What does Joe have to say to the average joes?
posted by bitchphd
So, Biden, huh?
I get the logic--yadda yadda foreign policy expertise, yadda yadda so much for the "Obama has no experience!" criticism. And Biden seems generally like a decent human being.
On the other hand--and no one's perfect--there's Biden's support for "bankruptcy reform" back in the day. Which hopefully was just evidence of his acting as a tool for his state's business base, rather than evidence of actual convictions that it's vitally important that when people find themselves going bankrupt they must be forced to repay the credit-card companies that were so freaking irresponsible about who they'd loan money to that they were even willing to send a credit card to a dog. And who are *still* so fucking irresponsible that they're just peachy-keen thrilled to send offers to people who've declared bannkruptcy. After all, under the new law that Biden backed, they can't declare bankruptcy again for six years, so let's hope they rack up the debts all over again.
Which you know, if anyone has an obligation to be "responsible" about debt, it's the companies that create the stuff, write the laws, and know all the ins and outs, as opposed to the poor bastards who got in over their heads.
So anyway, yes, I'm not impressed with Biden's history on that issue. And give the current state of the subprime lending meltdown, that seems like a pretty major issue for this campaign. God knows the Republicans are much worse, but that's not saying much.
I'm curious about how Biden fits into Obama's plans for the economy, as described (interestingly and at some length) by the NYT today.* The general outline the NYT gives seems decent. And I am impressed by his campaign website's differentiation between genuine small businesses and corporations and plan to invest in renewable energy infrastructure. I'm uncertain about whether his tax plans will adequately address the deficit, but they sound okay other than that. I like the *rhetoric* about reformig lending practices. But yeah, given that "Reform Bankruptcy Laws" is an issue right there on the website, I wonder how Biden fits into that. And I gotta say, while it sounds nice enough to "create an exemption in bankruptcy law for individuals who can prove they filed for bankruptcy because of medical expenses" and to "# encourage banks, credit unions and Community Development Financial Institutions to provide affordable short-term and small-dollar loans and to drive unscrupulous lenders out of business," that last one is awfully vague, and that first one, well--what about people who got into bankruptcy for things like "lost a job" or "went through a divorce" or, you know what? even "acted irresponsibly."
After all, if we're going to write laws that let powerful lenders--whose entire raison d'etre is lending and profit--act irresponsibly, it's a bit rich to expect average people with lots of other things to deal with and without high-paid lawyers on staff to always be "responsible" enough to know the ins and outs of laws and contracts they didn't write.
So, Joe: What's up with that?
I get the logic--yadda yadda foreign policy expertise, yadda yadda so much for the "Obama has no experience!" criticism. And Biden seems generally like a decent human being.
On the other hand--and no one's perfect--there's Biden's support for "bankruptcy reform" back in the day. Which hopefully was just evidence of his acting as a tool for his state's business base, rather than evidence of actual convictions that it's vitally important that when people find themselves going bankrupt they must be forced to repay the credit-card companies that were so freaking irresponsible about who they'd loan money to that they were even willing to send a credit card to a dog. And who are *still* so fucking irresponsible that they're just peachy-keen thrilled to send offers to people who've declared bannkruptcy. After all, under the new law that Biden backed, they can't declare bankruptcy again for six years, so let's hope they rack up the debts all over again.
Which you know, if anyone has an obligation to be "responsible" about debt, it's the companies that create the stuff, write the laws, and know all the ins and outs, as opposed to the poor bastards who got in over their heads.
So anyway, yes, I'm not impressed with Biden's history on that issue. And give the current state of the subprime lending meltdown, that seems like a pretty major issue for this campaign. God knows the Republicans are much worse, but that's not saying much.
I'm curious about how Biden fits into Obama's plans for the economy, as described (interestingly and at some length) by the NYT today.* The general outline the NYT gives seems decent. And I am impressed by his campaign website's differentiation between genuine small businesses and corporations and plan to invest in renewable energy infrastructure. I'm uncertain about whether his tax plans will adequately address the deficit, but they sound okay other than that. I like the *rhetoric* about reformig lending practices. But yeah, given that "Reform Bankruptcy Laws" is an issue right there on the website, I wonder how Biden fits into that. And I gotta say, while it sounds nice enough to "create an exemption in bankruptcy law for individuals who can prove they filed for bankruptcy because of medical expenses" and to "# encourage banks, credit unions and Community Development Financial Institutions to provide affordable short-term and small-dollar loans and to drive unscrupulous lenders out of business," that last one is awfully vague, and that first one, well--what about people who got into bankruptcy for things like "lost a job" or "went through a divorce" or, you know what? even "acted irresponsibly."
After all, if we're going to write laws that let powerful lenders--whose entire raison d'etre is lending and profit--act irresponsibly, it's a bit rich to expect average people with lots of other things to deal with and without high-paid lawyers on staff to always be "responsible" enough to know the ins and outs of laws and contracts they didn't write.
So, Joe: What's up with that?
Labels: biden, democratic national convention, money, the economy, the law
Posted at 1:17 PM
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