Republicans Love "No Mercy" Bankruptcy -- for Civilians

One argument you won't hear in the corporate media is that bankruptcy "reform" is completely unnecessary. The fictional view is that the changes are aimed at crazed, shopaholic wives maxing credit cards or drunken frat boys running up big bills at Vegas casinos and strip clubs, only to have both simply file for bankruptcy.

Yeah, I'm sure it's just a lark.

While you might find in the blogs or NPR that 50% of all bankruptcies are from medical disasters or job loss, you have to be looking for it.

How many people have to file bankruptcy to match the damage done by an Enron, a WorldCom, or even a Kmart. Some poor schmuck who gets struck down by cancer when they couldn't afford insurance is going to cost MBNA a few grand in credit card charges; hardly compares to the billions lost by Kenny Boy Lay.

The cynical Republican whore will tell you that millions of Americans are deadbeats, just gaming the system. They will tell you that the banks are demanding the bleeding be stopped.

But the simple truth is, and it was documented on Frontline, that the credit card industry hired brilliant marketers to discover more and more efficient ways to mask the real cost of credit card usage. It worked, and they are more successful than they have ever been.

Bankruptcy reform needed due to banking losses? Please. The industry is flush with cash:

"Of course, it doesn't hurt that charges like this helped credit card companies enjoy their highest profits in 15 years last year, Martin observes. In 2003 alone, they collected $11.7 billion in penalty fees."

Highest profits in 15 years... and yet, they pressured the unChristian, valuesChallenged right-wing Republicans to squeeze a few more dimes out of the financially devastated in our society.

Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Moral Values Votes.

How Bankruptcy Saved My Life
by LeftofArizona (from a DailyKos Diary)

"How ironic that if I had slashed my wrists, my insurance would have covered the cost of putting my body back togther, but it would not help in making sure I didn't cut myself to begin with. In the end, my insurance covered not a single penny of my hospital stay. It paid my psychiatrist a laughable $35 for each visit I made to his office on a twice-weekly basis for 12 weeks.