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Open Fire On U.S. Consumers
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Worker Uprising Against Wells Fargo Spreads After Major Victory to Keep Factories Open
Mike Elk
DrugReporter:
Michael Jackson Probably O.D.'d -- Just Like Thousands of Americans Who Fall Victim to Our Overdose Epidemic
Jill Harris
Environment:
Thanks to Our Fossil Fuel Addiction, We May Be Setting Ourselves Up for a Catastrophic Natural Event
Scott Thill
Health and Wellness:
Labor Rallies for Health Care, But Keeps it Vague
Jane Slaughter
Immigration:
Why is the Government Criminalizing Humanitarian Aid at the U.S.-Mexico Border?
Valeria Fernandez
Media and Technology:
"More Better Faster!": How Our Spastic Digital Culture Scrambles Our Brains
David Bollier
Movie Mix:
This Time, Pixar Has Gone Too Far
Eileen Jones
Politics:
The Hell We're Leaving Behind in Iraq
Jodie Evans
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Why Are People Obsessed with Their Kids?
Vanessa Richmond
Rights and Liberties:
In Iran, Fears That a Prominent Prisoner Detained In Election Upheaval Could Die in Jail
Katie Mattern
Sex and Relationships:
Why the Left Looks Like a Big Hypocrite in the Sanford Affair
JoAnn Wypijewski
Take Action:
Pressuring Obama to Make the Right Decision on Health Care is AlterNet's Top Campaign of the Week
Byard Duncan
Water:
David v. Goliath: Help Michigan Citizens Protect Their Water from Nestle's Bottling Operations
Leslie Samuelrich
World:
Amnesty: Israel Used Children as Human Shields in Gaza
U.S. consumers and freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena found themselves in the same position this week: under fire from those put in place to protect them.
For Sgrena, the bloody barrage came from jittery U.S. soldiers. For consumers, it was jaded U.S. senators who pulled the trigger, about to pass a bankruptcy bill so hostile to ordinary American families that it could only have come about in a place as corrupt, cynical and unmoored from reality as Washington, D.C.
In a normal world, those elected to represent the interests of the people would have fought for bankruptcy legislation that would, well, represent the interests of the people. But not in Beltway Bizarroland. Instead of cracking down on predatory lending practices, closing loopholes that favor the wealthy, and strengthening the safety net for working people, single mothers and elderly Americans struggling to recover from a financial setback, the Senate put together a nasty little bill that reads like a credit industry wish list. Rubbing salt in the wound, Sen. Charles Grassley, the bill's chief sponsor, labeled it the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 – even though it does nothing to prevent bankruptcy abuse or protect consumers.
So what does the bill do? It makes it harder for average people to file for bankruptcy protection; it makes it easier for landlords to evict a bankrupt tenant; it endangers child support payments by giving a wider array of creditors a shot at post-bankruptcy income; it allows millionaires to shield an unlimited amount of value in homes and asset protection trusts; it makes it more difficult for small businesses to reorganize, while opening new loopholes for the Enrons of the world; it allows creditors to provide misleading information; and it does nothing to reign in lending abuses that frequently turn manageable debt into unmanageable crises. Even in failure, ordinary Americans do not get a level playing field.
Credit card companies have been feverishly lobbying for this legislation for nearly a decade – and it looks like the $34 million the finance and credit industries have contributed to political campaigns since 1996 is finally about to pay off. On Tuesday, the cloture vote on the bill was 69 to 31. The House passed similar legislation last year and GOP leaders are hoping to bypass the conference committee deadlocks that have derailed similar measures in the past and have the bill on President Bush's desk in short order. The president, well aware that credit card giant MBNA is one of the Republican Party's largest donors, has promised to sign the bill as soon as someone hands him a pen.
Make no mistake, the inequitable nature of the bill – bending over backwards to help the credit card industry while sticking it to American working people who fall on hard times – is no accident. Time and again over the last week, the Senate shot down amendments that would have made the bill a bit less mean-spirited. They denied proposals that would have made it easier for military veterans, the sick and the elderly to qualify for bankruptcy protection. They even rejected an amendment that would have put a 30 percent ceiling on the interest rates credit card companies can charge. Thirty percent – that's more than Paulie Walnuts charges. But 74 U.S. senators – including John Kerry, Harry Reid, Barack Obama and Dick Durbin – clearly thought that wasn't high enough. Quick, somebody send those guys a Bible bookmarked to Deuteronomy 23:19: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother."
Find more Arianna at Ariannaonline.com.
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| More Columns: | ||
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Labor Rallies for Health Care, But Keeps it Vague Health and Wellness: Little grassroots supports exists for health care reform among organized labor as workers feel betrayed by the unions that represent them. By Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes. July 3, 2009. |
Worker Uprising Against Wells Fargo Spreads After Major Victory to Keep Factories Open Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Workers fight back against Wells Fargo for closing their factory and they win! Now other workers take on the fight. By Mike Elk, AlterNet. July 2, 2009. |
Toxic Chemicals: A Culprit Behind the Autism Outbreak Health and Wellness: Teflon, plastics, formaldehyde, and other household chemicals are seen as leading drivers behind the autism outbreak. By Harvey Karp, Huffington Post. July 2, 2009. |