Vito's still on the street corner

Tell me again Dr. Frist what you’ll do for me

The outcry is mounting against the new bankruptcy bill making its way through Congress. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the credit card companies, in particular, are behind the move to deny bankruptcy protection to the victims of what amounts to organized crime.

Molly Ivins weighed in today on the bill that’s going to do it’s best to overturn the early American prohibition against debtors prisons. Ok, they’re not going to actually put the people who can’t pay off their credit cards in jail, but we’ll certainly do the next best thing and lock them into a hoosegow of despair from which they can never escape. Think that’s a bit melodramatic? Read this from the Washington Post.

Some senators, Mark Dayton among them, tried to amend the bill as is moved through the Senate last week. Dayton ridiculously tried to limit credit card interest to 30 (yes, thirty) percent. That was slapped down, as were all other well-considered attempts to prevent selling the poor to their tormentors.

The Star Tribune did a series last fall “Borrowing Trouble”. With some spectacular reporting–the sort that makes us proud to be journalists–Ron Nixon, Terry Collins and Dee DePass came up with a compelling series of how storefront lenders, tax preparers and mortgage companies prey on those who don’t, for one reason or another, have access to “traditional” banking services. Yes folks, loan sharking is now legal. Who needs organized crime when you have legitimate corner store fronts? Who needs leg breakers when you have Congress?

The navigation at the Strib site is a little screwed up (you have to go back to part one to be able to navigate to the other two parts) but it’s worth the effort to read the whole story…especially when you get to the part about who is behind some of the most egregious schemes to torment the low income among us. (Ok, as a public service, here are links to part 2 and part 3.) I won’t spoil the surprise except to say that their corporate symbol should be changed from a team of horses to something which would more accurately represent what that team of horses leaves behind for all the rest of us to step in.