Here is what happens when government helps you..
by AlexinCT
One of the big things the collectivists in power did when they got control of all three branches of government after the last election cycle, was to pass new and sweeping credit card legislation to prevent the greedy credit card companies from screwing irresponsible and stupid people that spent beyond their means and got themselves in deep debt. As usual government meddling has had the exact opposite effect as they wanted, and it is hurting those of us that are not complete and total idiots.
If your credit is good, or your credit card balance is low, you may soon pay more on every credit card bill. Why? Congress passed a misguided new credit card law, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. As a result of it, you may end up paying an annual fee. And you may end up losing your percentage rebates, your cash back, or your rewards program.
The new law arbitrarily limits credit card companies’ ability to increase rates on credit card balances, even when a cardholder’s balance has been rapidly increasing —meaning that a sensible bank might raise the interest rate, because a rising balance drives up the risk that the credit card company won’t get paid what it’s owed. (Increasing numbers of credit cardholders have run up big balances in recent years, then failed to pay them off).
In response to the new law, some credit card companies are starting to charge annual fees on their credit cards to protect themselves against potential losses. Others will likely drop their rewards programs, or stop giving customers’ percentage rebates on credit card purchases. For example, I and my wife get 3% to 5% back on most of our credit card purchases.
One of my co-workers just emailed me that since the new law, he will now be charged an annual fee on what he calls “the best reward card I ever found.” It’s the same card I use for many of my purchases. The new law is supposed to “protect” cardholders. But what it really does is transfer wealth from people who pay off their credit card bills at the end of every month, (or have good enough credit that the credit card company would not likely have increased their interest rate anyway) to people with bad credit who have run up big balances.
So again, government is subsidizing bad behavior at the expense of those of us that avoid it. That’s collectivism in a nut shell for you: in the name of helping those that chronically do stupid things and hence find themselves in “the sh*t”, politicians help those idiots by creating programs that punish those that do the right things. And then people wonder why destructive behavior becomes the norm. Yeah, I am one of those idiots that pays my credit card every month and never spends more than I can afford or pay off. So now I get to help pay for those other people. I am ecstatic as you can tell.
But this stuff with the credit cards isn’t the worse government has done for us yet. That honor goes, for now, and until they pass healthcare insurance reform and basically have these collectivist government bureaucrats take over 1/5th of our annual economy – trillions of more dollars and life & death decisions in the hands of uncaring unionized government thugs - to the stimulus patronage bill. Mark Steyn as usual has an awesome piece showing how well that $800 billion of our tax payer cash that the democrats in power have funneled to their operatives, partners, lobbyists, and donors so they could flood their campaign coffers with slush funds for the 2010 elections has worked for us: it has kept our economy down.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, India, China, Japan, and much of continental Europe the recession has ended. In the second quarter this year, both the French and German economies grew by 0.3 percent, while the U.S. economy shrank by 1 percent. How can that be? Unlike America, France and Germany had no government stimulus worth speaking of, the Germans declining to go the Obama route on the quaint grounds that they couldn’t afford it. They did not invest in the critical signage-in-front-of-holes-in-the-road sector. And yet their recession has gone away. Of the world’s biggest economies, only the U.S., Britain, and Italy are still contracting. All three are big stimulators, though Gordon Brown and Silvio Berlusconi can’t compete with Obama’s $800 billion porkapalooza. The president has borrowed more money to spend to less effect than anybody on the planet.
Actually, when I say “to less effect,” that’s not strictly true: Thanks to Obama, one of the least indebted developed nations is now one of the most indebted — and getting ever more so. We’ve become the third most debt-ridden country after Japan and Italy. According to last month’s IMF report, general government debt as a percentage of GDP will rise from 63 percent in 2007 to 88.8 percent this year and to 99.8 percent of GDP next year.
There you have it in a nutshell. Obama whom ran on the exaggerated lie of lack of fiscal responsibility by republicans, whom had been far from fiscally responsible, but nowhere as irresponsible as democrats had been those last 2 years they had control of congress during the Bush years, is now literally destroying our future and projected – and I think this number is way on the low side – to add another $9 trillion to our deficit in the next few years. This collectivist government has crippled our private sector and all but guaranteed no chance for an economic recovery here when other countries are already making moves in the right direction. And it is not even close to being done screwing us. Now under the guise of fixing a crisis of their own making, they are trying to get their hands of 1/5th of our economy by taking over healthcare. We are getting screwed by everything this government is doing.
That’s why the “stimulus” flopped. It didn’t just fail to stimulate, it actively deterred stimulation, because it was the first explicit signal to America and the world that the Democrats’ political priorities overrode everything else. If you’re a business owner, why take on extra employees when cap’n’trade is promising increased regulatory costs and health “reform” wants to stick you with an 8 percent tax for not having a company insurance plan? Obama’s leviathan sends a consistent message to business and consumers alike: When he’s spending this crazy, maybe the smart thing for you to do is hunker down until the dust’s settled and you get a better sense of just how broke he’s going to make you. For this level of “community organization,” there aren’t enough of “the rich” to pay for it. That leaves you.
For Obama, government health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture in which all elections and most public discourse will be conducted on Democratic terms. It’s no surprise that the president can’t make a coherent economic or medical argument for Obamacare, because that’s not what it’s about — and for all his cool, he can’t quite disguise that. Apropos a new poll, the Associated Press reports that Americans “are losing faith in Barack Obama.”
Yeah, again those of us that did not make the bad choices or actually did the smart things, are going to be left paying for those that chronically make bad choices and decisions. And that’s why in a nutshell I believe collectivism’s goodness is simply paving the road to hell for us. These people are doing what no enemy has ever been able to do: bring America down. And they are doing it from within, and under the guise of doing it for noble and good reasons. Those dumb Islamists should have just waited another decade or two for the left to truly and totally emasculate us before they had made their move, and they would have crushed us by now.
Cross posted at Wasting time with Alex
Comments
as opposed to “negative rights”, which are things that cannot be denied you.
See amendment 2 for how deniable an undeniable right can be.
Most Democrats and liberals simply don’t understand the most basic and universal rule of economics: There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Many of them actually seem to think they can just pass a law that moves money around in our economy and that there will be no other consequences. The rest are ideologues that simply don’t care if their programs screw things up as long as they advance their agenda.
I (and many others) said it many times on this site: the stimulus won’t work because such programs have never worked-they rob Peter to pay Paul while skimming a large chunk in the process.
See amendment 2 for how deniable an undeniable right can be.
The right to bear arms is what keeps all your other rights. Once you are forcibly unarmed your rights become privileges.
Credit, like health care, housing, food, etc, are now “rights”
Don’t see how you get to here from there. Looks more like the law will limit the roving rates and increase the billing lead time from 14 days to 21. I don’t see how this translates into people believing credit is a right.
In fact - if the bill does as Alex says - credit will be more restrictive. Reading through the link provided it seems right now the only issuer adding fees to some of its cards is Citibank who have the loosest of standards for credit cards of anyone in the business. If all you can get approved for is one of their cards your goal should be to improve your rating and get out from under them as fast as possible.
The fact that some cards companies may be dropping incentive and cash back or points programs - I say good. If you thought those things were free you shouldn’t be using anything with as many moving parts as a credit card.
Yeah, I am one of those idiots that pays my credit card every month and never spends more than I can afford or pay off. So now I get to help pay for those other people.
How? Is your personal bill going up? If you pay off your bll every month you shouldn’t even have interst to pay. Are they adding an annual fee to your card? Since you carry no balance it should be easy for you to shop and find one with no fee.
Please explain, or are you talking figuratively? I know my rates aren’t changing - I called back in May.
In fact - if the bill does as Alex says - credit will be more restrictive. Reading through the link provided it seems right now the only issuer adding fees to some of its cards is Citibank who have the loosest of standards for credit cards of anyone in the business.
I have an American Express, a MasterCard, and a pair of Visa card, and all four of them jacked my rates which were all below 9% to numbers over 20%. I don’t care because I make it a habit of not carrying balances. But two of them also told me they might be adding fees in the future. I will drop them when that happens.
The one thing I found quite interesting was the offer from one of the banks I have a card with which for a “line of credit” card. This concept would literally overcome the whole credit card thing and every dumb law passed by congress in one fell swoop. So all the politicians have managed to do is screw things up as usual.
How? Is your personal bill going up? If you pay off your bll every month you shouldn’t even have interst to pay.
Because these card companies are now going to charge a fee - and the numbers I hear $125-225 a year because very card I have is platinum - when they did not before. And to compound things, a few of them are already thinking and talking about charging interest from the moment you make the purchase. So yeah, I get impacted, all but guaranteeing that they become a convenience I will give up.
The point is that government is screwing me over because of the usual idiots that have a predisposition to doing bad & dumb things. That of course never worries liberals if they can get government to screw private businesses. Practically always because these stupid people blame everyone but themselves for their mistakes..
Not surprised you focused on credit card thing and ignored the real big news, sally. The thing we all should worry about is that for the first time in a very, very long time Europe and Asia are coming out of a recession, on their own instead of because we were dragging the world along, no less, while we are still going the wrong way. Literally this proves that the idiots in charge right now are either economic dunces or doing what they are doing on purpose. Neither is a good thing.
I have an American Express, a MasterCard, and a pair of Visa card,
wow - that’s a lot of cards.
and all four of them jacked my rates which were all below 9% to numbers over 20%
Which no longer could happen right? I’d say dump those high interest cards. I have a Visa issued from a bank that has been below 9% for almost a decade.
Not surprised you focused on credit card thing.
Yeah I thought maybe you should have busted these up into two posts.
As for the stimulus - I’ll let ya know what I think after two years. I know there is a lot of road work around my neck of the woods and that some of my friends with automotive related jobs are getting more hours and being called back. I’m still willing to wait and see how this shakes out. My guess is that we won’t see any real economic surge until year three when the election season heats up.
My guess is that we won’t see any real economic surge until year three when the election season heats up.
But the stimulus was sold as something we needed to do immediately that would shore up the economy and start saving jobs right away.
Do you think that was all a line of bullshit?
But the stimulus was sold as something we needed to do immediately that would shore up the economy and start saving jobs right away.
Do you think that was all a line of bullshit?
Yep - I think the folks that sold it - knew that it would take longer to actually work - but figured it would by the time the next election cycle rolled around and everyone would forget or at least excuse the earlier claims.
At least this way (I figure - they figured) they could say at least the did something and sorry - it took a bit longer to work than we thought but look - just in time for the elections - ta da! Hell - the economy might have righted itself by then - but we’ll never know that now will we?
I don’t see how this translates into people believing credit is a right
Start factoring in all the laws that have been passed to 1) make it easier for people to use credit 2) be protected from their own bad decisions 3) strip the companies providing credit of their ability to manage their product
Credit is a product that people willingly take on. Failure to read the fine print or use it wisely is strictly the fault of the user. If you don’t like how your card is run, get rid of it, or don’t even get one to begin with (I lived without credit cards for a very long time, it’s actually pretty easy) - yet the credit card companies are the ones being vilified for trying to turn a profit for lending money to people, just like insurance companies are vilified for trying to turn a profit.
Personal responsibility for use of credit has been abandoned by the public at large - you now are entitled to a credit card that isn’t inconvenient for you in any way. I’m surprised you still have to make payments....
Start factoring in all the laws that have been passed to 1) make it easier for people to use credit
Yeah - because there weren’t any lobbyist from the banking industry pushing those changes.
2) be protected from their own bad decisions
and nobody was mislead by crazy intoductory offers that came pre approved in the mail promising the moon.
So basically what you’re saying is: too stupid to read the fine print you deserve what you get.
My question would be - who do you think picks up the bill for these folks who couldn’t understand the fine print?
3) strip the companies providing credit of their ability to manage their product
Do you think maybe these new rules might make the card companies think twice about who they send their offers to?
wow - that’s a lot of cards.
Shrug. Like I said. No balances.
Which no longer could happen right? I’d say dump those high interest cards. I have a Visa issued from a bank that has been below 9% for almost a decade.
What part of the fact that I already had that did you not get Sally? I have had a 6% APR on my Amex for more than 17 years. My highest interest rate was 8.9%. Now they are all upwards of 20%. I guarantee you that rate on your 9% visa changed.
Yep - I think the folks that sold it - knew that it would take longer to actually work - but figured it would by the time the next election cycle rolled around and everyone would forget or at least excuse the earlier claims.
If by “work” you mean that it would put a ton of cash in the pockets of people that will then load up the campaign coffers of democrats right before the 2010 election, then you got it right. Anyone that still lives by the idiotic illusion any of this money will create anything but a bunch of temporary government jobs which will require another annualy scheduled stimulus to keep around past the first 9 or so months, deserves this government and the ill fortune it is bringing on so many people.
Yeah - because there weren’t any lobbyist from the banking industry pushing those changes.
That’s right, everything is run by and for the lobbyists. Nothing is ever passed without their express consent.
and nobody was mislead by crazy intoductory offers that came pre approved in the mail promising the moon.
So basically what you’re saying is: too stupid to read the fine print you deserve what you get.
Bingo! Hey, you might actually think like an adult some day.
who do you think picks up the bill for these folks who couldn’t understand the fine print?
who do you think picks up the bill for these folks who couldn’t understand the fine print?
Generally, those same idiots in the form of higher interest rates and not realizing that minimum payments means paying off the card in about a zillion years.
Do you think maybe these new rules might make the card companies think twice about who they send their offers to?
Doesn’t matter - eventually the credit card companies will become run by the government and you’ll be issued a card backed by tax dollars if you default.
Here’s another example of gov’t doing a bang-up job.. on something simple. I’ve mentioned before that I recently refi’d. The title recording happened at the county on Jun 25th. Since then, I’ve gotten at least 15 bullshit ads in the mail triggered by that filing (one 2 days after it happened) that were deliberately made to look almost official with really small type to clear them from being sued for deliberate deception I’m sure.
Anyway, I just got my copy of the recording in the mail… today! But wait, it gets better. Of the 2 page recording, the 2nd page is from the wrong damn title! I live in San Diego and it’s for a title in Encinitas. There’s a really clear number stamped on both that don’t match.. to say nothing of the escrow and other county numbers on them.. that don’t match.
Way to go gov’t employees.
Oh, and I got a nice letter from AmEx that they’re jacking up my interest rates too. Thankfully I always pay it off too.
My rule of thumb is to never carry a balance more than 90 days. If it costs that much, there are better ways to pay for it. And then I only use a card that either gives me travel miles or rebates. I have numerous cards that just sit in my safe, never used, as I only use my AmEx at Costco and my United Airlines card for everything else.
I’ve had girlfrieds that couldn’t quite get the fact that you have to actually pay the cards off. They thought that as long as you could make the minimum payment everything was just dandy. No matter how good the pussy is, once they take out a cash advance on one card to pay another one, it’s time to bail before the inevitable request for cash to pay their bills comes along.
just like insurance companies are vilified for trying to turn a profit.
And let’s not forget mortgage lenders....
you now are entitled to a credit card that isn’t inconvenient for you in any way.
We had a discussion a couple of months back at the VO where I opined that credit could arguably be considered the greatest economic detriment to our society. This current housing crash is a direct result of credit (among other things, of course).
I’m not suggesting that credit, in and of itself, is bad. I wouldn’t own my home without it. However, like Alex, I pay off my cards every month. Additionally, I signed up for a business card that has great rewards and is likely to be sheltered from this current batch of legislation. Of course, give it a year and there will legislation making it possible for non-business owners to receive business credit cards, due to the inherent “unfairness” of limiting business cards to actual businesses.
No, the problem with credit is that most people do not demonstrate good responsibility with it. Even those who show great restraint and responsibility in other arenas can, and often do, fall into the credit trap.
Part of why credit is used so badly now is that many (usually lefties/Dems) whined and cried and threatened the banks about racism and all the usual crap. Why I was younger, I remember that you didn’t get continually inundated with pre-approved credit card applications and it actually took a little effort (and you had to show responsibility) get get a card. The first card you’d get tended to have a very low limit as well. I remember my first card was only about $500.
Once banks were basically forced to offer credit to people they normally wouldn’t have.. they had to start doing things to cover the losses they were taking on people defaulting at higher rates. That’s why you see them offering them to college kids and stuff like mad (or did anyway, that might change now that they new laws are in effect): they needed to keep getting people in on the “only the minimums each month” train to keep profits up.
There also seemed to be changes in the last 25 or so years that added a LOT more cards into the fray with so much choice and competition that the old standards of yearly fees (which really weren’t that high) and other ways to make small profits per person got phased out. Now we’ve got rewards, cash back, miles, etc. Though it seems like most of those are going to die off due to the new rules.
That’s why you see them offering them to college kids and stuff like mad (or did anyway, that might change now that they new laws are in effect): they needed to keep getting people in on the “only the minimums each month” train to keep profits up.
Wow.
Where’d do you get stuff like this? I can understand the logic behind complaints about Fannie and Freddy - but you actually believe credit card companies were forced into loosening their restrictions to credit card accounts?
I’d love to see documentation of this.
Then tell me how this link isn’t relevant.
Excuse me if I don’t shed any tears for the poor abused credit card companies.
As a side note – a little personal insight ;) – I warned my college age kids about the predatory card deals they would be greeted with on campus and co-signed for a Visa with a 500.00 dollar limit before they left.
Once banks were basically forced to offer credit to people they normally wouldn’t have.. they had to start doing things to cover the losses they were taking on people defaulting at higher rates. That’s why you see them offering them to college kids and stuff like mad (or did anyway, that might change now that they new laws are in effect): they needed to keep getting people in on the “only the minimums each month” train to keep profits up.
Ah - the short trip to hell that is called “risk-based lending”, which didn’t really exist up until a decade ago. Financial institutions, left to themselves, are extremly conservative in nature. Basically, the normal reaction to people that have a bad credit history is to show them the fucking door. If they insist on asking for credit, quite often the interest rate was enough to make them act like Mike Tyson punched them in the head.
Let the government get done playing with the rules and wait a few years - all of a sudden the thought of offering credit to idiots that failed basic math and sucking them dry every month while they buy shit they can’t afford is just business as usual.
Next entry: Here is what happens when government helps you.. Part Deux
Previous entry: As The Worm Turns
Who's Logged In
Total Members: 8229
Total Logged in members: 2
Total guests: 53
Total anonymous users: 0
fangbeer,
Manwhore,
Capitalism
Search
Search this site with Google
Search will take you to Google.com, which will display results from Right-Thinking and link you back here. Search using pMachineRecent Comments
Quote Mining
(14 total, Last @ 08:04)
Dick Fitzwell: A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul--George Bernard Shaw Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.--Mark Twain A major source of objection to a…
How quickly they soured us on their ideology, huh?
(7 total, Last @ 07:34)
Seattle Outcast: Get that sand washed out yet muirgeo1?
The Discovery Gunman
(2 total, Last @ 07:33)
Seattle Outcast: Considering that this is exactly what I hear from your typical garden-variety libtard, I'm keeping my guard up around them in case they snap.
The Discovery Gunman
(2 total, Last @ 07:15)
AlexinCT: My response is to wonder how people get like this. There has to be some sort of mental imbalance at work here. I seriously hope this can’t just happen to anyone given the right – or in this case, wrong – circumstances. There are very few things that would push…
Tonight's speech by Obama on Iraq...
(29 total, Last @ 07:00)
AlexinCT: Fair enough. But bitching Obama all day every day would become tiresome—for me, if not for you. If Obama gave me anything not to bitch about, I would. Then again, when I did give him his propos I recall you were still unhappy with that too. I’ve made it pretty…
Last 30 Comments
You’re missing the big picture here Alex. Credit, like health care, housing, food, etc, are now “rights” according to various marxist philosophers. Per leftists, these are “positive rights” - rights that come at the expense of others and are to be provided to you for merely existing, as opposed to “negative rights”, which are things that cannot be denied you.
Essentially, as far as the leftists are concerned, these companies only exist to provide us with what should be free services.