As expected, the credit card reform bill passed the senate. In fact, the vote was 90-5.
Our senators showed us all who really owns them by voting ‘no’ on needed consumer protections, and in fovor of the credit card industry. Johnson was the only democrat to vote against the bill, and Thune was one of four republicans – all from states that play a major part in the banking industry – to vote no.
The CC industry has now threatened that consumers will have a harder time obtaining credit as a result of this bill:
The goal in the legislation should be to obtain the right balance: providing protections, while maintaining the important role of credit cards in providing loans to consumers and small businesses. Unfortunately, we believe the bill does not achieve that balance and will therefore cause an unnecessary decrease in credit availability.
But really, they have to be bluffing here. If you ran a business that had both customers who paid on time and customers who were total deadbeats, which group would you rather alienate; the ones who bring in steady revenue, or the ones who pay sporadically if at all?
If you are unable to responsibly use a credit card, having access to one will only make your financial problems worse. Maybe going back to the days when only responsible people had credit cards will be a good thing.
I have to roll my eyes at the local CC companies crapping their pants about jobs being effected. If you can’t find a way to turn a profit in the CC business without screwing your customers over, you shouldn’t be in business.
l3wis
Gee, wonder how many campaign contributions Thune and Johnson have gotten from Dykehouse and Sanford.
“Maybe going back to the days when only responsible people had credit cards will be a good thing.”
Or asking people to have collateral first would be a good idea.
“If you can’t find a way to turn a profit in the CC business without screwing your customers over, you shouldn’t be in business.”
Greed.
Idiotic. This only solidifies in my mind that they represent campaign contributors….not the residents of our state.
I’ll admit I supported Johnson in this last election only because his opponent had a stuttering problem was kept repeating the word “debate” like an abused parrot, but if Johnson runs again there is no way I will ever give him another one of my votes.
If it comes down to bad choice A vs. Johnson (bad choice B), I will abstain.
I’ll vote for one of the whackadoodle candidates before I’ll vote for Johnson or anyone who runs against him while accepting CC money.
AG and I were talking about this the other day. I have a feeling that First Premier will have to layoff 2-5,000 people because of the changes. Not that I don’t think the law is a good idea, they have been abusing the system way to long, but if SF is not in a recession now, wait until the layoffs start. Not good.
“his opponent had a stuttering problem was kept repeating the word “debate†like an abused parrot,”
LMAO.
AG and I were talking about this the other day. I have a feeling that First Premier will have to layoff 2-5,000 people because of the changes.
I doubt it. They may initially lay off a few, but they still have a market to serve – even if they can’t squeeze every last penny out of it.
They’ll change their business model and keep making a good profit – which will get bigger when the economy turns around.
They had to have seen this coming for a long time, and if they failed to come up with a contingency plan, they deserve to fail.
Johnson lost me at his last FISA vote and I”m not at all surprised on his vote on this. He and Herseth-Sandlin are Republican Lite.
Johnson and Herseth have turned into not Republican Lite, but Republican Rotten.
There votes in support of Bush war in Iraq should be enough to get them out of public life if the GOP or the Democrats can find a breathing yellow dog to run against them.
Their votes on the credit card probably don’t make a bit of difference considering the vote, but they do indicate a complete lack of consideration for the people who actually have voted for them….and I confess to being one of them ..more than once in fact.
There IS a LOT of gray area in politics – times when bad decisions must be weighed against worse decisions – when unintended consequences might color an otherwise black-and-white decision…
But this is not one of those areas:
Usury is wrong, period. Dishonest, deceitful, is so obviously evil it is condemned in the Bible (Psalms 15:5 for example) as well as the Koran (2:275 and elsewhere)and has been condemned for thousands of years.
Thus, it is a perfect measure of a crooked politician; of a politician on the take – and one who should be voted out of office as immediately as possible.
…maybe even run out of town on a rail.
Sounds like we need to throw a tea party.
More of a “tar and feathers” or “pitchforks and torches” party… with lots of booze.
The whole system is in need of an overhaul. The notion that they work for “we the people” is over when it comes to big corporations donating to their campaign funds.
It should all be public financed, people should watch debates and be actively involved — and if they took an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution and they violate that by enabling or turning a blink eye to those that do – they’re outta there too.
Arrrgh. That should read:
“if they took an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution and they violate that by enabling or turning a blink eye to those that do NOT – they’re outta there too.”
That’s what is so stupid about their votes. The CC companies have 9 months to get their ducks in a row, it’s not like they are pulling the rug out from under them. I guess Thune’s vote doesn’t surprise me, he has been a bitch of big business in SD for a long time. But Herseth and Johnson must have taked some crazy pills before voting on this. Doesn’t SD have enough shucksters that rip us off already (Used car dealers, Pawn Shops, Check cashing outlets and VL casinos)?
I heard on the news at noon that Thune and Johnson were justifying their votes by saying all this legislation will do if force the CC companies to raise interest rates on good customers and bring back higher annual rates.
The sad thing is that the credit card bill was sooo watered down as to be nearly meaningless, more perfunctory and than regulatory. Crap, over 80% of the republicants senators voted for it. As Senator Dick Durbin noted, the bankers own the place.
The sadder thing is that five senators still felt obligated to the banksters to vote against a thoroughly watered down bill. It’s past time to fire Johnson & Thune – they think they represent the banksters and not South Dakotans.
That sounds like a problem the free market can fix. All it takes is one company treating customers right, and the rest will all lose their responsible customers to them.
It just depends on whether the companies want to make a quick buck or have steady, predictable income.
Going the steady, predictable way has worked for my employer for over 150 years.
I have a VISA from a Bank in Omaha, best CC I have ever had.
I have one from SFFCU. Good rate, good service, and rewards points.
Wow we all had this wrong. Only five senators made the correct vote. Enjoy your new interest rates.