I am happy to see President Obama talking about credit card reform, although with Uncle Sam the world’s biggest abuser of credit, I’m not sure how seriously to take him.
Obama wants the credit card companies to quit being so sneaky with the fine print, the late fees and the sudden rate changes. That’s good; it’s a start.
I’d have gone further. I’d tell the credit card companies not to look for help with federal bankruptcy laws or federal stimulus funds as long as they throw credit cards at freshmen on every college campus in America, as long as they send everyone over 18 a credit card offer every week, as long as they relentlessly encourage credit card holders by unilaterally increasing their credit limits in the hope they won’t be able to pay their balance at the end of the month.
I’d tell the credit card companies to tighten up their security to make it harder for criminals to get credit cards in the names of other people. Maybe I’d talk about legislation leaving the credit card companies — not the merchants — holding the bag for cards they carelessly issue that turn out to be fraudulent.
Just a couple of years ago, the same companies managed to talk Congress into making it harder and more punitive for those who file for bankruptcy protection. That’s like a parent providing free whiskey at a high school graduation party and then suing the young drunks for burning the house down.
Still, while the credit card companies (big financial institutions) deserve their share of blame for America’s credit crisis, somebody needs to talk to credit card-holding Americans about reform. We’re in partnership with the credit card companies to charge our way into bankruptcy, just as we partnered with lenders to buy houses we knew we couldn’t afford.
But for this talk about spending excess, it really isn’t appropriate for any U.S. government official to lead a discussion about restraint. Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, they’ve all relentlessly spent not just more money than America takes in, but hundreds of billions more. Having the federal government lecture us about debt is like hiring Otis to talk to the DARE class at Mayberry Elementary School about the evils of alcohol.
At the root of the current economic crisis is greed. Lenders — including the credit card companies — were greedy for greater profits, citizens lusted for larger houses, nicer cars and the best of consumer goods, and together we created so much debt that the economy collapsed.
But, we’ve figured out what to do. We borrow $3-4 trillion to prime the economic pumps. Then, we’ll resume using our credit cards and things will return to “normal.”
Mark Beardsley is editor of The Commerce News. He lives in Commerce.
"current economic crisis is greed", and "together WE created so much debt that the economy collapsed."
Awesome Mark!
Now maybe when the economy is restored to normal (Only who knows when) we will all remember what caused it!
IT WAS NOT ONE PERSON; SOMETHING TO ALWAYS REMEMBER.