A Litany Of Abuse

I do not think the American vernacular has ever been subjected to the kind of brutal, systematic mutilation that is has been exposed to in the past seven years. The Clean Skies Act, The Healthy Forests Act, The Patriot Act, The Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act, and most recently The Foreclosure Prevention and Sound Servicing Act are all offensive manifestations displaying our nation's descent into an Orwellian world.

What the *%# are tax breaks for Ford and General Motors doing in The Foreclosure Prevention Act?! Domestic airline companies are also eligible for government sponsored bailouts which I’m sure comforts the 234,685 families who received foreclosure notices just last month. Oh, and the 6 billion dollars slipped in to encourage alternative energy production is also another brilliant addition to the bill sure to get families hit hard by unscrupulous, greedy lenders back on their feet. This despicable, disgraceful, disingenuous bill does absolutely nothing to help anyone who is losing their home and speaks volumes about the competency of the new democratic majority. Our government is a joke. Let’s get on with the steroid hearings.

The 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection act, designed and packaged by one of the largest organizations in the credit card industry (MBNA) and sold to Americans using the tried and true method of fear mongering, did two things: 1. addressed a fictitious problem and 2. did, in fact nothing, to “protect consumers.” The U.S courts just reported a 38% increase in bankruptcies in 2007 (despite the industry’s best effort to eliminate the biblically inspired, colonial-aged legal statute). How ‘bout that for protection?

John Rao, an attorney with The National Consumer Law Center, considered a guru by many consumer attorneys on the nuts and bolts of this immoral law just passed in front of my tiny AFFIL cubicle as I sit here typing this rant. Our organizations share the same office space - sometimes we even exchange office supplies and share the eating utensils in our common kitchen space.