The Senate overwhelmingly rejected an effort to impose a 15 percent cap on interest rates for banks and credit card companies yesterday. The banking and credit card lobby had made this vote a priority with literally hundreds of lobbyists working members. It was an interesting alliance of Republican and Deomocratic members on a volatile issue.
The statement only seems to confirm a recent statement by Sen. Dick Durban: “And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”
The legislation was proposedl by Senator Bernard Sanders, who could only get 33 votes. He lost a large number of Democrats listed below:
Akaka (HI)
Baucus (MT)
Bayh (IN)
Bingaman (NM)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Hagan (D-NC)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Specter (D-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Warner (D-VA)
For the full story, click here.
Good Luck GWLSM with those calls. I have a good rapport with my State legislator although that person is a Democrat and I am a lifelong Republican. Same with my Dem. Congressman. My GOP leaders are terrible.
Mike
You wrote:
**The problem we have now is greedy banks, who have fraudulently operated their credit card business to make obscene profit. They are legitimized “loan sharks.” The free market you think will work is a total illusion. You give these bankers a free market and they will collude further to maximize profit. You’ve got to wake up and realize that Ayn Rand to the contrary, free-market is an illusion that even its’ inventor Adam Smith believed needed regulation by government. Free Market does not and can not exist. The reason is that no matter what market a company is, in it will do everything in its’ power to control it, or collude with other companies to control it. There is nothing self regulating about it, except in the cheap dreams sold to guys like you who are struggling to make a buck in their own businesses. If a larger business in your field sees substantial profits, they will crush you and you business like a bug and never have a second thought about it.**
My sister in law is a social worker who works with seniors through Jewish Family Services. She had a client years ago, now deceased, who was in the interim stages of Alzheimers. She had a thing for gambling and he friends would take her to the casino where she could put her credit card directly into the slot machine. I had no idea that you could do that, but anyway, this woman would up nearly $100,000 in debt. She had credit cards from the same banks, sometimes up to 6 different accounts, with the same bank. She was trying to make the minimum monthly payments but even that got out of hand and while she was in the middle of bankruptcy she continued to get new cards in the mail. Not applications, but new cards. All she had to do was call the 800 number to activate them. She was declared incompetent and one of he daughters who had no idea what was going on was named conservator.
It isnt the fault of the casinos any more than it would be the fault of catalog companies or department stores. The banks who kept sending her cards knew exactly what they wee doing and it was loan sharking plain and simple. She’d get lured in with zero % interest and within a year it would be raised to 15% and one card was charging 36%.
Of course the banking lobby is as powerful as it is.
and it isn’t because we gave it that power, which we did, it is because we secretly all hope that one day we will be the big winners and we will want our millions and billions protected. and that is the American dream gone bad.
we are one tv episode away from winning $1 million for lying our way through Survivor or knocking down someone trying to catch a taxi on The Amazing Race or catching that millionaire husband. And once we get there, once our lottery numbers come in we want to step over the line from being us to being them. it might happen. it could happen. maybe. someday.
Mike,
I don’t know if you remember a conversation that several of us had during the summer. I brought up the point that part of why the crimes of the past 8 years were allowed to happen is that the voting public has a tendency to focus on The President as this mythical figure with the power to change everything about the country. That idea is still on the loose. There are two other Branches of the Fed. Gov’t. who (should) have more than a little say in the state of the country. Bush didn’t destroy the rule of law alone, and nobody should expect any lone hero to fix it alone.
Let’s direct our praise or criticism at ALL of the right places.
“part of the problem we are in now is a direct result of artificialy easy credit as a result of bad Fed. Reserve policy.”
Bron,
The problem we have now is greedy banks, who have fraudulently operated their credit card business to make obscene profit. They are legitimized “loan sharks.” The free market you think will work is a total illusion. You give these bankers a free market and they will collude further to maximize profit. You’ve got to wake up and realize that Ayn Rand to the contrary, free-market is an illusion that even its’ inventor Adam Smith believed needed regulation by government. Free Market does not and can not exist. The reason is that no matter what market a company is, in it will do everything in its’ power to control it, or collude with other companies to control it. There is nothing self regulating about it, except in the cheap dreams sold to guys like you who are struggling to make a buck in their own businesses. If a larger business in your field sees substantial profits, they will crush you and you business like a bug and never have a second thought about it.
“I am all for reasonable regulation, but how does this help anyone? 15% is very low for a short term revolving account. Even if you default on a card, the maximum it can go is 29.99%, still not that bad.”
Matthew,
15% to 29.99% are not reasonable rates, they are “loan sharking” rates that the average person can never pay off making minimum payments. They are especially unconscionable when these banks are getting that money by paying 1% interest for loans from the Fed. Up untill the late 90’s rates like that would never be allowed. Sally has the best advice in saying never use credit cards. I’ve followed that same rule through the years and it allowed me to retire comfortably when I became disabled. Most people I know, who are hard workers and not spendthrifts owe $20,000 or more on their credit cards which they struggle to pay off.
“I’m just wondering why The President is getting blamed for a vote in the Senate. Especially one he didn’t seem to have lobbied one way or the other about.”
Gyges,
Herein lies the whole problem I’ve been having as I watch the trolls and some of the “good guys” agree on what a waste the President has been after about 110 days.
Leo, et al
the President may not have the ability to make the Senate vote one way or another but isn’t that why he has (our should have) people on his staff who have legislative experience and can work the vote from the inside out?
Who sets the legislative agenda for him? That is the person who needs to hear from us. Was there no room in other pieces of legislation to make any deals for this one?
It seems that on Monday I’ll be working the phones calling the offices of the Senators who voted against this legislation. I don’t care if they are elected from my state or not, once the get to Washington they work for all of us because their votes affect all of us.
There is a distant sound, a chant really, that I once heard loud and clear…. something about government working for Main Street and not for Wall Street…. alas, it has faded to the point where I can no longer hear it or the cheers that once accompanied it.
Is it time to start singing, ‘Bye bye Miss American Pie?”
Gyges,
I agree regarding this specific issue. However, the president sets the stage for all of us and our society reflects what he does, right or wrong.
Mr. O has the ability to become one of the finest presidents in history but he is letting others decide or influence important decisions for him. I have known and worked with many very intelligent, highly credentialed people and some of those people are the finest—yet the dumbest and most naïve—people I have ever known. With the help and suggestion from experienced, although less intellectual, advisors, Mr. O and others like him are destined for greatness or abject failure, largely depending on naiveté.
A fine, intelligent man named Jimmy Carter is the best example of former president who was naïve, based largely on his illogical religious beliefs, I think. How many of us are smart enough for nuclear physics but who could have done a much better job as president?
FFLEO,
I’m just wondering why The President is getting blamed for a vote in the Senate. Especially one he didn’t seem to have lobbied one way or the other about.
Let’s be reasonable folks.
BigEasy,
I think you are crossing the line with your blue rhetoric. There a plenty of people here, including me, who are upset with Mr. O. but you comments are way out of bounds.
Thanks LindyLou,
This is a great site to know about!
There is an organization that monitors lobbying, Open Secrets. Pretty interesting. Here’s a link to the congress page.
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/index.php
Hey Uncle Tom-Obama, my balls are itchy, scrath ’em for me.
Where’s the lobbying reform? As it stands, the Senate is a feeding trough where bribery is the main dish 24/7, whether we the People like it or not.
Where is the promised change? Pres. Obama is letting the People, their Constitution, international law, and the Founders down in all important areas, while protecting Corporate and it’s strangle hold on the People.
He may be gone in four. This time, it’s very likely that no second term ala Bush would be available. Fail the People and kiss the White House goodbye. He’s well on his way to accomplishing that goal. Supporting Bush policy amounts to committing the highest betrayal.
Perhaps a Customer’s Union would be effective in taming the bank beast. Consider this a viable alternative to waiting for a promiser turned Friedman school manipulator and corporate lover to get on the People’s side. This time, a Reagan-like union bust might be off the table entirely.
Where’s the Constitutionalist I voted for? So far, I see inequality, misrepresentation, negligence, and betrayal oozing from every pore. How long will Camelot last? Unless there’s a sharp turn favoring the People very soon, it is over.
http://www.light-to-dark.com/cut_n_run.html
I think we should organize. It’s time to get our point across.
Uncle Tom-Obama get me some water, now!, I am thirsty
You may check the campaign donations to each senator for the state in which they are in . I’d start with the secretary of State for each and see how much they have been “given.”
I am all for reasonable regulation, but how does this help anyone? 15% is very low for a short term revolving account. Even if you default on a card, the maximum it can go is 29.99%, still not that bad. The bottom line is, the credit card companies should be regulated so that they can’t bill more than once a cycle, change payment dates without notice, change rates without notice, etc etc. Limiting interest rates will only lower the overall availability of credit. The government should make sure people know what they’re getting into (by increasing transparency and limiting deceptive practices), but not restrict their ability to enter into agreements they choose to.
part of the problem we are in now is a direct result of artificialy easy credit as a result of bad Fed. Reserve policy.
Interest rates of any kind should be allowed to float based on market principles. Tying them to a certain cap is asking for trouble all over again.
Government needs to stay out of markets and let markets work. Free markets not government can allocate resources efficiently and effectively.
Think long lines in the old Soviet Union, central planning does not work.
The idea that a bunch of government economists or for that matter private sector economists can control the actions of millions of people taking decisions daily to provide for their needs, wants and desires is laughable at best and inherently bad.
A surprising number of Democratic Senators from beyond the East Coast voted this bill down. You might expect the Delaware and Connecticut and New Hampshire and the North Carolina Senators to vote against it when large bank organizations are based in their states, but Alaska and Montana? I would love to see Sanders call out these Senators and ask them how much money they received from the banking lobby. I know it won’t happen, but a guy can dream, can’t he?
That’s why I don’t have any credit cards. If you can’t pay cash for it, then you probably don’t need it. ALthough it is easy to see how a person could get in over their head with one, especially if you are cash strapped.
What I’d really like to see the Senate take on is those stupid pay day loan companies. I really hate how they take advantage of such naive people.
To compare this list to Dick Durbin’s comment that it’s “hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place,” it’s accurate to say these Senators are the ones who’ve been purchased.
We need to make this list our targets for primary challenges and make them pay for making us pay such outrageous fees after the bailout and amidst the worst economic times since the depression.
As senator Durbin-Dem.Ill.Said and we all know it to be true.”The Banks Own The Senate”.