In These Times

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• • 07 Aug 06
  • 2:26 pm

  "Who the heck can be on the side of charging 521 percent interest rates for people that are vulnerable and desperate?" I am, as someone who wants that vulnerable and desperate person to be able to get money he obviously needs very badly and immediately. If 521 percent is the best deal he can get (and if he could get better then why wouldn't he?) for money he needs badly and immediately, then all this legislation does is stop him from getting the money he needs. Don't kid yourself into believing this bill protects people from "predatory" lenders (ya know, those …

  Posted to Economic Populism Proves Popular

• • 07 Aug 06
  • 2:50 pm

  "It's been very exciting to show Democrats that when you get out there on an economic issue and show that you are on the side of everyday working folks, there's power in that nexus." That should be amended to, "It's been very exciting to show Democrats that when you get out there on an economic issue and show that you, on the surface anyway, appear to be on the side of everyday working folks, despite the fact that the policies you support, on balance, hurt the very people they were supposed to help, there's power in that nexus." "Politics is about …

  Posted to Economic Populism Proves Popular

• • 07 Aug 06
  • 2:42 pm

  "But if the service is so popular, why did lawmakers nearly fall over themselves to pass the interest cap?" Duh. Because the service is popular with the small segment of society that needs the service. Obviously, it's not used by most of the electorate that has, for example, credit card availability, and as such doesn't need the service. The legislators are accountable to the electorate as a whole, which is comprised mostly of people that don't use the service. To the broader electorate, this valuable service can be made to seem like a crime, and they don't understand the benefits of …

  Posted to Economic Populism Proves Popular

• • 15 Jun 06
  • 11:20 am

  ktkt, 1. You should look up the definition of "Ponzi Scheme." It's utterly hysterical of you to call "Corporate America" a Ponzi Scheme. There are examples of fraud, sure, but some fraud does not a Ponzi Scheme make. 2. "It has nothing to do with profits, good management, market share, products, or services." Actually, for the vast majority of corporations, it does have to do with those things you listed specifically because they are the only path to lasting success, which so many corporations have achieved. They certainly didn't achieve lasting success with "self-dealing, manipulating, and conning." Here is something about …

  Posted to Rot in the Barrel

• • 07 Jun 06
  • 10:58 am

  Delphi "proposed cutting workers' jobs and wages by roughly two-thirds." That just wouldn't work. All the workers would leave Delphi and go to other jobs that pay more than the lower wage that Delphi is offering. Either the workers would go to other higher paying jobs, or the fact that the Delphi job at the lower wage is still the best job available to the worker is evidence that unions lead to workers getting paid more than the economic value of what the workers offer the employer. That's what union-supporting legislation has done: It has led to a scenario in which …

  Posted to Delphi Dodges Union Contracts