Well, I'm just a little more peeved than usual. Being unemployed for as long as I have been is getting annoying.
As for the government, I've made my feelings well known, but the Shiavo thing was really beyond the pale, as far as I was concerned.
There is another issue before congress now that we should all be concerned about. The weasels in the banking industry want to change the bankruptsy laws. Of course the new changes have nothing to do with a corporation going under, but if for any reason you go under, basically they'd own you!
This more than sucks, but the media isn't even covering it with all the stuff about Shiavo and the Presidents plan for Social Security, which doens't even address the solvency issue.
So let me ask you, isn't this new law something we should be concerned about, and shouldn't it be getting more coverage in the media? Especially since every company out there continues to send me applications for new credit cards. Yeah, they're really being responsible, sending out applications to the unemployed and then wanting the government to bail them out by changing the bankruptsy rules!
But it is what it is. Thanks for asking.
Actually, Rick, I already have a problem with bankruptcy laws -- both individual AND corporate! I have seen FAR too many businesses fail and declare bankruptcy only to turn around and open again under a new name! I have ZERO idea how they manage to do that! I don't have a problem with remanaging debt because you are still being responsible for what you have incurred but this whole idea of walking away from the debt you have accrued so that you can reestablish yourself is just another way of not making people responsible for their own actions.
Now, I know of some people who have accrued debt by having poor health insurance and having a major medical catastrophe -- I'd be ALL for using my tax money to help them -- but that's not the majority of people who are abusing the bankruptcy laws -- and there are a TON of people doing that these days (umm, that's the reason why there are so many "bankruptcy" lawyers paying prime money for television ads because it's the "cure" for being in debt!). I don't know much about the bill that you refer to and would like more information about it but this is an area that NEEDS tightened up, IMO.
Point-in-case, I knew of a contractor who was to build a pool for my brother (granted, my brother used a builder who wasn't bonded which was dumb, IMO, but he said he couldn't find a bonded builder) and he barely started the process before he declared bankruptcy (which means he STOLE, IMO, the 50% my brother had already put up on the pool) -- he then, turned around, and opened another company under a different name! I STILL don't understand the loophole that allows this!!! My brother had to pay someone to come in and fix some things that this contractor did and then pay someone else to install the pool resulting in a $40,000 pool (a pool that was originally going to cost $18,000). Now, I think my brother made some stupid decisions here but it doesn't negate the fact that this contractor was able to file for bankruptcy and then reopen his doors without having to pay back the money that he had bilked from customers (my brother wasn't the only one).
There are a LOT of problems with both commercial and individual bankruptcy and I'd like to see both of them addressed.
And I won't get you started on Social Security however I will say that I don't like what Bush is doing but I haven't liked what anyone else is proposing either. I can't see how Social Security is EVER going to be solvent -- what was once meant as a "retirement stipend" is now total retirement for too many people -- and the retirement issue ISN'T the biggest part of that -- it's Medicare! SS is NEVER going to be able to keep up with rising Medicare/Prescription costs -- people are living longer, medical technology is higher than ever, lawsuits against doctors (and therefore malpractice insurance) not to mention the incredible amount of money that is being raked in by pharmetics companies. SS CAN'T remain solvent while trying to pay the Medicare bill for our present seniors. Granted, rather than investing SS in the past, congress has spent it all creating some of our current problem. I don't like Bush's plan -- but I don't like any of the other plans I have heard either!
