New bankruptcy law a problem for Katrina victims

[modrepub]

By Jonathan Stempel
1 hour, 17 minutes ago



NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hurricane Katrina is expected to cause a spurt of bankruptcy filings by storm victims -- and sweeping changes in U.S. bankruptcy laws may leave them even more strapped than they otherwise might be.

<snip>

"People who are seriously affected by this hurricane are not going to be able to file bankruptcy by October 17," said Henry Sommer, co-editor of "Collier on Bankruptcy," a leading reference work. "They have more pressing things in their lives, like survival."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/weather_katrina_bankruptcy_dc

[texpatriot2004]

1. Oh, this is going to backfire on those politicians big time. n/t

[Lindacooks]

3. From your lips to 'god's' ears.

I hope this is the DEATH of the fucking Repuke party.

[calimary]

9. You're not the only one, my friend.

Not by a LONG shot. And I'd venture to say you have a LOT more people joining your chorus, after all this.

Tipping point - thy name is Katrina. I think America and the mainstream media have just awakened. Finally.

[Cha]

10. And the dems who voted

for it.

[natrat]

20. Harold Ford you fuking douche

[TygrBright]

23. If ONLY....

>>I hope this is the DEATH of the fucking Repuke party.<<

...it were just the GOPpies.

Unfortunately, many Dems are also wholly owned henchfolk of the "financial services(!) industry" and helped hold down the American people for this anal rape.

With any luck we'll lose the lot of them.

unabashedly vindictively,
Bright

[TommyO]

11. Including the democrats

who supported this travesty, and good riddance, maybe we'll get a few more real Democrats in the House and Senate.

[NVMojo]

27. Senator Harry Reid voted for the bankruptcy bill. I got a condescending

form letter from him in response to my letter explaining what it was like to lose a job with massive medical bills piling up. He didn't care. He had to support MBNA and others.

[6000eliot]

35. Fuck every Democrat who voted for this poor-bashing bill!

[xray s]

2. It's all part of Bush's "Taking Personal Responsibility" America

You choose to live in New Orleans. So fuck you.

Sincerely
W

[calimary]

8. Yeah. It's called "Everybody Take Responsibility Except Him."

george "Let 'em eat cake" bush. FUCK YOU, TOO, fuckwad. I wouldn't want to be remembered the way YOU will be remembered...

Visualize IMPEACHMENT!!!!!!!
Now, come on - doesn't this guy deserve it?

[krkaufman]

22. What a perfect picture. n/t

[DebJ]

4. oh my God. This is just too much to bear....I have visions of

suicides....ghostly recollections of the Depression...people jumping off the Capitol Building in DC after buying life insurance so their families could eat...

[iconoclastic cat]

5. Oh, good god, no.

[1932]

6. So many Americans were standing at the precipice without Katrina

being a factor.

Now, Katrina is going give resonance to the idea that people suffer crisese and the government today doesn't care about them.

[madaboutharry]

7. Hopefully, there will be

legislation that will help these people.

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. How about they cancel that ill-conceived piece of shit tomorrow?

That on e was one big fat fair-weather give away to bastard credit card companies.

[slay]

14. I second that!

Never shoulda been passed to begin with. :mad:

[gulfcoastliberal]

13. Thisa was Joe Biden's baby

Mr MBNA is to thank for this. What an utter piece of shit.

[bluestateguy]

15. If I was in that situation

I would fake my own death, move to Switzerland under a new name and Swiss bank account and start over.

[Rose Siding]

16. Conyers, Watt, Nadler and Lee are tackling this problem. Call your rep!

Bankruptcy


Every Dem had better line up to support this, include the Senators from MBNA.


Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Rep. Mel Watt, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee announced today that when Congress returns next Tuesday, they will introduce legislation to protect the thousands of families and small businesses financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina from being penalized by anti-debtor provisions contained in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, scheduled to take effect on October 17, 2005. Reps. Conyers, Nadler, and Jackson Lee released the following joint statement:

"We are concerned that just as survivors of Hurricane Katrina are beginning to rebuild their lives, the new bankruptcy law will result in a further and unintended financial whammy. Unfortunately, the new law is likely to have the consequence of preventing devestated families from being able to obtain relief from massive and unexpected new financial obligations they are incurring and by forcing them to repay their debt with income they no longer have, but which is counted by the law.

When the Judiciary Committee considered the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act earlier this year, Ms. Jackson Lee offered an amendment to protect the victims of natural disaster like those now devastated by Hurricane Katrina. While the amendment was defeated on a party line vote without any debate, we hope that in light of recent events our colleagues will recognize the importance of protecting our most financially vulnerable Americans.

The legislation we plan to introduce will prevent new bankruptcy provisions from having adverse and unintended consequences for the hundreds of thousands now facing financial catastrophe by providing needed flexibility for victims of natural disasters in bankruptcy proceedings.

Our common sense bill will insure that we do not compound a natural disaster with a man made financial disaster. We hope to obtain bipartisan support for expedited consideration of this critical legislation."

##109-JUD-9/1/05##

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_08_28_atrios_archive.html#112560030552421807

[MidwestTransplant]

17. Yeah but at least all those millionaires millionaires won't be able to

cheat the system. /Sarcasm

[sarcasmo]

18. It will be OK for the Airlines to file Bankruptcy. Welcome to the new

third World Amerika.

[TankLV]

29. Don't forget Donal Trump - the bastard.

And he is one of my companies clients. Fortunately, I'm not one the the group working on ANY of his shit.

[Zhade]

19. Thank economic traitors like Biden (DINO-MBNA) for this.

Your vote will cause suicides, Biden. I hope you never fucking sleep.

[NEOBuckeye]

30. What's so bad is that MBNA no longer even exists. Bank of America ate them

Through a recent merger. Call the Bankruptcy Bill their parting shot at the hand that feeds them.

[roguevalley]

21. it will have to be changed or political heads will roll. no one is going

to survive watching people get screwed paying for a pile of wood that used to be a house after this. buh-bye, repugs.

[AlphaCentauri]

24. Watch out for insurance companies filing bankruptcy before 10/17 n/t

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. Every rep who voted for that bill

should be held personally responsible for financing the welfare of these people.

[NVMojo]

26. I said this very thing here a couple of days ago and got told I was wrong

as the victims are poor and are exempt ...Sadly, we can think our own Senator Harry Reid for screwing the poor here, the people who really do deserve a clean start. Shame on this nation, this greedy corporate trough nation.

[Mr Rabble]

33. You know what? Fuck Harry Reid!

He hasnt said a single thing this week, as we all watch children die in the streets of NOLA.

Fuck Him!

[TankLV]

28. When a critical threshold of people have nothing to lose, it's revolution

time!

We are seeing the beginnings of a revolution folks, I'm afraid, especially if nothing improves substantially very quickly.

And I can not blame them.

A good percentage of the country devistated - his "base" - and only "faith based" relief in the pipes.

[Occulus]

31. This may well spark civil unrest.

Once it hits them, once they start talking about how Katrina killed off everything they had (including, in many cases, family members), and then they were left holding the bag because of some law some politician passed.....

This is the really, reallyreallyreally bad effect that horrible law will have that we ALL were concerned about. sometimes bad things just happen, and you lose everything you have. This law does not include understanding of that.

Left, holding the bag. With nothing else to lose.

[ngGale]

32. Arghhhhh.....

:grr:

[madmark]

34. the new bankruptcy law will hurt americans all over the country including

hurricane victims. With twin spikes in housing and gas costs, there will be more insolvent americans facing a new hostile bankruptcy system come October 17th. Many will be unable to obtain a discharge and will be permanently locked out of the mainstream economy. Not to be totally gloomy, they will still be able to get 30% interest payday loans.

[Giant Robot]

36. It sadden me so much to find out that

Debbie Stabenow(D-MI) voted for that bill. As a fellow social worker, I had hoped she would see the impact on society and the devastation and despair this would cause. I just don't know what to think...