http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-von-hoffman/indentured-servitude_b_6170.htmlKevin and Linda Moore of Boise, Idaho, declared bankruptcy recently. They were required to list each asset and its value. They put down $5 for the toaster and $10 for the cat.
The Moores are among hundreds of thousands hurrying to declare bankruptcy before the new federal bankruptcy law goes into effect. The new law makes it very hard to get debts wiped out. Instead of a wipe-out, you get reorganized and have to pay so much a month. How many months would the Moores have to pay under the new dispensation? At, let’s say, $30 a month that would be - - Oh, don’t forget to calculate the interest.
In addition to not getting the debts wiped out, a bankrupt must attend re-education classes in which the financial offender is taught how to manage his or her money correctly. Take a family like the Moores. If one of its members comes down with a ruptured appendix, the sickly one will be cautioned not to go running to a hospital which they cannot afford but to go to Rite-Aid, there to buy a box of tissues so as to clean up the mess at home. With a little planning and ingenuity people do not have to live beyond their means.
The social benefits of tens of millions in perpetual debt are enormous. Debt ridden persons cannot afford to tell their bosses they can take this job and shove it. Debt ridden persons dare not go out on strike or honor a picket line. They are better than obedient. They are conveniently servile.
Mass indebtedness promotes the status quo and protects against change. All that and we make money off the interest, too.
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Tighter Bankruptcy Law Favored
Bills Making It Harder to Erase Debt Set to Clear Congress
By Kathleen Day
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 11, 2005; Page A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15399-2005Feb10.html=======================================
Monthly payments used to be 5% of the debt balance. It was lowered to 2% to make it more attractive for consumers to use credit cards.
More then 100 million Americans have a credit card debt and use credit cards "to make ends meet". The average US family has 8 credit cards and $8000 debt.
source:
PBS Frontline: Secret history of the credit card
November 23, 2004
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/---
"The House of Representatives approves an overhaul of the nation's bankruptcy laws Wednesday, in a vote of 302 to 126.
The bill, which passed in the Senate last month, will make it more difficult to get rid of debts by filing for bankruptcy, forcing tens of thousand of people to work out repayment plans instead.
President Bush is expected to sign the bill, which opponents say will hurt the economically vulnerable."
source:
NPR
Congress Overhauls Bankruptcy Laws
by Brian Naylor
April 14, 2005
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4600645---
"Within the next month, Bank of America, MBNA and Citigroup will raise minimum monthly payments on their cards from 2 percent of the balance to up to 4 percent, not including interest. Other card issuers are expected to make similar changes by the end of the year."
"On the good side of that, they will get out of debt faster, but on the down side, it's gonna be a squeeze."
source:
Yahoo News
New Credit Card Payment Requirements Bring Good, Bad News
July 18, 2005
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=401&e=2&u=/wyff/20050718/lo_wyff/2831815