Bankruptcy Bill Update
As the bankruptcy bill passes in the Senate, with a vote of 74-25 (Hillary Clinton abstaining because of her husband’s surgery). But the fight isn’t over yet. First of all, it goes to the House next month, before going to the president. Secondly, opposition is growing.
I think everyone was so distracted with Social Security, that they didn’t even see this one coming. Which may have been the point of the attack on Social Security in the first place. But as people become more aware of the implications of this bill (see here), they are beginning to wake up. There is a new blogosphere-wide effort against the bankruptcy bill which is growing fast. Stay up to date with Politology.us and the TPM Bankruptcy Bill Blog.
One question I have is, where was MoveOn, the Campaign for America’s Future, and other liberal action groups on this bill? Why didn’t they act sooner? Or did I just miss those e-mails?
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An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
I served as a chapter 7 bnankruptcy Trustee for over 28 years. The new bill is unduly harsh and will basically force a chapter 13 which will probably turn into a chapter7 in a large number of cases. This will swell the work load of the bankruptcy court and result in problems for all concerned in the system. Lawyers who file chapter 7s (me) will have to charge significantly larger fees or , because they can be held responsible in damages for misrepresentations made by their clients, debtors will routinely be put into chapter 13s and then converted when the 13 does not work out, thusly protecting themselves.
The credit card companies are plushing a little bit of debtor’s prison on the people of this country. If they are worried about people filing bankruptcy they should be more careful as to whom they loan money!