For Obama's Sake Put Biden Out To Pasture Now

At this time of the nation's economic malaise it would be the highest folly to bring on a
Senator with Biden's record on the personal bankruptcy confronting millions of Americans
on the verge of losing their homes and their personal savings.

Bankruptcy is the last defense of Americans who have lost everything to clear the slate and
start anew. At this time in the nations history with millions on the verge of losing their
homes and having their life's savings destroyed because of Wall Street's CDO Ponzi Scheme
that grossly enriched the few on Wall Street while impoverishing the nation, Joe Biden stands
out as the Democratic Senator whose diligent work helped the credit card moguls revise the
the nation's bankruptcy laws so that Americans would stay on the hook to their debtors for
years on end as they tried to scratch together a new life. It was a Bill that was signed with
alacrity and applauded loudly by the credit card industry and banking interests as
President Bush, that symbol of an American legend pulling himself up by the
bootstraps, was putting ink to paper.

The credit card industry has for years attempted to have our bankruptcy laws amended
and with the Bush administration found a willing partner that would bring "discipline"
to the daily lives of the American family's household budget. Let Wall Street run roughshod,
let the oil interests allow Maine to freeze -- that was OK. But the credit card establishment
wanted their last ounce. The administration needed help on the Democratic side of the aisle.
Bingo, there was Senator Biden. MBNA, the "Credit-card juggernaut had been the biggest
proponent of the legislation and among the largest donors to his campaign" (NYPost 8/24/08:
"Life of Gaffes...") with political contributions of $214,000 and according to the non
partisan Center of Responsive Politics, the finance and credit industry was contributing
$300,000. And were that not enough, one of MBNA's executives reportedly purchased Biden's home for $1.2 million in 1996. Ah, the privileges of a garnish free existence.

Well, if you're out there and about to lose your home and your savings, don't worry. Senator
Biden is standing at your side!

Comments

[TrooAmerican]

Perspective is everything.
I've been reading the "Hitting home hard" "poor people in america" "have you lost your home" ongoing Segments on media sites & theres always some family that has ZERO perspective on living thrifty.
Like this example:
A couple with 3 kids says their home is has dropped in value from about $350,000 to $290,000 and they are worried. They have cut back eating out. They cut back on landscaping. They set a budget Now for buying clothes for their kids, and were worried they'd wouldnt have the money to keep them in private schools this year, but to help out, they sold their RV. Wow! Whatever.

Most of the people I know are struggling with a $90k mortgage, high commuting costs, groceries, utilities - especially heat in the winter. People are cutting back buying new tires & driving on them with little tread. Cutting back on brake jobs, oil changes, Cutting out doctor visits, dental visits to avoid copays. Going to work sick, for fear of losing their jobs, applying for aid but still being turned down as making more than poverty wages, but not enough to live on. Having yard sales for extra cash.
Buying only from the goodwill or yardsales.
Tryin to buy bulk groceries for a cheaper price, but often dont have the money to buy anything bulk to save that extra bit.

[TrooAmerican]

"Bankruptcy is the last defense of Americans who have lost everything to clear the slate and
start anew." Whats wrong with these critics? are they trained by Fox?

If you're American who lost everything.... you're pry qualified to file for bankruptcy.
The means test merely makes sure that you dont have an higher ratio of Income/Assets to Debts where it appears you can afford to pay them instead of being lax with your budget.

[PensiveObserver]

The downside of picking someone with a 36-year voting record is that he has undoubtedly made plenty of wrong calls. This is true in the foreign policy arena as well. If this was such a great pick, why has McCain caught up with Obama in the CNN poll that was done since the announcement? It will be interesting to see if he can stay out of trouble...

[LexLuthier]

Debates

[flyingmonkey]

Obama has been falling in the polls since he returned from Europe and the middle east. I seriously doubt if the running mate choice is showing up in the polls yet.

[elizaW]

"Less hysterics and more perspective, please. Your typical American ignorance is showing."

LiberalDemIda

LiberalDemIda

The fact that you used the phrase "typical American" says you don't understand Americans (they're not typical) and that you consider yourself superior. I won't even go into how your comment meant to strike down my post has no logic to it but i will add that if you think Biden's support of credit card companies hasn't resulted in the victimization of thousands of people (many of them college-age ) you haven't been paying attention.

[Coinyer101]

biden was a horrible choice .he is not change.barack blew his first major decision,by picking insider biden. should have picked clark,if he wants to bring hillary's on board!

[TrooAmerican]

what are you talking about? hillary's people love Biden, in fact Hillary had considered biden for her cabinet or Vp selection if she won.
ignorance abounds

[Querent]

it's pretty telling that Mr Learsy can only find one thing to object to Sen Biden over, isn't it? Let me point out that it's not axiomatic that somebody in financial difficulties should get to cancel their debts. If there were only one side to bankruptcy, there would be no need for a court to supervise it, would there?

While opinions of Sen Biden's part in changing the bankruptcy laws may differ, I seriously doubt that this is going to be very important in the presidential campaign. Sen Biden isn't running for God. Like all of us, is falls short of being perfect. Get over it.

[SamEllison]

Well he did call Al Fredo Gonzales "his kind of guy" during the AG Senate confirmation hearings.
That bill did put credit card debt and child support payments on the same level, it needs to be revisited.

[Passenger57]

A little LATE for that,isn't it...?

[appetite88]

Biden got a 95% A rating for supporting the middle class over his last 6 terms in office. This bankruptcy bill represents the 5% where he wasn't in line with the middle class agenda. Bad bill, but he's overall a very, very good senator.

[Herm]

Bad bill, but he's overall a very, very good senator.
*************************************************
I think he is a pretty good senator, too. But I am puzzled about the label, 'bad bill'. Do you think people should be able to duck paying their bills, forcing those of us who pay our bills to have them added to by businesses having to increase their prices so as to recover the loss when they sell something in good faith and receive nothing in return?

[FloridaShutterBug]

I just looked up the actual vote on this bill at:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00044 Check it out.

They're showing: 74 YEAs, 25 NAYs and 1 not voting.

My point is that it takes a majority vote to pass a bill in both the Senate and the House and a president to sign it into a law. This is the way the system works. The implication that Joe Biden single-handedly passed this bill is asinine. Had he voted against it the vote would have been: 73 YEAs, 26 NAYs and 1 not voting. It still would have passed by a 3 to 1 margin!

Someone needs to write about some of the good things Biden has done for the benefit of those who mindlessly accept whatever the media, including Huffington Post, tells them.

[geneven]

Right. Biden isn't perfect, and this was a bad bill.

But I'm going to try to talk against one thing that bothers me these days, a lot.

I'm against one-issue arguments, as in "we should vote against candidate because of his stand on ..."

The problem is that with lots of people taking one-issue stands, the only candidates who can succeed are zero-issue candidates. Then you get candidates who can't commit to anything because whatever it is will lose too many votes.

[flyingmonkey]

good post.

[itmaybetoolate]

Great ! Write away.

[gwinegarden]

He might have spoken crossly to his mother, too. This guy has been working his butt off for over 3 decades, but we always have to look for something negative. Give it a rest!

[LeonBNJ]

Perhaps one thing Obama/Biden should do in the 1st 100 days is to revisit the Bankruptcy laws, make some proposals for laws revisions to Congress to create a better balance of credit card debt issues. Yes, I don't want the Bankruptcy laws being abused and some clearly did that, but the current laws don't make any difference from those who are abusers and those surviving. The newer laws also never took into account the irresponsibiltiy of the credit issuers who only looked at the fees, interest and not how they overextended credit lines to irresponsible persons.

[BassMent]

I'll tell you what... let's play a GAME! Let's name that PERFECT VP CANDIDATE that Obama should have picked! Just remember, they must meet one all-important criteria:

They must NEVER have authored, worked on, voted for, or expressed approval of any legislation or any policy position that could prove objectionable to any faction of the Democratic party, be it liberal, progressive or centerist. Oh, and they have to be a living, breathing human being too.

I'll wait....

[JimR]

I think you've just touched on why Democrats lose elections...

[LiberalDemIda]

Americans are pretty dumb, really. Sure, there are a LOT of us that aren't but when it comes down to logical thinking, we all lose BIG TIME.

We all want change from what's happening today but on the other hand, we don't want change. We all want *real* health-care insurance, but we abhor getting everyone health-care insurance. I mean, WTF?? No wonder we're the laughing stock in the world!

We still haven't grasped the concept that, in order to make an omelet, we need to break some eggs. It seems we'd rather debate an issue *to death* than act upon getting our boots on the right path before we take the steps towards healing and improving this country. It seems the idea of "bitching and moaning" is more appealing to us collectively, than doing something about our dire predicament.

Baby steps, folks. We need to keep focused on the goal, not the color of Obama's skin or whether or not Biden is pro-credit card industry. Don't let trivial things like an easily repealed BK bill distract from the overall picture of change WE REALLY NEED.

Keep in mind that Biden, in his 35 years in the Senate has NOT ONCE tried to enrich himself. His networth is only $300,000 dollars for God's sake! Sen. Stevens of Alaska came into the Senate with a networth of $50 thou and within SIX MONTHS was suddenly worth $2.0 million. At least in that, give Biden the respect he's due.

[myamericanlife2009]

This law also help the rich like Trump get out of millions in debt by declaring bankruptcy on his casinos and hotel i guess you think the taxpayers should have pick-up the tab.

[SCG2]

" It makes no difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people. "

-Gore Vidal