Republicans Show True Colors Again!

It doesn’t take much to bring out the true nature of the Republican party anymore. Many of them feel that because the President has not been able to fix 8 years of a descent into hell in less than 1 year, he must be an ineffectual snore. (If only their perceptions had not been so clouded in 2002!)

Though being trounced fairly well a little over a year ago, they seem to be coming back, as the memory span of the average voter is lower than their given IQ.

When the Democrats tried to pursue a plan that would have been beneficial to nearly everyone, the Republicans have blocked that plan, having their pockets salted by the lending institutions, and believing that they will never be touched by the problems they are now causing.

The Raw Story gives a few more details -

Republican senators on Wednesday blocked an effort to debate a bill that would prevent credit card companies from raising interest rates ahead of new regulations coming into force next year.

The move angered congressional Democrats who were pushing for an emergency freeze on credit card rates.

“I’m extremely disappointed that the financial health of millions of American taxpayers has been completely brushed aside by a handful of Wall Street banking interests in the US Senate,” Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CO) said, as quoted in the Coloradoan.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who heads the Senate Banking Committee, had authored a bill that would have prevented credit card issuers from hiking interest rates ahead of a new law coming into effect in February that restricts how and when rates can be raised.

Earlier this year, Dodd wrote and passed through the Senate the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, which requires credit card issuers to give customers advance notice before hiking rates and fees.

That bill comes into force in February. But, as news sources reported earlier this year, credit card companies took advantage of the delay to hike interest rates before the bill became law.

Dodd’s latest bill would freeze credit card rates where they are now until the new law comes into effect next year. It would also require credit card companies to review all interest hikes going back to the beginning of 2009 to see if customers were overcharged.

But when Dodd asked for the Senate’s unanimous consent to discuss the bill, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MI) “objected on the behalf of several of his GOP colleagues, preventing debate,” reports The Hill.

“Knowing that the Credit CARD Act would finally protect consumers from these abuses, the industry has tried to make one last grab for their customers’ pocketbooks,” Dodd said Wednesday.

“The reason we allowed a gap period between the passage of the legislation and the imposition of the regulations or the statutory requirements was because the industry came to me and said, you know senator, we’re going to need some time to administer, to change how we provide these kinds of benefits to people. So would you give us a little window here to operate?” Dodd said.

“Unfortunately they’ve taken that window and used it as a way to jam in on the consumers of this country,” Dodd said.

A Rasmussen poll released Tuesday shows that about half of Americans — 50 percent — saw their credit card interest rates go up in the past six months.

The only professed Republicans I’ve spoken to believe that this will not affect them, and that by keeping credit card rates high, people will be able to live within their means.

That is true, but it is also true that no one knows what is coming next, and having the ability to pay for an unexpected problem without it bringing you down for years is a really good thing. Perhaps there will be a new Republican-only credit card company, that will keep its workings quiet, and so the good people will be able to take care of things like that.

(Of course that last statement is outlandish, but then so is the idea that Republicans never need to use credit cards, and will never be hamstrung by exorbitant interest rates. But that is all part of the same enigma that makes people vote Republican, and hold values that are clearly not in their own best interest.)

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Perhaps all new credit card applications will need to have words like vigorish and usury in the explanation areas – just so the holders will know upfront they are getting shafted. Of course, by definition, if everything is legal, there is no usury.

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