Significantly, though, the new [bankruptcy] law made no real changes on the lenders' side, measures that might have reined in an increasingly predatory credit industry. It is common knowledge, for example, that credit card companies intentionally urge financially troubled families to borrow still more money, because they can
charge these households exorbitant interest rates. As one Citibank executive has candidly observed, "They are the ones who provide most of our profit." Late payment fees, another favored industry device, reportedly deliver over 30 percent of credit card financing revenue. Assurances by lawmakers that the new law will bring credit card interest rates down fly in the face of these more fundamental corporate strategies.
Allan Carlson, Indentured Families
Carlson notes that the National Organization for Women was "heir to the GOP-favored National Woman's party," a fact previously unknown to me. I believe his claim that Teddy Roosevelt shunned the eugenics movement is mistaken, but the rest of his remarks on the tensions between the financial and social conservative wings of the GOP are spot-on. I'll keep his reflections in mind when I visit my first party caucus tonight.
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