Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Bankruptcy Reform: Are Bush & Republican Legislators "Betraying" Their Constituents ?

pan6467 · 03-14-2005, 02:39 AM

Personally, I think this will at first hurt the country bad economically. I think there are far, far better ways to handle this.

Let's face it, the vast majority of Americans (rightfully because of low wages and no benefits or wrongfully because of the natural "keeping up with the Jones'") live on credit. And with gas prices shooting up and not looking to come down, credit will be used even more, esp. when companies start really having to push the cost of transportation and production onto consumers. Hell, last I saw the average family was over $8,000 in debt.

However, as someone who has predicted for awhile that the credit was going to have to come due, I am not surprised by this.

Bankruptcy costs us billions every year and it has gotten easier to claim and has far less stigma than it used to. Perhaps, this will force us to live within our means, and once we are forced to, perhaps then, people will wake up and demand better wages and benefits.

There are some things I do question, medical should never be allowed to hurt credit and the government must fix the healthcare system so that people who have a little money don't go bankrupt (such as KMA). I find it pathetic our country's government and healthcare system would rather see people bankrupt and have nothing than leading healthy productive lives.... pathetic.

As a dreamer, I see this as an eye opener and a stimulus to change the economic environment. People will still want things but once credit becomes harder they will be forced to sacrifice. This will hurt business and so business will hopefully see that instead of trying to keep prices low and pay low, the CEO's will have to take cuts and pay workers their true value.

As a realist, i see this as a way for the rich to continue getting richer and the working class to become poorer.

In the end, some radical and/or some not so nice legislation (for rich and poor alike but in different ways) will have to be passed to get the economy truly growing and us off credit.

I foresee in the next few years a massive increase in union enrollments, more social movements towards universal healthcare and workers rights and benefits.

Things come and go in cycles and political things shift like a pendulum and the pendulum is about as far right as the US will allow it to go.... the swing left is coming fast.

2 things sadden me and scare me far more than this bankruptcy law revision.... those are:

1) Congress (federal and most states) continue to every year grant themselves raises and have the best healthcare and benefits yet refuse to raise minimum wage and seem to want to pass laws hurting workers rights (overtime laws, benefits, legal union representation (in "right to work states such as Ohio and Az. it is legal to fire workers for any reason whatsoever including the federal right of workers to hold union organizational meetings (where workers vote for union or not) in the workplace... it is so bad in Ohio (a union made state) that some companies will fire you if you just ask about union representation.... Wal*Mart is very big on this)

2) The fact that the press glosses over items such as this while the "right talk show hosts" make light of the misfortune and spin the facts so that people don't know what to believe and are so tired of the bickering between left and right and the feelings that what they say doesn't matter they have lost hope and believe they cannot change anything.

We have to get ourselves out of the hole we dug, but we need to do so in a way that is fair to all not just overburdening the middle class and poor and allowing the rich to get off scot free.

03-14-2005, 02:39 AM	#37 (permalink)
pan6467 Lennonite Priest Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA	Personally, I think this will at first hurt the country bad economically. I think there are far, far better ways to handle this. Let's face it, the vast majority of Americans (rightfully because of low wages and no benefits or wrongfully because of the natural "keeping up with the Jones'") live on credit. And with gas prices shooting up and not looking to come down, credit will be used even more, esp. when companies start really having to push the cost of transportation and production onto consumers. Hell, last I saw the average family was over $8,000 in debt. However, as someone who has predicted for awhile that the credit was going to have to come due, I am not surprised by this. Bankruptcy costs us billions every year and it has gotten easier to claim and has far less stigma than it used to. Perhaps, this will force us to live within our means, and once we are forced to, perhaps then, people will wake up and demand better wages and benefits. There are some things I do question, medical should never be allowed to hurt credit and the government must fix the healthcare system so that people who have a little money don't go bankrupt (such as KMA). I find it pathetic our country's government and healthcare system would rather see people bankrupt and have nothing than leading healthy productive lives.... pathetic. As a dreamer, I see this as an eye opener and a stimulus to change the economic environment. People will still want things but once credit becomes harder they will be forced to sacrifice. This will hurt business and so business will hopefully see that instead of trying to keep prices low and pay low, the CEO's will have to take cuts and pay workers their true value. As a realist, i see this as a way for the rich to continue getting richer and the working class to become poorer. In the end, some radical and/or some not so nice legislation (for rich and poor alike but in different ways) will have to be passed to get the economy truly growing and us off credit. I foresee in the next few years a massive increase in union enrollments, more social movements towards universal healthcare and workers rights and benefits. Things come and go in cycles and political things shift like a pendulum and the pendulum is about as far right as the US will allow it to go.... the swing left is coming fast. 2 things sadden me and scare me far more than this bankruptcy law revision.... those are: 1) Congress (federal and most states) continue to every year grant themselves raises and have the best healthcare and benefits yet refuse to raise minimum wage and seem to want to pass laws hurting workers rights (overtime laws, benefits, legal union representation (in "right to work states such as Ohio and Az. it is legal to fire workers for any reason whatsoever including the federal right of workers to hold union organizational meetings (where workers vote for union or not) in the workplace... it is so bad in Ohio (a union made state) that some companies will fire you if you just ask about union representation.... Wal*Mart is very big on this) 2) The fact that the press glosses over items such as this while the "right talk show hosts" make light of the misfortune and spin the facts so that people don't know what to believe and are so tired of the bickering between left and right and the feelings that what they say doesn't matter they have lost hope and believe they cannot change anything. We have to get ourselves out of the hole we dug, but we need to do so in a way that is fair to all not just overburdening the middle class and poor and allowing the rich to get off scot free. __________________ I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"