Bush hits Dem war tactics

[lancelva]

There's a difference between a "partisan witchhunt" and executing the Consitutional duty of Congressional oversight and holding the executive branch accountable to a few slips of paper known as the United States Constitution.

If you want witch hunt, then we can talk about the thousands of pages of testimony the Republican controlled congress took under oath from Clinton administration officials and staff over Whitewater and Lewinsky.

Another thing, we no longer have independent counsels--so the need for Congressional hearings about things like this is much greater today than ever before.

 

[JayHawk]

Hey buddy it is your parties funeral. Good point though, it is their job to prosecute the last group of bubbas. Then and only then they can get to making decisions that might move America forward.

Oh wait they are doing that too.....pulling in the subprime mrtg market leaders to ask why other Americans aren't paying their incredibly out of balance mortgages. That sure takes congressional oversite. I am positive it will take that type of look to determine what goes wrong when the largest bill in most people's lives increases by 30 percent.

Impotent. Congress needs the little blue pill.

Whats next will they pull in baskin robbins and blue bell to determine where ice cream headaches come from?

 

[seven_sins]

Thank God that the Democrats are uncovering this "cancer growing on the presidency." It is about time that the US stops treating the so-called "Iraqi war" as a game of parlor billiards. Why the Republicans deny the stupid errors of the current administration baffles me. Thank God for the Democrats. I wish that they could send GWB back to his mother.

 

[OtterJoq]

Thank God that the Democrats are uncovering this "cancer growing on the presidency."

How appropriately Nixonian!

 

[Kulindahr]

Hey buddy it is your parties funeral. Good point though, it is their job to prosecute the last group of bubbas. Then and only then they can get to making decisions that might move America forward.

Oh wait they are doing that too.....pulling in the subprime mrtg market leaders to ask why other Americans aren't paying their incredibly out of balance mortgages. That sure takes congressional oversite. I am positive it will take that type of look to determine what goes wrong when the largest bill in most people's lives increases by 30 percent.

Impotent. Congress needs the little blue pill.

Whats next will they pull in baskin robbins and blue bell to determine where ice cream headaches come from?

Actually, the "next" is that there are hearings going on about credit card fees, penalties, and interest. I knew interest could get high, but I didn't know there were cards out there running 27% APR! That's just plain ridiculous -- if a tithe is good enough for God, 10% + prime ought to be good enough for the credit card companies.

 

[JayHawk]

Actually some can hit 31%

I agree that what the credit card companies are legally allowed to do is like legal loan sharks that own you for life. Many do not understand those implications when they charge it up.

I disagree that we should have some "bail 'em out"intiative. Perhaps they need to investigate for predatory practices.
I simply do not understand why loan initiators would believe that when they start a loan with a rate that in two years will increase so that the borrower can not afford the payment, that there would be no failures.
I do not belive we need to salvage those people or those companies.

 

[Kulindahr]

Pass a law taxing everything past the first 18% interest, and fees over $20. Throw it at the deficit.

 

[JayHawk]

You mean throw a solid dick at the people. HMMM....liber-dema-tarian

 

[Kulindahr]

A "solid dick"????

 

[JayHawk]

Solid or impermeable. Dick as in penetration. That tax would only lead to higher penalties for the average joe. The big corp will find a way to charge us. The common citizen who has no idea how to handle their finances will still get into trouble and will still need help. The reason their trouble spirals out of control is because they live on that thin edge with nothing to spare. Then something happens medical, auto repair , you name it. SO the card corps add to the fact that they are behind by 30 bucks to add a 30 fee and then increase interest by a factor of two so the next month they owe not only the missing 30 plus the 30 penalty plus 30 extra and finally the original monthly 30. Not too many people can survive when their bill quadruple in one month. A tax will only add to that burden. We need legislation to make it illegal to have those type of loan tactics.

Finally, legislation to restrict penalties will make credit harder to obtain and that is not a bad thing.

 

[unclaimedblessing]

These unfair credit card fees were passed under Dubyas watch, about 30-60 days after he approved the changes to the bankruptcy laws.
The average citizens get penalized more for bankruptcy now however big business is unscathed by the new laws.
Republicans covering rich asses again?

 

[JayHawk]

I got hit by the same fees when I was first learning that lesson in 1992 so I am not really buying it.

Memphis is the bankruptcy capitol of the universe. It is bullshit that someone can just give up, keep all their shit and face no penalties. I agree with the new bakruptcy laws, wholeheartedly. The legislation we need will be to limit the fees and set forth procedure for each company to follow. That will eliminate cheap high risk credit lenders like HSBC. It will however forstall all the problems we face due to individual citizens acting like the world owes them something.

 

[Kulindahr]

I had an "Edward Jones" Mastercard administered through Bank of America. They decided on a new interest scale, dependent not on credit history, but on income. My credit history is exemplary, but my income is low, so they jacked my interest from 9.7% to 19.9%. My Ed. Jones rep's credit score is much lower than mine, but they moved his interest from 9.7% to 7.9% because he has a higher income.

If they can make a profit from him at 7.9%, they can make the same profit from me. That they give him a 7.9% tells me that anything higher than that is just theft. In effect they're punishing people for being poor, and increasing bankruptcies.
There's a word for the practice, and it's usury. There's no place else in the market where they can get a 19% return, so they take it out on people who have no way to fight back.
If you want to limit fees, limit interest as well, and the conditions under which they can change it. Arbitrarily socking people with a 10% jump in interest when they'd never missed a payment and always paid more than the minimum is nothing but extortion, and should be prosecuted as such.