush-lovers to do RIGHT NOW is to enlist in the military. GO DO IT NOW.
Why?  So you won’t have to worry about all of us coming down to Lauderdale and forcing you to hide out in the trailer park again? (snicker)