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     | Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 12:49 pm  As I was growing up, I recall anyone charging 20% interest on a loan or credit account being guilty of usury (loan sharking). Now it has become the norm rather than the exception. We are faced with Bankruptcy reform, a law fueled by massive campaing contributions which speaks for itself in regard to our political system. Credit card companies "donate" millions of dollars to colleges each year for exclusive rights to offer their cards to our children as soon as they reach the age of majority. Colleges sell "mailing lists" of student names and addresses to credit card companies daily. No real means test is used to see if a young college student has the ability to pay for the card and many end up with exorbitant debt in the form of credit cards and student loans by the time their education is completed. Credit and financial education, should begin at home. The reality is with the two income economy many parents simply do not have time to do this or neglect it, perhaps because they don't understand these matters themselves. Few if any high schools require students be educated in these matters, and I believe this is one of the keys to reining in the credit card companies. As parents, we need to insist that the school system establish courses on these subjects and teach our children comprehensively on personal finance, credit and the like. Our children are not foolish, and very few of them would borrow $100.00 from a friend and be willing to pay back $125.00 for the privilige; they know the value of money. However, the freedom of going away to college, the excitement of being able to make decisions on your own coupled with a company flashing a guaranteed major credit card in the face of a young person blinds them to reality. Aside from insisting on this education in high school we need to all do something to rein in the credit card companies marketing these cards to college students. I personally have written my legislative representatives, both state and federal, and encourage you all to consider the same.
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| | Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 01:38 pm do you really think they care? they've been paid off. Game over. let's get real. this new bk law screws the middle class big time. they wrote it. they know it. Congress doesn't care. As someone (George Wallace, former segregationist governor of Alabama) once said, "there's not a dime bit of difference between the parties". The only reason that our former pres didnt sign it was probably because they didn't hit the dollar amount he needed for his -----library. ha.
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| | Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 01:59 pm Hal, you are certainly right. But I think there's much more to it than corporations making a buck. Between the student loans and the credit card debt, hardly any graduate can afford to take a year off and look at what's REALLY going on in the rest of the world. How many young Americans hitchhiked across India in recent years? I KNOW that I can go anywhere on this planet and survive. I KNOW that there ARE alternatives to trotting to work everyday. All I need is food and shelter, and occasionally human companionship. I don't need an economy, I could live without it. I think that our legislators are VERY happy with the way things are. Put people in debt and they'll be slaves forever, without any danger of "freedom" movements.
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| | Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 02:02 pm Just saw Senator's posting, and he's right too. Legislators and corporate have the perfect arrangement. And, most people couldn't care less until they can't pay their bills.
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| | Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 03:40 pm I agree with you Senator and Christine. Times have changed so drastically from years ago...seems funny to talk about the "good old days". I just worry for my children, and I think most parents do. I hate seeing young people graduate with mountains of debt before them. I know letter writing and emails don't often have an impact on politicians, they only show their true colors when the dollar signs flash. But at least I have the peace of knowing my incessant letter writing to politicians, school officials, and attending school board meetings will eventually get someone's attention. I know they will take it with a grain of salt...but...if I ever get ONE person's attention that can make noise..who knows. The Bankruptcy reform bill is the biggest load of pork to come out of Washington in years. The final version contains an amendment to limit homestead exeptions to $150,000.00....in Texas this is unlimited under the current bill. I wonder how GW will respond to this..being a Texan and having his good ole boy network that probably are pressuring him about this.
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| | Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 05:53 pm I want to point out that I added the "Recommend this Page" feature so readers CAN easily send postings to their legislators. Here is what they get: ------------------ Subject: Suggestion from (your name) Hi (whoever you address to in the form), (Your name) recommends this BayHouse URL: http://www.bayhouse.com/discus/messages/195/1315.html?984706846 ------------------------------ Then you have the comment area where you can include your personal comments and/or part or all of a page (Ctrl C to copy the highlighted text from the posting, Ctrl V to paste it in the comment field) A combination would probably be best. AND, you want to post who you contacted. We've done this before with the Cal. credit scoring legislation, and none of the legislators ever bothered to respond. But at least we can all see how they couldn't care less and they know that we know .... 
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| | Friday, March 16, 2001 - 10:28 am I think i read that your retirement funds are also available to pay back debtors. time to take the money and stuff it in the mattress. this is just so incredible that these 100 individuals haven't a clue as to what happens with a layoff and the hell you go thru once all the money you've saved is no longer there because you can't find a decent job in your field. throw them all out!
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| | Friday, March 16, 2001 - 02:06 pm I stand corrected. it looks like up to $1 million is protected. So put the cash in the 401 k.
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| | Friday, March 16, 2001 - 02:53 pm My understanding is that you must meet the 50% requirement. Meaning you must make less than the average salary in your state to discharge. If you are laid off, aren't you essentially making zero?
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| | Friday, March 16, 2001 - 04:00 pm you'll be required to submit a 1040. it looks like there may be a ton of discretion for the bk judge--expect the worst. you'll have to submit a budget. I thought the income cutoff was around the current 52,000 for a family of four, but I could be wrong. I hate reading much less legalese or I just can't take the bs anylonger. In addition, it looks like if you have a small business and you declare ch whatever you could really get nailed. I just find it humorous that the media picks on abuse cases like John Connally or Burt Reynolds rather than focusing on the average person like I saw at the courthouse. didn't want to be there. hated it. didn't want to file but had no choice. my fondest wish is that those who chose to pass this bill experience the worst that life has to offer, be that whatever it might be. for me, nothing was worse than filing
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