Semper Fraud

The bankruptcy bill passed today.

Jumpin’ Jesus on a pogostick.

Did you know that a great majority of the families that declared bankruptcy in 2004 did so because of a major life crisis like, ohhhhh, huge medical bills or layoffs that threw them helplessly, headlong into a downward spiral of debt? Didja’ know that credit card companies have been lobbying for over eight years to pass this legislation? Well, now after a multi-year, multi-million dollar lobbying effort by these gut-wrenchingly-greedy credit card companies, Congress approved a sweeping change in bankruptcy law that makes it virtually impossible for “jus’ folks” who have been dealt a shitty hand to get a fresh start.

"Representative government..." sure, I buy that.... Maybe once upon a time... for one, brief shining moment... but those days are a hazy shade of winter now, my friends.

So, after accepting more than $620,000 from the lending industry to his various PACs, Republican Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay lead the charge today, and once again royally-screwed the common folk. Us. You, me and a whole bunch of people who piss me off at the mall, but whom I still wouldn’t wish this financial catastrophe on under any circumstances. This change in bankruptcy laws is a clear example of whose interests the Republicans in Congress are serving… but make no mistake: a few monumentally-misguided Democrats voted for it too. Bottom line: far too many of our elected representatives just merrily betrayed the middle class. Again.

So, while this vote leads to a bonanza for countless, faceless corporate contributors, it’s sure to be the bane of untold numbers of struggling American families in the very near, very dire future.

USA! USA!

“What’s wrong with this legislation?” you ask? Well, just let me outline a few things for ya’, alright? First of all, over a million families had to declare bankruptcy last year, and half of them? They had to do it because of unexpected and extraordinary medical expenses. Millions more totter helplessly on the brink of bankruptcy as I type this. The large numbers of bankruptcies is a clear sign of the tenuous state of the economy (thanks to Dubya’s wildly-irresponsible fiscal policies… though you won’t hear any of his big oil cronies complaining); millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules in a game increasingly stacked against them could be pushed at any time to financial ruin by job loss, business failure or major medical expenses. We’d all love to think it couldn’t happen to us, yet we all know it’s getting harder and harder here in the trenches of suburbia. Until today, the safety net has historically been bankruptcy, but now Congress has made life much tougher for many hard-working folks in order to secure billions in profits for creditors.

USA! USA!

Didja’ realize that the legislation is over 500 pages long (not uncommon… these are lawyers and wannabe intellectuals after all), and that the Republicans & corporate lobbyists were in such a hurry to shove it through that it’s chockablock full of typos and errata?

Here are some highlights:

The law makes families pay more to creditors, both in bankruptcy and after bankruptcy, so that instead of offering a clean start, a bankruptcy filing will leave families burdened by credit card debt, car loans, and continued payments to banks or to payday lenders.


It makes it more expensive to file for bankruptcy by driving up fees so that
the people in the most trouble can't afford to file, and if they could… well,
just re-read that point above.


It makes it trickier to get through a bankruptcy so that more people will get
pushed out of bankruptcy with no debt relief.


It makes it harder to repay debts by increasing the minimum payments in
repayment plans.


Best of all, it preserves the millionaires' loopholes… you know, special
privileges that allow the uber-rich to escape their debts by hiding their
money in special exemptions and trusts.


Thing is, what pisses me off goes far beyond the passing of this legislation… I’m pissed I’m not surprised. You know why this isn’t surprising? Well, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, MBNA, Credit Suisse First Boston, Bank of America and Wachovia were among the top contributors to Bush's two campaigns in 2000 and 2004, giving more than $300,000 in total donations. MBNA also was one of the top contributors to Republican candidates and committees in the 2004 elections with some $7.3 million in political donations. Hell, they’ve a right to expect a return on their investment, right? That’s the American way!

Remember Enron? WorldCom? Those bankruptcies cost thousands of regular people with sensible, American cars their jobs. But instead of addressing corporations run amok, Congress is helping companies crush those same struggling Americans. Yeah, I know… a bunch of the Enron secretaries got to pose in Playboy as a result of that debacle, and they got to hang out with Hef and Debra Jo Fondren, and snort lines offa’ Jimmy Caan’s ass… but they also had to date Pauly Shore… still think they came out of that fiasco unscathed?

And see, this shit is just the start. This week the radical Republican leadership –yeah, I mean Tom DeLay, so?- have declared a war on ordinary Americans with a “corporate trifecta:” bankruptcy law changes, a permanent repeal of the estate tax (which only affects the super-rich, ie: not you), and a budget that cuts health care and explodes the debt.

USA! USA!

Can someone tell me why there aren’t term limits in Congress? Please? It’s painfully obvious that most of the people we send to the hill are tucked in the hip-pockets of their corporate financiers. It’s equally clear that they don’t care to listen for our anguished cries while they thunder at their bully pulpits on behalf of the squintilly-billionaires and xtian fundamentalists. Keeping their offices for four-score years doesn’t make them more experienced and more nuanced… it makes them more corrupt. Period.

Barbara Boxer rules. I have a Barbara Boxer poster on the wall of my office (well, not really, I’m trying to make a point. That’d be cool though.), and I’d still be happy to vote her out of office in 2006 if the nation… or just the people who are getting screwed by this administration and this congress… oh, I’m sorry, that was redundant… where was I? Oh yeah… I’d be happy to vote her out as part of a clean-sweep in ’06. Just one, huge, do-over. Send a message… this whole dog and pony show is supposed to be by us, for us, goddamit.

Is that little plan rife with problems and unimagined pitfalls? You betcha’ it is… honestly think you’d be any worse off? What, we might not get to watch any more steroid hearings on CSPAN? Oh, we’ll have to stop flushing money down the toilet of the Iraq “war?” Yeah, you’re right, that would suck.

Sarcasm is still legal, right?

I thought these were supposed to be friendly fascists!*

What is it? Is it all a carefully orchestrated plan to subjugate the middle class, and drive them to the state-sanctioned religion out of sheer desperation? Shit, I’m on the verge of praying… but I’m not convinced Robert Goulet is gonna’ listen. He’s always going on about “free willy” or some shit….

Ahhhhhhh, Camelot… there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home….

*Thanks Scott!