I'm really tired of hearing the sorts of things most patriotic Americans utter to express what they believe to be the national character of the United States. Consider some of the most common expressions: "The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave." Or consider "The Greatest Country in…
I recently had the opportunity to view “Maxed Out,” a feature-length documentary directed by James Scurlock.
The movie is one-sided, in that it gives scant recognition that some debtors have brought their financial problems crashing down upon themselves with no one else to blame. On the other hand, this movie presents a point of view that is not generally considered by the media. Not all debtors are irresponsible. There are many debtors who are generally innocent, who got tripped into debt by sophisticated and despicable measures used by disreputable creditors, with Congress turning the blind eye.
On the issue of irresponsible creditors, Exhibit A, featured in the movie, was a severely disabled woman who lived in a nursing home. She had no income, but was offered $30,000 in credit through the mail.
Here’s what else I learned from Scurlock’s movie:
1. Credit card companies make 4 billion offers of credit cards every year. Fees for these cards have risen 160% over the past five years. The average household now bears over $9,000 in credit card debt, costing the average household $1300 in interest every year. One analysis of people going through bankruptcy showed that for each dollar in principle borrowed, the average person going through bankruptcy owed two dollars in interest and fees.
2. What is overall problem? According to Elizabeth Warren (a professor at Harvard Law School and a recognized expert on the issue of consumer debt) we are in great danger of turning our nation into a two-tiered …
On Wednesday evening, Bill Moyers' Journal presented "Buying the War," a terrific special describing the failure of the U.S. media during the run-up to the Iraq invasion. If you missed it, you can watch the entire show here. Here's the official description of the special: Four years ago on May 1, President Bush…
Mrs. Bush recently made it clear to the American people that with regard to Iraq, "no one suffers more than their President and I do." Yeah, right . . . [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIuODSIuHLo&eurl[/youtube] In my opinion, our Narcisist-in-Chief has a psychological 12-foot high wall that prevents him from feeling true empathy. How…
Why not? Two reasons, according to Ellis Weiner on Huffpo. "There are two reasons. One is that they're not funny. The other is that they're not conservatives." Not funny? Weiner describes conservative humor: Whereas political humor, by definition, is anti-power. It makes fun of those in power -- that's what…