Can credit cards lead to totolitarianism?
Topic: Double those Monthly Mins
Here read this

and this

or this

or this

This was brought to my attention last week by Digby here and about made me shit my pants. Now, for those of us who are rolling in cash and can handle the doubled minimum payments this wont hurt much. Those of us dunderheads who might have gotten some credit back in college and have been steadliy adding to the mountain out of pure survival over the years could get quite fucked.

Regular readers probably might recall my rantings earlier this year about the bankruptcy bill that was passed and about to take effect this October. So, now they are raising all the rates to supposedly help you pay off that debt quicker all the while backing you into a corner with payments that can likely wipe you out in the short term.

Naturally, in 'perfect world' you want to be in sound financial shape and the sooner you are out of debt the better. I was always of the mind that I was going to escape the debt, get a better job "someday" and be able to pay those fuckers down. THEN I got suprised (three times in fact) by chosing poor employers and have faced several layoffs and suprise firings that has totally decimated my ability to pay off these enormous debts. Not to mention that the less you pay, the more bills you 'miss' the higher it gets, the bigger the fees and the deeper the ass-rape you get from the the big banks. You no longer can declare Chapter 7 (after October) and therefore the best you can do is some kind of consolidation which will no doubt include all kinds of fun fees and interest rates and doesn't eliminate the debt just moves it to another big bank (sometimes the same one runs the counseling service) for you to pay for almost as long as the cards themselves.

I had a friend who grew up in communist Poland and he said that all the credit card problems in this country remind him of communism. You are more or less becoming an indentured servant to the system. Your abiltiy to take financial risks, starting a business or what not, is now nil. Combined with a sluggish job market which adds to fear of 'being fired' allows for employers to run rampant over a powerless employee. Thus, again, leaving you as an indentured servant even though you are employed. Home of the free indeed.

The Republicans are running wild in the government with veritable control of all three branches it is apparent that their interest is in themselves and not in the people (unless you're rich). What the hell are we supposed to do?

Many folks in my generation are still living check-to-check with no savings, little or no financial future (retirement plans, 401(k), etc.) and those with plans in place are making little to no real progress. What good will it do to retire with a couple of thousand dollars saved up in this economy? So, here you are barely making it, barely paying the rent, the bills, the gas for your car that also isn't paid off yet plus school loans and now your credit card payments are going to double wether you can afford it or not.

As Hulk Hogan might say...

Whatcha Gonna' Do!?!?

Seriously? This is such a tremendous screw job that it is absolutely amazing. I bet most folks don't even know about it...Wait until 2006 when all the bills start hitting. You have no escape...So, when people begin ditching their bills because they are simply unable to make them, what next? Will otherwise law abiding folks start filling the prisons right along side all the drug war victims?

Digby says it well:

"Unfortunately, the problem is that a large number of people who are paying only their minimums right now are people who just can't afford to pay any more. And while it's always nice to assume that people who get themselves into debt are all bums who aren't smart enough or don't care enough to manage their money properly, we actually have no idea why individuals have such high debt --- but the statistics show that good many of them are people who suffered a protracted job loss, a health crisis or a divorce. Some of them are juggling high debt because they are changing careers, they started a business or they took some other entrepreneurial chance. The large numbers of good people in a temporary jam are, sadly, going to get lumped in with all the people we feel need to be taught a lesson."

SO, we're just a bunch of bums anyhow...

You know what the solution is going to be to this problem, the Republicans, the economy, the shitty job market (I am still desperately seeking a new job!!!) and more? this

"Yet it's just wide enough to trigger concerns that an asteroid due to buzz Earth on April 13, 2029 may shift its orbit enough to return and strike the planet seven years later."

SEE!? Astute readers might remember one of my consiracy theories a while back involved this asteroid slamming into us and taking us away forever.

Then in a couple million years or so the super-evolved cockroaches will be finding our fossils. It will be great because the religous cockroaches wont except that there were "great, two-legged, mammals" on the planet because their god made Roachworld in their image and these fossils were placed there by RoachGod to fool non-believers.

Or perhaps, that whole Mars mission thing Bush was yammering about last year is really the beginnings of a program to launch Bruce Willis and Robert Duval into space to stop it before it's too late...

Don't worry, Bush appointed John Bolton to the U.N. today so that will help everything get better I'm sure.