Fuck the Poor II: Lube Up!

Because here it comes, boys and girls, the pro-credit strap-on Bankruptcy Bill! If you're well-off, you probably won't care that Congress is about to make it harder to get out of debt—without imposing a shred of restraint on the long out-of-control Really Big Bank of America™, whose Tommy Chong–high interest rates already cover the cost of bankruptcy. But woe betide you if you lose your job or get stuck with unpayable hospital bills that your miserly HMO won't cover. Republican columnist Debra Saunders has this to say on the bill:

...the industry's woes suggest that Washington should make it easier to file for bankruptcy, in order to protect the banks from themselves. As Travis Plunkett, legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America noted, lenders "have it within their power to control the bankruptcy rates by controlling their practices."

As a Republican, it disappoints me to say this, but I understand why people call the GOP the party of big business. When Washington pushes for more responsibility among debtors, but not loan-shark-like lenders, when its "ownership society" principles don't make big corporations own up to their role in the bankruptcy problem, the GOP is toadying to big business. (Ditto the 18 Democrats and one independent senator who voted for the bill.)

(Via TPM)

That means you, Mary Landrieu.

This isn't a partisan issue. Or a class issue. It's a fairness issue. The vote is expected Thursday. If you want to stop The Really Big Bank of America™, write your representative here. If using a Democrats.com page makes you queasy, go here or here.

UPDATE: Looks like it's a threesome in New Orleans. Not only has Mary Landrieu been sodomizing us with a strap-on, but she's handed off the (ahem) baton to whore Congressman William Jefferson. We let the underpaid email-reader on his staff him know that the most descriptive term for him begins with a "w."