The most
remarkable thing about the bankruptcy bill (which has now been
postponed in the House until next week) is something that the corporate
media is incapable of reporting on and probably in some cases incapable
of even recognizing. Namely, this bill
offers an ideal test for the Democrats.
Most bills
contain some redeeming features, some elements that are good for
people, not just good for corporate profits. With
most bills, a case can be made, however contorted and unconvincing,
that it's actually worth voting for, or that it's better than some even
worse alternative. Those arguments are
almost impossible here, because several dozen amendments aimed at
making the bill into something less than an outright atrocity have been
voted down. In addition, the Democrats on
the House Judiciary have laid out for their colleagues the case against
this bill in a 54-page dissent that was leaked to Raw Story: http://rawstory.com/exclusives/dissenting_views_bankruptcy_405.htm
This bill allows
us to answer the question: "What if there were a bill that served
purely and clearly corporate greed while damaging millions of
non-wealthy Americans, would the Democratic Party stand against it? Would the Democratic leadership fight it? Would all members of this purportedly distinct
political party vote for people over profits?"
In the Senate,
the answer is clearly no. In the House,
things are uncertain, but we have at least until next week to let our
congress members know how we feel, which can be done by Email at www.debtslavery.org or by phone
at 877-SOB-USOB.
The corporate
media is incapable of asking the question, because it is hampered by
something called "balance." Balance means
that for every proposal, there are two opposing claims, never one and
never three, and that the two claims are equally meritorious, although
the claim from the corporate side is a little more equal than the other
one. So, a reporter who is willing to
report as fact, as actual reporting with the reporter's name behind it,
that the number of bankruptcy filings has increased, is unwilling to
report on why those filings have increased. Instead,
a reporter presents us with two views.
The first, which
is generally treated more respectfully, is that there is massive fraud
underway, that people are using bankruptcy to get out of paying for
their reckless shopping sprees, for their personal failures to practice
the sort of noble restraint in their lives exhibited by Bill Bennett or
Rush Limbaugh.
The second,
which is generally characterized as a "claim" or a "contention" in
opposition to so-called "reform," is that the vast majority of
bankruptcies are caused by medical expenses, job loss, divorce, or
death in the family, and that bankruptcy is clearly a last resort for
almost all who enter it, many of whom have – prior to filing bankruptcy
– gone without medicine, utilities, or food. For
links to studies on these matters, go to www.debtslavery.org and click
on "Links."
The reason that
the media should not present these two viewpoints in a fair and
balanced manner is that the first one has no evidence to support it,
whereas the second does. The most extreme
claim for fraud that I've seen is 10 percent. But
apparently there are no records from the FBI or the IRS to back that up. The American Bankruptcy Institute claims that
at most 3 percent of filers get out of paying any debts that they
actually could have paid. But let's assume
for the sake of argument that 10 percent of bankruptcies are complete
scams. In fact, let's double it. Let's say 20 percent. And
let's ignore the glaring fact that the most blatant scams, involving
loopholes for millionaires and corporations are maintained in this bill. Let's pay no attention to the asset protection
trusts and unlimited homestead exemptions and cross-country corporate
judge shopping and ability to deprive employees of their investments
and retirement, and other unpleasantries behind the curtain. Let's set all of that aside.
Who in their
right mind writes a bill that drastically reshapes a legal system for
everyone involved and designs it around 20 percent of the cases? And who in their right mind writes an article
about that and doesn't question it?
This bill does
not, as media consumers might be forgiven for imagining, create a means
test that will catch the 3 percent who cheat and present no problems
for the other 97 percent. Currently there
is a means test in the form of decisions by judges who look at all the
information, including actual income and expenses.
This bill would put in place a means test that does not look at
actual numbers. It would calculate
expenses based on standard government figures even if your rent is much
more than what the government says rent should cost.
It would base income on the past six months even if your income
has dropped off. This bill would impose
heavy legal costs and would require people to purchase counseling and
if necessary travel great distances to get to it.
No longer will
cars be paid back at actual value, but rather at the full value of the
loan. And judges will be able to make no
distinctions between someone whose child has developed diabetes and
someone who has gone on a shopping spree.
Many people will
be unable to file under Chapter 7 and make a difficult new start. They will be placed on long-term payment plans
under Chapter 13. They will more often
lose their homes. Some of the money from
their child support payments will go first to creditors.
But perhaps the
best measure of this bill is what it does not do. It
does not do any of the things that were proposed in amendments rejected
in the Senate or in the House Judiciary Committee. These
include amendments to, among many other thing:
close loopholes
for millionaires,
create a minimum
homestead exemption to save the homes of the elderly,
protect service
members and veterans from means testing in bankruptcy,
protect
employees' and retirees' earnings and retirement savings when a
business files for bankruptcy,
discourage
predatory lending practices,
exempt debtors
from means testing if their financial problems were caused by identity
theft,
limit the amount
of interest that can be charged on any extension of credit to 30
percent,
preserve
existing bankruptcy protections for individuals experiencing economic
distress as caregivers to ill or disabled family members,
exempt debtors
whose financial problems were caused by serious medical
problems from means testing.
The media has
done a better job on this issue than on most. As
usual, it's been most straight-forward in opinion columns and less so
in most news articles. Even so, there have
been some articles on studies of medical bankruptcies and even of the
funding of congressional campaigns by credit card companies, auto loan
companies, etc. I get the impression that
some editors and reporters have too much decency to go where 18
Democrats and one Independent in the Senate were willing to.
But the media
has, as always, given us too much horse race and not enough
facilitation of citizen involvement, predicting a near certain passage
of the bill in the House, and praising the Republicans for being
winners, even when acknowledging that their bill will hurt millions of
people. Here's how Newsweek summed things
up:
"GOPs +
New bankruptcy bill is latest victory for No Big Business
Left Behind. Bonus: Deadbeat millionaires keep their loot.
"Dems –
The "party of
the people" can't even protect cancer victims overwhelmed by bills.
Talk about bankrupt."
DebtSlavery.org
is working to change this way of thinking. We've assembled a coalition during the
past week to work, against all odds, to defeat the bill.
The groups lobbying against it include Democrats.com,
Progressive Democrats of America (pdamerica.org), AFL-CIO (aflcio.org),
People's Email Network (usalone.com), National Community Reinvestment
Coalition (ncrc.org), Democracy Week (democracyweek.org), Politology
(politology.us), National Organization for Women (now.org), The Nation
(nation.org), Black Commentator (blackcommentator.com), Public Citizen
(citizen.org), Center for American Progress (americanprogress.org),
Billionaires for Bush (billionairesforbush.com), and more. See
the list at www.debtslavery.org
These
organizations have been encouraging their members to Email, phone, and
fax Congress. Already, over 10,000 Emails
have been sent through the Democrats.com and People's Email Network
alone, plus thousands more from PDA. With lots more coming from
coalition partners, at least 100,000 Emails are expected to be sent
today and tomorrow. The Nation Magazine
sent out an Email last night. We're also
encouraging phone calls, and our website provides members' phone
numbers to anyone who sends an Email.
Targeting
Democrats who have expressed support for the bill, members of the
DebtSlavery.org coalition plan to hold rallies in protest at district
congressional offices. Rallies, most of
them led by Progressive Democrats of America, are planned for Wednesday
in several states. For an up-to-date
expanding list of these events, see www.debtslavery.org