Thursday, March 10, 2005

This bankruptcy bill is about as complete and transparent a corporate suck-up as it gets. Leaving aside "the legislation will do far more damage than good by hitting middle-income families, women and the elderly who have used bankruptcy protection in growing numbers to protect themselves," two other items just kill me:

1) "In a letter to Congress two weeks ago, 104 bankruptcy law professors predicted that 'the deepest hardship' would 'be felt in the heartland,' where the filing rates are highest - Utah, Tennessee, Georgia, Nevada, Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, Mississippi and Idaho." Just classic. Look at the big outspoken backers of the bill: Orin Hatch (Utah), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Frist (Tenn.), i.e. the heartland! And the big opposers: Schumer (NY) and Kennedy (MA), uh, the non-heartland.... Tells you much about the over-the-top hubris when it comes to the reelection power of incumbency. These guys choose the corporate campaign donors over their constituents, every time.

2) "Critics also said the measure fails to do anything to curb abusive bankruptcy practices by wealthy families, who can create special trusts to shelter their assets, and by corrupt companies like Enron and WorldCom, which were able to find favorable bankruptcy courts and deprive many of their employees and retired employees of benefits. The Senate defeated a series of amendments proposed by Democrats that sought to address those issues." That's it, make sure to keep intact the loopholes for the wealthy and corporations -- just screw the little guy. Similar to tax audits with most being done on average John Q. Public, NOT corporations or the rich.

Probably the worst bill passed in the last 20 years, a shameless act of sheer special interest gifting. Of course, the Dems will not be able to use it come election time because too many of them voted for it!

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