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From Steny Hoyer, the new House Majority Leader and major proponent of the Bankrupcy Bill:
TPM Reader KS: Mr. Hoyer, please explain how the passage of the bankruptcy bill last year will actually benefit anyone OTHER THAN the credit card companies and the big banks in light of the rising expense, employment instability, and healthcare uncertainty of living in the United States, especially given that more than half of all bankruptcies filed by individuals in the past were in response to a single catastrophic event, such as losing a job or experiencing a health-related crisis.
HOYER: I voted for it because I believe in personal responsibility. For people who incur debt but can't pay through no fault of their own because of a catastrophic event, obviously there needs to be protections.
Since there are no "protections" in the Bankruptcy Bill for people who develop cancer or other serious illnesses (or for those who must leave higher paying jobs when they are called into National Guard service), I guess these are not considered "catastophic events" and people who recklessly court them are, therefore, at "fault." Good to know.
GS: But who does the bill help other than insurance companies and big banks?
HOYER: The incursion of substantial debt and bankruptcy not through catastrophic events I think hurts consumers in that it makes debt more expensive. [The companies] simply charge higher rates to cover their losses. We can bring prices down for consumers by insuring that those who incur debt pay that debt.
Mr. Majority Leader, as a cancer survivor myself (two times) I want to thank you and the "fiscally responsible" Blue Dogs so much for showing me the error of my feckless, immoral and financially flighty ways and I hope that along with my fellow medical goldbrickers (who comprise roughly 50% of all those who file for bankruptcy) we can show how much we appreciate the opportunity to work like indentured servants for the rest of our lives to pay off not only our medical bills but the non-negotiable credit card interest rates that pile up as a result of our shiftless refusal to work during surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and the other forms of frivolous time-wasting we indulge in when we could be contributing to society in the productive ways you envision for us. As a member of Congress I realize that all your medical bills are paid for and this is not a worry for you, but that probably just means that you are more responsible than us and had the good foresight to get yourself a job where you could cast a vote to have us taxpayes pick up your bills on your behalf. If only we had been so "responsible."
Anyway, thanks again Mr. Majority Leader. I just want you to know how happy I am that the Republicans are no longer going to be in charge of Congress, and I look forward to the "choices" that Newt you will offer me to take personal responsibility in my own life. I'm sure I will be a better, stronger, more productive person for it.
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Happy Thanksgiving FireDogs!
And to you too Zed!
I dislike Hoyer. I hope Speaker Pelosi will make life miserable for him. This guy reminds of Lieberman.
And great post Jane. Hey Steny, how come no penalties for those companies charging loansharking rates? Or the 10 credit card offers I got in the mail today despite my shitty credit?
Fitz! Am I really the first?
RIGHT ON Jane! As a 16 year breast cancer survivor, I couldn’t agree with you more.
(Hey, you were SO FUNNY yesterday - love your style of snark!)
There are a lot of bills that need to be repealed or amendes … not all of them immediately obvious. My question, on any given bill, would be ‘Does this promote the general welfare of the country, or does it help only a small part that’s doing well already?’
D’oh! Guess I type too slow.
Thanks for this. I KNEW there was a reason I didn’t trust Hoyer.
Gah, what an idjit. Just to think, this is our Majority Leader.
Btw,
Happy Thanksgiving ! I hope everyone has a warm place to be and a veritable feast to enjoy.
I will be giving thanks for my many blessings and remembering to stay responsible so I can pay all these bills>
here’s what people don’t understand about bankruptcy protection;
For a lender, bankruptcy is the price of doing business.
period
like the rent you pay, the electric bill in the summer, the heating bill in the winter.
When a lender lends money, in his interest rate is the price of default.
that’s it, they have to pay their bills
If the lending industry was in some kind of hardship, if we couldn’t find lenders, then there might be a case that bankruptcy was an expense the the lenders couldn’t afford and we would have a reason to have changed bankruptcy protection
but the lending industry was making tons of money, and eliminating the expense of risking default was nothing short of a gift to an industry that was already demonstrating excellent return form their bussiness
I guess it was real irresponsible of me to eat the buffet at Whole Foods last night, too, where I got food poisoning and have now been in bed and sleeping all day with a fever. This is about as good as I’ve felt since, so that I can actually sit up at the computer.
I get to be pissed of until midnight. Then it’s big family T’day tomorrow. Many Republican relatives, whom I adore, will be there. Therefore, no politics. But… tee-hee, Demo family will out number the Repubs 1.873 to one. So there.
People, ‘bosses’, such as Hoyer are such ugly liars. They claim to believe that most of the people declaring bankruptcy are taking advantage of the system…or so it seems. But I wonder if we are over qualifying their mental process—I bet if we looked at their campaign contributions and their industry ties, we’d find even that slimy bit of idealism right out the window.
They’re carrying the water for the banking and financial industries. The rest is just window dressing. I’ll bet he gets a lot of fancy dinner invitations, though.
It’s the “I got mine, you can go f**k yourself” attitude toward medical and other catastrophe survivors.
Kevoy11 @
5
Thanks, and congratulations. My first bout of breast cancer was in ‘93, so I guess I’m 13 years living with this. Really can’t thank Steny and the 302 members of the House who voted for the bankruptcy bill with no medical exception enough for their sensitivity. I’m lucky in that bankruptcy wasn’t anything I ever needed, but having lived through cancer twice the expense is outrageous and to tell the estimated 1.9-2.2 million people who do have to declare it as a result that they are being “irresponsible” when it’s nothing you ever have to worry about facing yourself takes some real fucking nerve.
Pachacutec @
11
Laggard.
This is how it’s done Jane. Thanks for posting this because this right here is how it’s done. Bringing down the sunlight on the actions of “our” representatives. highlighting their hypocrisies and greed. Showing them for the sold-out souls they really are.
The arrogance that this moral midget and character-challenged elitist to actually suggest that he voted for this for our own good… To help make us more responsible… It staggers the imagination.
Pachacutec @
11
bummer, Pach - hope you feel better for Thanksgiving.
sorry, of topic but SO GOOD!
http://www.lacrossetribune.com.....gold21.txt
GORE/FEINGOLD
bada BING
Attention credit card users etc. Hoyer is not your pal.
There will always be people who take advantage of the system, any system. Forgive me if I channel the NRA, but why not enforce the existing laws?
Steny believes in personal responsibility-what about corporate responsibility?
And pach, it was clearly irresponsible of me to never smoke, drink, or do any serious drugs and yet still get throat cancer. I wish the people who double talk like Hoyer could just walk a week in the shoes of someone into the second half of cancer treatment. Not actually wish them cancer—I and no other survivor would ever wish that on anyone—just have them lay on the treatment table with the beams burning inside them, or sit there with the chemicals infusing into their veins, all the while wondering how they are going to pay for this…
Twisted Martini @ 20
of course there will be people that take advantage of any system, that price is figuredd into the formual for payment.
the lending industry was recoding profit and there was no reason to eliminate their rent..bankruptcy protection is the rent they pay for their bussiness
It does get exhausting not only battling arch-conservative Republicans all the time, but also special-interest corporate Democrats like Hoyer and Lieberman.
Jesus, will somebody please come up with a viable party that only allows “good guys” to belong to it? I can come up with a list of proposed members, and Ned Lamont would be pretty high up on it.
And thank you Jane for this post. I feel overwhelmed at the quality and sensitivity of FDL over the last few weeks, but especially this week. Stunning quality and content.
{{{Jane}}}
To hear this crap from a Dem is deflating. So much for fighting for the middle class, these K Street whores need to pamper their big money pimps just like the DeLay machine. Uggghhh. Like fighting the Rethugs wasn’t enough, we have our work cut out for us with the new Powers That Be.
Connecticut Bob @ 23
the firedog party
What the hell kind of name is “Steny?”
And I thought my name was weird…
cleter @ 27
I know my name is weird
Ct Bob, great minds…
Anyone see this? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....nding_bush
Papi Bush doesn’t like to hear the truth. Testy, testy.
perris @ 28
weirder than cletus? c’mon.
I’ll be willing to judge his entire body of work, but he certainly isn’t winning any progressive friends with special interest bullshit.
You are absolutely right Perris, the lending industry figured out how to have the Govt remove much of their risk, putting more profit into their pockets. Meanwhile the cheaters will still find ways to get over, like the generous homestead exemption givine by states like FLA.
perris @ 26
Where do I sign?
Twisted Martini @ 31
you know, it’s the cost of their bussiness, if they can’t handle that cost, go into a differant bussienss
like tools for a mechanic…hey, I don’t need snapon tools if I’m just a household handiman, I don’t need a compressor or a hydrolic lift
if I want to be in bussiness as a mechanic I ahve to buy my own tools and pay for the things my industry neccesitates
same thing with the lending industry, they enjoyed excellant return on their investiment WITH bankruptcy protection.
I have NO idea how corporate media managed to convince middle class America to give free money to the lending industry, but man oh man, just about everyone I know was for eleiminating bankruptcy protection…I just don’t get how easy it is to get middle class people to champion against themselves
“you’re soaking in it”
Off topic
Remember this post last week?
Well, I remembered seeing a video of the perfect person for those “winners”, a couple years ago, but for the life of me I couldn’t find it … Until now (windows media video)
Maybe she’s related to Pam
I don’t know much about Steny Hoyer, but early impressions are not good. He comes off like a typical bought and paid for politician.
From Steny Hoyer, the new House Majority Leader and major proponent of the Bankrupcy Bill.
What?!? Why are the Dems rewarding “Dems”-like-HolyJoe? Lamont thought the Bankruptcy bill was a terrible idea and used it against HoJoe.
reminder: Hoyer wanted to come on FDL for a live blog session, but only if we promised not to say mean things to him.
perris @ 18
GORE/FEINGOLD
bada BING
I have to quote myself cuz I think everyone missed it.
this is great news
Brava, Jane.
And for local spin on the Congressman from Maryland’s Fifth, a WaPo Metro section profile of The New Boss:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01533.html
“Personal responsibility” when assigned surely means less than when assumed, especially when assigned by one, like Hoyer, to whom said law will never, ever apply.
=======
Who’s Next?
=======
Great post. I hadn’t gotten around to finding out enough about Hoyer to have an opinion about him. Now I do. He’s a jerk.
This only adds to how horrified I am at the moral bankruptcy of my country’s policys, after learning about Lee Kinchnen’s healthcare plight earlier today.
punaise @ 38
He plans to come on FDL for whose benefit?
Jane: I echo Kevoy11 @ 5. Thank you! My 25yo brother-in-law passed away in Oct. 2004 after a long battle with brain cancer. My sister was left with a mountain of bills for treatments that weren’t covered by insurance because they were “experimental” and by a lack of prescription coverage. His pain medication alone cost over $500 a week!
Six months after losing her husband and the father of her children, she had to file bankruptcy.
See, this is exactly why we need Republican leadership. The next time that a CEO guts a corporation and absconds with all of the cash, leaving everyone unemployed and broke at the same time (because their stock options are now worthless), we will know who to thank. If it wasn’t for the GOP, I would have been blaming the fat cats, who clearly were not at fault since I’m the one going through credit counseling. It’s good to know that all the thievery in corporate America is somehow all directly my own personal fault, through my own sense of fiscal irresponsibility.
Because they are really good at taking the exception-the cheaters-and make them the norm to the point that they need to change the system for prevent the cheaters.
mui @ 42
Howie Klein wrote about it at Down With Tyranny but I can’t seem to find the link. Jane?
perris, Feingold is my first choice, HOWEVER, I’m not sure the VP job is worth giving up a Senate seat. If it’s Gore, it just might be worth it, but we need every damn seat at the moment.
in the meantime, don’t miss Attaturk’s photomontage of the Bush holiday table and guests.
you know what people don’t realize about what happens without banktuptcy protection?
fewer entrepenuers.
I want to open a cafe, but I surely don’t want to risk my families future by doing it.
so what does that mean?
I don’t take the loan, I don’t rent the store, I don’t hire the kids, and in general, the middle class does not grow
http://downwithtyranny.blogspo.....hoyer.html
On topic: CNN’s question of the day:
Will the Democratic takeover of Congress lead to better govt? Currently 56% yes.
Thanks for the well wishes. If I’m well enough, my partner and I will be having TG with some friends we met through Drinking Liberally.
rat bastahd @ 47
who gets his seat if he gives it up?
rat bastahd @
25
Hear, hear. There will be a primary in MD-05 in a year and a half, who do we know in the area who might like to give t a shot?
Great post Jane - and important message. We need to watch these guys sooo carefully and a D after a name does not automatically make an ally.
punaise @
38
Could I speak only in Spanish? You would not believe the words I learned in grade school….
Our family has had major health crises. A member is in a nursing home. I’ve had some health problems, so have my sons. We had to declare bankruptcy.
Steny….go play in traffic.
Pach! Whole Foods? oh dear!
I avoid WF as much as possible - not for fear of illness but for the safety of my food budget!
punaise @ 50
I see, though it’s hard not for people to get emotional over the bankruptcy bill. And understandable. If he takes a position that puts where people who have suffered catastrophic losses are taken to the cleaners, I can imagine even polite folks gritting their teeth.
Other Howie Klein link:
Could there perhaps be a “Lieberman for Connecticut” Party in Holy Joe’s future? One well-informed Nutmeg State pol, who preferred to remain anonymous on account of he may find it professionally necessary “to kiss the lying old fart’s butt,” expressed doubt. “”Connecticut for Lieberman’ was a big enough stretch,” he said. “It was not only arrogant in the extreme but more than faintly ridiculous. However, ‘Connecticut for Lieberman’ is just plain preposterous
Sad, but true.
My sister lives near Steny’s house in Southern Maryland. He lives very well for some one who has never had a “real”job. Just saying..”Personal responsibility” is the mantra of someone who has never had any.
punaise @ 34
Im-madge-in!
Pachacutec @ 11
I got deathly (seemed like it, anyway) ill after eating at a buffet a few years ago. I now see buffets as a gastronomic version of Russian roulette.
HotFlash –
I left a brief response for you downstream, got EPU’d.
Jane, sharing your cancer survivorhood allowed you to write so beautifully. Please continue to remind us how the genuine voice resounds in the public square.
Vivid, true, and clear.
Oh, dear, I used a bad word related to gamb*ing…
Siun @ 57
I today discovered a Food Palace Extraordinaire opened two weeks ago at Broderick, a blockandahalf up Oak. Seriously, they’re open til nine and it’s heaven.
I had made a mental note to ask, the next time I spoke to you, about coming up with some kind of “amnesty” strategy for Democrats who supported the bankruptcy bill and similar atrocities, in the spirit of letting bygones be bygones now that we have a congressional majority.
But, uh, nevermind.
Steny Hoyer will NOT be our friend. We need to send him something really appropriate come February or so … like some turkey legs or something.
Re Thanksgiving, I will (or was going to be) alone tomorrow so I called up a neighbor who recently moved into a senior high rise. She said she was going to be alone, so I am going over there to spend some time.
Our family will have thanksgiving on Saturday, but we are only a few people. My ex-husband and I are both only children so it will be us, our three kids (one very depressed) and 4 of our grandkids. But family is family, and we will be glad to be together.
Siun @ 55
Wasn’t it Duke Leto who recommended giving untrustworthy associates positons where a close eye could be keep on them?
GrandmaJ @ 66
GrandmaJ, wonderful to see you!
Pach –
Hope you’re feeling better soon! You can drink water, right? I had a bout of food poisoning once, most likely from eating raw clams at a wedding reception at the Jersey shore. All I could think of was the title of the film, “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”
Ended up passed out on the floor of the bathroom, where my roommate found me. Dehydration. IV solution of salt/sugar put the electrolytes back in order.
To this day I’m obsessive/compulsive about handling raw meat (disposable vinyl gloves, bleach on the counter, etc. etc.), even though it wasn’t my own kitchen that did me in. Once burned, never again!
Please take good care! It sounds like you’re not too bad off today, glad to hear it. But for others who might not know — if you can’t keep water down, get someone to take you for help, before you pass out.
I wonder if there is a record of how many times Blue Dog Rep. Hoyer visited our injured soldiers, many severely, who finally made it back to the states…versus the number of times Rep. Murtha visited soldiers in a stateside hospital on their return from Iraq.
In other words, based on Rep. Hoyer’s total lack of sympathy for American families adversely affected by this Republican/Banking Industry passed Bankruptcy Bill, it wouldn’t surprise me to discover that Rep. Murtha visited our injured soldiers many, many more times than Rep. Hoyer…if Rep. Hoyer ever got around to visiting them at all.
Rep. Hoyer sounds like one of those “compassionate conservative” Republicans…ultra-conservative with utterly no compassion at all…totally divorced from all the hardships visited upon middle-class American families and poor families by the rampant greed of those “compassionate conservatives” who just lost control of Congress.
Explain to me again why the hell Democrats chose Rep. Hoyer as the new House Majority Leader?
Rep. Murtha has proven to be a fighter for those in America who have been under-represented (or not represented at all) over the past 12 years, while Rep. Hoyer apparently surrendered his soul to the “culture of corruption” Republicans a long time ago.
There will definitely have to be a further shake-up of Congress in 2008.
Motherfucking prick. I hope he gets cancer in both balls and has to pay for it.
I posted a CTBob link downthread. HoJoe talks to Hannity about “what will make him switch parties.”
Mrs. K8 @ 69
The hardest part for me was that I really, really only wanted to be alone and, given my condition, my family was happy to oblige. I missed my cousin’s wedding reception; upon their return, I required an er visit. Keep close your partner, Pach, and ensure you’re able to alert him if things go south. Water’s good, then broth and bread.
No, but corporations can still declare bankruptcy and renege on paying their bills, including pensions. What sort of financial responsibility is that, Lord Hoyer? Everything about this guy, from his name to his face, screams patrician blueblood. Can it be that the dream of November 7th is dead already?
Speaking of cancer. Where is Darth Cheney?
Lieberman on Hannity: If the Dems take a position that is soo wrong for the country, he’ll have to switch parties. Obama talks about “cut and running,” and that’s sooo wrong.
Well… we’ve still got Lieberman, and we’ve gained Hoyer. What would make this macabre picture complete? Wait! I know. Hillary in 2008.
Most recent Darth public appearance, only one since Election Day:
http://www.fed-soc.org/Publica.....cheney.htm
Maybe someone should tell the banks to make loans to, you know, people who can pay the money back. Many years ago, the old saw was that you could only get a loan if you didn’t need one. When I got my first credit card, I had to put $500 in a savings account and leave it untouched to get a card with a $500 limit. Now they loan outrageous amounts to anyone and wonder why some of them don’t pay it back. Maybe the banks need to act responsibly.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 78
Hillary, the Repuglikans favorite candidate, because it will be a sure loss for the Democrats.
Regarding Hoyer –
He needs to be inundated with emails about this bankruptcy thing, just flooded with responses to his remarks. Thanks for this, Jane! I plan on giving him a piece of my mind.
According to Steny, it must be okey-dokey that credit card companies send the equivalent of a grove of dead trees in paper for credit card offers to every man, woman, and child in the country, regardless of the offer recipient’s financial standing. Shoving credit in everyone’s face.
It also must be okey-dokey with him that there are complaints in virtually every state A.G.’s office about credit card companies who just happen to *hold on to* a customer’s payment, not posting it until it mysteriously becomes “late,” enabling them to run their scam of “late penalties” and usurious interest rates.
Where’s the oversight of that highly irresponsible credit industry? I want to see hearings, with teeth in them.
Hoyer should get inundated with outrage for his callousness and refusal to hold an irresponsible industry accountable.
Mickey @ 76
Kissing the ring of King Abdullah…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....heney_dc_2
(You know, that country which produced 15 of the 9/11 hijackers.)
mui @
42
Stimpy’s benefit, of course.
The only motivation Stimpy knows: Hoyer for Hoyer.
Cheney is winging it to Saudi Arabia this weekend while Chimpy is in Jordan. Something is going on, some sort of bad deal is being cut, I can feel it.
You got that right, Fini Fini.
I am usually around but struggle each day not to worry too much.
Question: If Joe the Schmoe joins the republicans, could he ever win in CT again? He won it seems by fooling many dems, and of course by lying to them. Of course if the investigations really heat up, Joe will definitely switch to keep all of his friends safe. I want to hear what Clinton says then.
So Bush is in Jordan while Darth’s in Arabia. Does that mean Denny’s in charge?
kirk murphy @ 84
I think he might have put his finger on the wrong pulse.
Mrs. K8 @ 82
How about blizzarding him with medical bills? Could make for good photo-ops.
I’m seeing people still with hospital braclets on wrists, coming by dear ‘ol Stimpy’s office with the wad of crushing bills.
And media.
The hardest part for me was that I really, really only wanted to be alone
Teddy –
Me too! I pulled a serious Great Garbo.
Did light bother your eyes, too? I needed the blinds and curtains shut, tightly — and STILL put sunglasses on. The headache!
Seriously, that was the only time I felt so thoroughly horrible I thought death would be merciful.
Hoyer wasn’t the only D who supported the BANK bill.
We need to get money our of politics. Public finance for all elections and term limits.
Close shut the revolving door.
Bust up monopolies especially the media companies
Nationalize the energy companies
Shrink the army
A dream… sure… but when will THIS nightmare end?
kirk murphy @ 90
Oooh, Kirk! I like how you think!
How to organize this? Which consumer groups would be interested?
The “rubber stamp” project was highly effective and could be imitated, no?
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Hope you feel better soon Pach.Bad stuff, that.
Beer thirty has arrived.
perris @ 33
I think they convinced people that interest rates would be reduced if bankruptcy “abuse” was curtailed.
How about it, has anyone’s credit card interest rate actually declined?
Fini — for me, it’s the juju of this day. That’s the creepy feeling I have — November 22, plus the brocolli voodoo which seems effective: no trade agreement to take on AF1, which gets a flat tire; demonstrations in Indonesia and motorcade cops critically injured in his wake; Twin’s purse (and cell omg!!) stolen in BA; accompanying posse-members of Bush entourages (White House Travel Director and Secret Service) mugged and beaten in Hawaii and B.A.
ill wind.
GrandmaJ @ 87
He will win as long as there is Diebold.
Steny, you are in our crosshairs come ‘08. Just saying…
Other ideas:
Are there any non-profit credit card companies out there?
I cut up all my credti cards after I retired. Figured if I had to charge it, I didn’t need it.
Many ideas out there that we could dream up. Like co-op insurance companies, which is how they got started in the first place as “widow’s survivers benefits” through the “animal clubs” e.g., Elks, Moose, Eagles, etc.
A reminder of the old Vermont Farmer’s motto: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”
Bustednuckles @ 94
And it’s after fourtwenty on Thanksgiving eve!
mui @ 81
I do not like Hillary’s continued ‘thunking’ on Iraq. I do not like Hillary’s support for the invasion of Lebanon. I do not like Hillary’s non-view on the re-starting of the Mideast peace process. Otherwise I like her.
I do like Clark and I do like Gore, among a few others.
TeddySanFran @ 96
Speaking of juju, did that voodoo meister happen to cast his spell on Cheney, as well?
And WTF is he doing in Saudi Arabia? I hope there are reports out of there….it bodes ill.
sofistic @ 98
Once Working Assets is finished with their contract with MBNA (for processing payments) — and that should happen sometime in the new year, IIRC — we plan on shifting to them.
A portion of their profits goes to progressive causes, and beyond that they’re involved in a variety of good projects. We get our cell phone service from them.