I wasn\u2019t looking for anything controversial, just a few quick early-morning facts before I began work.\u00a0 I suppose I should have been reading an almanac instead of a newspaper, for on one page an article explained why many people are sinking in credit card debt and on the other side a headline announced the United States Senate killed a proposal to raise the minimum wage.\u00a0 It is certainly ironic, probably obscene, and perhaps criminal that the Senate is also the august body that has thrust its collective head into the harness of the credit card companies and committed itself to protecting them while passing regulations that could chain millions of people to years of catastrophic consumer debt.\u00a0 And, let us not forget, this is the same body of wealthy lawmakers who have rigorously guarded their wages and benefits while combining with President Bush to self-righteously slash taxes, primarily for the rich, and drive the nation from atop an unprecedented budget surplus four years ago into a cavern of debt from which it may never emerge.<\/p>\n
If the senators had really been against debt, they would have legislated with much greater restraint.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t they atone for fiscal incompetence by reducing their salaries and robust retirement packages?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t they also trim their large staffs?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t they do away with some of their amenities?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t they stop traveling so much?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t they spend less on defense?\u00a0 There is a singular answer to all these inquiries: because they don\u2019t have to.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have to worry about voters, who are too often awed by those in power and unable to imagine having their pockets picked.<\/p>\n
If most senators were forthright, they would admit they\u2019re not opposed to debt.\u00a0 How could they be?\u00a0 They are in fact the most egregious debtors in world history.\u00a0 And they love their debt.\u00a0 Actually, it\u2019s your debt, in terms of obligation, but it\u2019s a debt they conceived and for which they are and shall continue to be remunerated.\u00a0 These highly paid and thoroughly pampered hypocrites strut around the capital making concessions and changing rules to benefit their financial supporters who then continue the unholy process by financing, entertaining, and ballyhooing the senators before, during, and after campaigns.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been a thoroughly effective investment.\u00a0 The United States Senate is for sale, and those whose influence has been purchased are now intensifying their war against the poor and the debt-ridden.\u00a0 We must conclude \u2013 based on the recent vote \u2013 that a majority of senators believe $5.10 an hour is a fair working wage five years into the 21st<\/sup> century.\u00a0 The senators\u2019 strange assessment is that paying people enough to possibly enable them to raise themselves out of poverty \u2013 where they currently wallow even working 40 or 50 hours a week \u2013 would somehow undercut the process of creating jobs.\u00a0 In other words, we\u2019ll further imperil our national economic health if we pay some working parent a dollar or two more an hour, but we\u2019ll be fine if corporate heads continue to be rewarded millions annually in unjustified bonuses taxed at reduced rates.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been fairly easy for the new conservatives to slap around the poor, but their current goal to make indentured servants of middle class debtors will be more difficult, no matter what legislation the Republican-dominated Senate shoves through.\u00a0 Too many people who vote are learning what\u2019s going on.\u00a0 Most severe consumer debts result because of illness, divorce, or loss of employment.\u00a0 And when people are thusly challenged, they must pay every available dollar just to match the monthly minimum requirements of their credit cards which, at a time of historically low interest rates, often charge customers 20% or more.\u00a0 And a late payment results in a late fee igniting a still-higher interest rate that pushes the debtor over the credit limit which unleashes even more penalties.\u00a0 Soon, no matter how you got into debt \u2013 and you wouldn\u2019t have gotten in that deep unless credit card experts had deviously decided to let you dig the hole \u2013 you may not be able to get bankruptcy protection.\u00a0 You\u2019ll have to grind away making massive minimum payments that only fractionally reduce the balance.<\/p>\n A handful of people in government and big business want you in a bad place.\u00a0 If they get you there, they\u2019re not going to be empathetic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wasn\u2019t looking for anything controversial, just a few quick early-morning facts before I began work.\u00a0 I suppose I should have been reading an almanac instead of a newspaper, for on one page an article explained why many people are sinking in credit card debt and on the other side a headline announced the United…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,122,49],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n