Today I finished listening to the podcast of this program.* It is about Brooksley Born and her warnings about the need to regulate the derivatives market, which was ignored, and that has caused so much suffering. When I was done with that I started listening to this podcast about predatory credit card lending.
It reminded me a lot of what two inspired men said at two very different times, both warning of the same danger that tears down at the fabric of human relationships. Greed. But not just greed, greed at the expense of those with whom you share a society.
The first was the prophet Isaiah, who warned of the wickedness of taking advantage of the disadvantaged.
"What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor?" ~Isaiah 3:15
Prof. Ball (BYU, Isaiah Class) said the sin the Lord was referring to here was the rich taking advantage of the poor, and basically treating them like slaves. Grinding their faces is a pretty vivid metaphor.
The second warning was from Robert F. Kennedy, who gave a speech shortly after the assassination of Dr. King.
"We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others."
Hearing these two podcasts made me want to tear up my credit cards, pull my money out of the retirement accounts I have, and drag these bankers out into the street to be publicly shamed.
We are lucky not to have much debt, mostly just school loans. We are among the super fortunate. But I have been on the high interest, high hidden fees, and finance charges side of things. It is a crushing way to live life. It is no life at all really, it is borderline slavery.** I know there are a lot of our countrymen out there who are still in that position. I also know that reform of the financial sector is facing an uphill battle.***
I feel that I am surrounded by (or at least I feel I ought to be) a tide of anger neutered by a feeling of helplessness. I also feel like a lot more suffering is to come (if Born, Krugman, et al. are to be believed). I wonder what will happen when the frustration and anger are given a means of overcoming their helplessness. What happens when the grinded classes find out how to fight back against their masters?
*Thanks dad.
**I know that most of those in the same situation bought beyond their means, and that is ill advised. However, I believe (and the former head of Providian Credit admits this) that these people who could not afford to pay their full balances, were deliberately targeted, mislead, and preyed upon.
***Frankly I was hoping for more from President Obama and a supermajority same-party Congress, but that is another story.
3 comments:
i feel mislead by "johnny depp" in the title.
but great post, bhal, great post.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/05visa.html?bl
sorry, i don't know how to post a direct link and i'm currently too lazy to go figure it out.
i read this article today and thought of your post because it also makes me want to cut up my credit (and debit!) cards. mer.
also, i thoroughly enjoy the title.
About the title...but maybe you would if you did. You never know.
About the post. I like it. It is all very frustrating, isn't it?
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