Morally Bankrupt

That sums up my position on all these Senators voting in favor of bringing the new bankruptcy bill to the floor of the Senate. This is the kind of legislation we're seeing a lot of - a direct attempt to deny basic government assistance to the low and middle-income Americans who need it the most while sheltering the richest among us from negative consequences.

I'll let Paul Krugman, NY Times columnist, explain it. He is, after all, an economist, whereas I'm a guy who recently confessed to a total inability to balance my checking account.

Oh, and I'm linking to the column through Free Republic rather than the NYT website because they uncooly require membership just to read a stinking economics commentary.

The bankruptcy bill was written by and for credit card companies, and the industry's political muscle is the reason it seems unstoppable. But the bill also fits into the broader context of what Jacob Hacker, a political scientist at Yale, calls "risk privatization": a steady erosion of the protection the government provides against personal misfortune, even as ordinary families face ever-growing economic insecurity.

The bill would make it much harder for families in distress to write off their debts and make a fresh start. Instead, many debtors would find themselves on an endless treadmill of payments.

This bill makes it much harder for an ordinary, non-wealthy American to declare bankruptcy and absolve unpayable debts. Republicans and credit card companies (odd how they always seem to be on the same sides of these things...) argue that the bill merely tries to prevent fraudulent bankruptcies.

But is that really a huge problem? People take on lots of debt to buy cool stuff and then, when they can't pay the bills, they just throw up their hands, declare bankruptcy and get off scott free without paying a cent? Does that happen?

Oh, right, it doesn't have to. Just by raising the possibility that it could theoretically happen, politicians can pull yet another snowjob on the good people of Dumbfuckistan (the Dumbfuckistani?)

Here's more Krugman:

A vast majority of personal bankruptcies in the United States are the result of severe misfortune. One recent study found that more than half of bankruptcies are the result of medical emergencies. The rest are overwhelmingly the result either of job loss or of divorce.

To the extent that there is significant abuse of the system, it's concentrated among the wealthy - including corporate executives found guilty of misleading investors - who can exploit loopholes in the law to protect their wealth, no matter how ill-gotten.

Now, I don't claim to know for sure who's lying, but someone is. Either the credit card companies are overestimating the damage done by fraudulent bankruptcy claims or Paul Krugman's making up statistics to make Republicans and creditors look bad.

You can probably figure out who I'm willing to believe...I'll give you a hint - it's not Mastercard.

It is kind of a stretch to accept that unnecessary bankruptcies are having a terribly pernicious effect on credit card company profits. According to the ever-reliable Atrios...

The credit card industry raked in $30 billion in profits last year, some of which is clearly being spent to grease the palms of Washington politicians. Bankruptcy hasn't hurt the credit card companies one iota.

Yowza. $30 billion. And yet they want to deny middle-class family men who've been shitcanned so their job can be sent to Bangalore, India's thriving technological sector the ability to rejigger his debt portfolio? Sound fair to you?

Of course not. It's more BS Bush administration nonsense...take away all the governmental programs that help anyone who isn't already super-rich. Create a massive permanant underclass to serve you cheeseburgers, rent you videos, fill up your car with gas and perform all your daughter's back-alley abortions. Cause they don't want that shit to be legal either.

Had enough? Want to get more angry? Here's more Krugman:

Other amendments were aimed at protecting families and individuals who have clearly been forced into bankruptcy by events, or who would face extreme hardship in repaying debts. Ted Kennedy introduced an exemption for cases of medical bankruptcy. Russ Feingold introduced an amendment protecting the homes of the elderly. Dick Durbin asked for protection for armed services members and veterans. All were rejected.

Now, bear in mind, people, this thing hasn't actually passed and become law as of yet. It's obtained what's known as cloture, which would be a good name for an indie rock band. That basically means it will be heard in the House, and if it passes there, will make it to the Senate.

But if you don't get what that means, we currently have one party dominating all three branches of government. So as soon as a piece of legislation like this actually makes it on to the Congressional agenda, it's as good as passed. They're kind of into supporting their own, these right-wing assholes, in case you hadn't noticed.

As if that weren't bad enough, tons of Democrats voted to bring this issue to Congress as well. How ridiculous.

I'll go ahead and say it: I like Democrats because they're not totally evil, but most of them are completely stupid. They have no idea how to sincerely oppose the Bush agenda. Look at all these Democrats voting "yea" on cloture for this insane legislation, courtesy of MaxSpeak:

Biden (D-DE), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Yea
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea

Is that Abe Linocln from Arkansas? You know, Lindsey Graham don't take too kindly to him, on account of him freeing the slaves and all. (If you missed my post behind this joke, check it here).

And how surprising that Joe Lieberman made the sellout asshole Democrat list! He's usually so progressive. (NOTE: That was sarcasm).

But seriously, folks, if you live in one of these states, no more voting for these guys. They suck.