I would like to thank Congress for nothing as relates to the new regulations that were intended to harness predatory lending, credit card company policies that allow Mastercard to raise your interest rate to infinite levels if you miss one payment, and so on. In the original bill the highest interest rate to be allowed was 15%. Well, that did not happen. Virtually nothing happened. Much ado about nothing.
But that, of course, is simply the tip of the iceberg. Congress has not done anything to assist the common man, the middle class, those of us who pay the highest percentage of taxes and who float the boat for the rest of society. Nothing.
Congress bailed out the banks, the auto industry, the mortgage industry, and did not hold the Congressmen and Senators responsible for the debacle accountable in any way. I expect Barney Frank and Chris Dodd will receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
All the money provided to the mortgage industry to allow them to refinance loans, and perhaps even lower the principle amount, has not meant real assistance to at least half of the mortgages in the country. Fannie Mae will attempt to assist, but other mortgage banks will not. I know of one personal friend who at this moment is trying to obtain assistance to no avail. He has 10 days to come up with 3 months worth of payments and he cannot do so. Of course he has had a severe heart attack and kidney disease over the past 12 months, but so what. He isn't trying to dodge the payments. He is simply asking to renegotiate the payments. If foreclosure occurs, no one is going to buy his property. Why not assist him in negotiating a new loan that he can afford?
Why is it not possible to limit interest rates to some reasonable level? If not 15% then perhaps 20%, but no more than that surely. How much interest do the credit card companies need to charge to show a profit? It would help if they, the credit card companies, had not filled most of the mailboxes in the United States with preapproved credit offers, just in the same way as the mortgage lenders provided mortgage loans to people who were obviously not able to make the payments 12 months down the road.
In Disneyland I portrayed the culture and the world in which I grew up. In the sequel I will respond to the way in which that culture and the world have changed. I do not think it was for the better.
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