> rayrena at realtime.net wrote:
>
> > Negotiators Agree on Bill to Rewrite Bankruptcy Laws
>
> Yup. Amazing that it should pass in this environment.
I don't find it the least bit surprising. Were things to get really bad, i.e the real-estate bubble finally collapses, unemployment ticks up decisively, and all of those credit card bills and second mortgages suddenly become overwhelming for a large number of Americans, bankruptcies would likely mushroom, and it's conceivable that the sheer magnitude of filings might pose a significant threat to the status quo. After all, under the current setup they're relatively easy for people to obtain, they don't carry as much of a stigma as they once did, and hey, the corporations do it all the time, so why not everyone else?
So given the above, this is truly Congress's last chance to pass bankruptcy reform as a bullwark against the storms to come, so much so that they probably feel they have no choice but to move forward with it. Were they to wait and try to do it in the midst of (worse) economic turmoil, layoffs, etc., it would truly be political suicide. But right now, one doesn't perceive a sizeable, widespread engagement with this legislation on the part of the populace at large, and unless I'm mistaken, there's a reasonably wide swath of legislators willing to sign on (skewed in the direction of republicans, of course), which will mute the possibility that legislators might be singled out for having voted for reform at election time. And no doubt they're probably banking on any potential crisis coming after the elections, not before.
This is a perfect issue for the Greens - something that, handled properly in the context of the increasing number of corporate bankruptcies and consequent pension fund losses, etc., could energize a lot of Americans. Why should individuals and families be prevented from filing in the face of real hardship, when corporations are cancelling billions in debts taken on through mismanagement and fraud?
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/ dave /