Blaming the Bankrupt by Thomas Oliphant

[checks-n-balances]

(Hope this one isn't a dupe either!)

Blaming the bankrupt
By Thomas Oliphant, Globe Columnist | February 15, 2005

WASHINGTON

...Four out of 10 people interviewed as part of a Harvard Law School and Medical School study of Americans who were going through the agony of the process said they had lost their telephone service during the two years before they filed. More than half had skipped doctor or dental appointment because of the cost, more than 40 percent had not filled a prescription, and nearly one in five had missed meals.

This genuine cross-section -- more than 900 interviews of people in five federal court districts plus a detailed look at more than 1,700 cases -- clashes with the stereotype the Bush administration and its business buddies favor in their unrelenting campaign to make bankruptcy even more of a demeaning, draining ordeal than it already is. The Harvard study comes at a time when the administration and its conservative congressional bosses are about to start a new effort to tighten the bankruptcy law screws.

This kind of organized cruelty demands a stereotype -- of the profligate, irresponsible conniver who spends more effort trying to hide assets and dodge creditors than working hard and paying off. In the Bush propaganda, bankruptcy is a financial planning tool for the irresponsible.

The reality is heartbreaking -- bankruptcy as the only way out for upwards of 3 million adults and children who have gone through a living hell. Most arresting of all is the study's discovery that roughly half of these cases stem not from spending sprees on credit cards but from medical bills flowing out of illness.

More at
http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2005/02/15/blaming_the_bankrupt/

[OneBlueSky]

1. as I've said before, any Democrat who support bankruptcy "reform" . . .

will lose my support forever . . . as a New Yorker, this statement is directed particularly at Sen. Clinton, who in the past has favored the kinds of draconian measures that BushCo is proposing . . .

[Jacobin]

4. Sadly a BOATLOAD of bought off dems are supporting this crap

Lieberman, of course, leads the charge, but last I saw, Edwards was supporting this craven crap also. :wtf:

[gnofg]

2. What's funny

is Bush would be bankrupt if he was a regular person and not born to wealth

[nodictators]

3. Self-sustaining Medical Cartel

Most arresting of all is the study's discovery that roughly half of these (bankrupcy) cases stem not from spending sprees on credit cards but from medical bills flowing out of illness.

So, first they cure you, or claim to have cured you, and then bankrupt you into a life of poverty and homelessness, and then ultimately, death.