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Stick this in your bailout pipe and smoke it

lambert's picture
Fri, 09/11/2009 - 11:12am — lambert

NOTE Via Yves.

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TonyRz's picture

Real revolution is not having bills in first place.

By TonyRz on Fri, 09/11/2009 - 1:58pm

Just not paying your bills is so red state. At this point in time, I have a job and credit (not a mortgage, however), but I'm acquiring nothing I can't pay for in cash.
IOW, "I'm out.".

I watched MSNBC's rerun of the 9/11 super-spectacular double-blowout this morning, and I have to say, Reid and Pelosi picked a bad day to fuck with me.

Even if you pay all your bills on time, the CreditCos get a slice of all your spending up front. Fuck that noise. It's 9/11. Time to STOP the fucking shopping, already.

(I'm sorry, was I being uncivil?)

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BDBlue's picture

15% vs. 30%

By BDBlue on Fri, 09/11/2009 - 2:22pm

As someone pointed out at naked capitalism, we're really a fucked up country when 15% isn't considered usery. That she was willing to go on paying 15% forever, shows how trained we are to accept being screwed over by Wall Street.

We recently signed up for a credit card to get a discount on a large purchase (we'll pay in full the first month and cancel the card, saving 10% and giving the store an extra Innocent. When we got the bill we were shocked at the "minimum payment". Anyone making the minimum payment would not even keep up with the annual accumulation of interest, much less pay off the bill. It was an invitation to debt peonage.

And I agree, limiting card use is an excellent way to hurt the ones who are hurting us.

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt

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Fran's picture

next wave of defaults..

By Fran on Fri, 09/11/2009 - 5:23pm

This will be the next wave of defaults.

The cc companies are trying to make money up front before you even get into trouble. It is basically a breach of contract on the original loan, since she never missed a payment.

I had to let my cards go years ago when I lost my job after having cancer. I tried to negotiate. It is unsecured debt, so there is really nothing they can do except ruin your credit. But, if you have no money, or lost your job, you are not really in a position to use credit anyway.

I have one card with a low limit that I use for convenience, not buying anything that I do not already have the money for. I pay in full every month.

Whether you let your card/s go or not probably depends on how high the balance is and your ability to pay. But, if a company treated me like this video, I would get rid of that card.

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BDBlue's picture

This Is Where the Lawlessness and Lack of Accountability

By BDBlue on Fri, 09/11/2009 - 10:03pm

come back and bite the Village in the ass. Because once you set up a society where the elite don't feel like they have to follow the law, pretty soon regular Americans start to feel that way. Debtors will default and not care and, I predict, if they continue to fund unpopular programs (bailouts of Wall Street and other corps) they're going to start seeing a decline in tax compliance. The healthcare "reform" proposals practically beg people to game the system or non-comply. And, in the end, the Village will have no one to blame but themselves. They've been telling Americans for the past few years that this isn't a nation of laws.

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt

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lambert's picture

Heck, there's already a tax resistance movement on the right

By lambert on Fri, 09/11/2009 - 10:15pm

Heck, it's a trope!

I can't believe nobody's put the mandate in that context...

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi

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BDBlue's picture

Yes, But It's a Fringe Movement...At Least For Now

By BDBlue on Fri, 09/11/2009 - 10:36pm

What the Village is doing is setting it up to go mainstream. That's what a lack of legitimacy for a government does and they've been throwing their legitimacy down the crapper for years. You simply can't violate the law every which way from Sunday and then give long lectures to the people about how they have a duty to uphold the law. Well, you can, but it probably won't be all that effective.

Here's a Marshall Auerback post from last month at Naked Capitalism on how the Obama Administration is underestimating the chances of serious social unrest, including tax non-compliance and a debtors' revolt (there's a link to a longer article he wrote about a potential debtor revolt as well). If you missed these, they're well worth reading.

I don't think the Village really grasps how tenuous everything is. Americans don't have to take to the streets to bring everything down because we're a society that's built on paper. You start shredding the paper and a lot of it comes falling down. If that shredding becomes organized, the government has a real problem. And because so much of it can be done in the privacy of your own home, the government might not even see it coming.

Personally, I'd rather the government get its fucking act together than having millions of Americans acting out in a variety of ways (including the possibility of violence). But as time passes, I fear that the government is so corrupted by big money that it isn't possible for it to get its act together.

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt

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danps's picture

See also

By danps on Sat, 09/12/2009 - 10:35am

Here.

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