Bankruptcy Filings Up Once Again!

By Number Six

Sunday, May 14, 2006 at 07:02 AM

As if we need even more proof that Bushonomics doesn't work, can't work and wouldn't work even in a fairy tale, and even despite the credit-card-company-friendly new law, guess what...filings are going up....

The idea (hack-cough-wheeze-gag) behind Herr Bush's cutesy new-and-not-even-remotely-improved Chapter 13 law was to, ahem, "cut off all the deadbeats who were using such to avoid....."

Some law. Lawyers are sueing this new law because they claim it prevents them for giving good advice to their clients. Shazam! Lawyers aren't happy? Uh-oh! RED ALERT!

And those who are now filing? They can't even pay for credit counseling, a "requirement" under this new law. Yep, you wanna file, you got to go to some neat classes, probably with topics like "8,000,000 Things To Do With Hamburger", "It's Okay To Live In A Cardboard Box", and of course, "Why A Career At McDonald's Is Your Only Last Choice For Employment."

But, the real joke of this new law? It's affecting the profit margins of....yeppers...the same credit card firms who wanted this law!

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the nation's largest credit card issuer, said its charge-off volume would rise 44% in the fourth quarter to $2.3 billion from $1.6 billion for the same period a year ago.

Capital One warned its charge-off rate could rise up to 1 percentage point from the year's previous range of 4.05% to 4.14%.

Discover said it expected the bankruptcy surge to add $250 million to its costs.

As Moe Howard once said: "What's the bright idea?"

Simple, someone let their greed get the best of them, and now, the credit card companies can go whine and cry all they wish. Of course, now, a little logic applied, what could have been wished for?

"Hey, why don't we back bills to make good jobs for our customers? Then, they'll have plenty of money to pay us with, right?"

Yeah, and when Hell freezes, of course.