Bankrupt Ideology
If you don’t know about the bankruptcy bill that’s just been passed by Congress and how it could affect your life, let a comic book writer explain it to you. Read Steven Grant’s online column, the section entitled “Alert for activists and would-be activists”. That heading is a bit misleading. You don’t have to be an activist to care about this. U.S. citizenship and breathing are the only qualifications necessary.
It’s too late to stop the bill now. Both houses of Congress have passed it, and our Proxident — Mr. Christian Compassion, Mr. Middle American Values, Mr. Lips Pressed So Deep in the Asses of the Credit Card Companies You Can’t Even See Him Smirk Anymore — has said he’s eager to sign it. But use the links Grant provides and email your congressperson anyhow. Let them know you think they’ve committed an abomination.
(More about *Hard Time: Season 2* tomorrow.)
April 18th, 2005 at 9:07 AM
This bill is the most hypocritical thing the Republicans have ever done after giving such lip service to the middle class during the election.
BTW, it’s because of Steven Grant’s column that I decided to look for your blog months ago. Love his column.
April 18th, 2005 at 12:20 PM
One thing that worries me is those who are painting it as worse than it really is. The reason for this is because it’s bad enough without the exaggeration, and the fallacies in the exaggerated versions can be used to make it look like the entire thing is non-issue.
One major aspect that is ignored is that states have their own bankruptcy laws, which currently override the federal laws. As near as I can tell, the bill does not change this. Also, Chapter 7 has not been eliminated, although it has been made more difficult. And the income tests for Chapter 13 have become unfair, albeit still more fair than income tests for repaying debts to the IRS.
One item which is not mentioned; the recent increase in bankruptcies is partially due to this law. It has been coming for several years, and a lot of people who normally would have delayed going into bankruptcy declared it because they knew that there was a good chance that if they waited, they wouldn’t have the opportunity to do so. Even local TV commercials for bankruptcy lawyers have been screaming, “Now or never!” for the past two years.
Here’s a more objective view, which gives the bad news as it is:
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3860106&fsrc=nwl
I have been on the wrong end of a bankruptcy; my wife and I went to a major carpet retailer. We should have been suspicious when he said the credit card machines were down, and asked for the deposit in cash. The company went bankrupt, and we were out the deposit money. When you pay a store for merchandise to be delivered, it is considered to be unsecured debt by the courts. And it was clear that the salesman knew about the coming bankruptcy. It was fraud in fact, but not in law.
April 18th, 2005 at 7:40 PM
A P.S.: Steven Grant and I had a disagreement; I said that I believed you read his group, he said he believed you didn’t. I suspect now that I was right.