This is an excellent story, and I am so pleased that someone has made it available. The experience of the author is common place now. And, far too many have yet to find a foothold.

So, I hope this awareness will create some changes as we select new leaders. (That's becoming tricky as well.)

What would you expect from a republican controlled band of theives in congress and the white house. The get their support from the banking and loan sharking (credit card) industry, and in return they offer them legislation that supports that industry.
Credit card companies target people through ads to get them to go into debt by suggesting that they NEED non-essential items to be cool, hip, or it's a MUST HAVE toy.
Lately one credit card ad on TV has targeted students to take out "up to $40,000 per year" and not have to pay it back until after they graduate. That's a lot of money to be in debt, just starting out.

Edward1793 both the Democrats and the Republicans are equally complicit in the ursury system. Check out the donations by Visa's lobbyists here:
http://tinyurl.com/2sltkz

Between students loans, car loans, house loans/mortgage payments, April 15th taxes (it all goes to the federal reserve to pay down the interest on the national debt) and credit cards we are all in debtors prisons. I believe an economic crash is coming as this inflated credit bubble cannot last.

Having been in her situation, I can wholeheartedly empathize, but there is one troubling thing at the end of the article. It states that she lives with an assortment of cats and a tank full of tetras (which I assume are some sort of fish). If she had to scrape around in her car to find $1.70 for a slice of pizza, while she had these animals, something's definitely wrong. The article doesn't address whether that's the case, but it often is, and if you have to scrape for money while feeding and taking care of pets, your priorities are a little mixed up.

I have recently received a credit card bill with a rate of 32.24% apr. This is the highest I have ever heard of.

I got fell into this cycle by missing a payment when I moved two years ago.

It is so very transparently rapine and pillage, it is hard to understand how even the credit card companies could think it would go on.

Again, the Republican mantra is personal responsibility. That means that people can lie, cheat and steal and it is your fault if you fall for it..as W. would have said it he could have without messing it up.."fool me once"..or something like that.

Seriously, we all know that there have to be laws to protect people and that you have to enforce those laws. But as long as we allow Republicans to spew trash like "free markets" with a smirk on their faces, then we are going to have this form of criminality.

The original banking theory started out with a spread of 2-3 basis points between the interest you recieve and the interest they charge to cover the administrative costs. Now you have banks giving 3% return on your investment, excuse to charge higher rate for a default, abilty to invest your money in high risk gambles and an Uncle Sam called Fed bank to infuse money for their gambling losses. The consumer is cheated royally. These guys have no shame going to church/synagouge and wash their sins by weekend. It is utopic to expect these guys to follow Jesus/Moses by heart not by mouth.

Student loans are the mother of all traps. DO NOT TAKE THEM. If you cannot afford to go to college without them, go to a State University, or join the reserve and get GI Bill. The government loves student loans because they cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, and once you have something like this persons $42K in debt you must work forever to pay them. DON'T DO IT.

This is not just a Republican issue. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and many other "finance" democrats signed this monstrously evil and cruel bill. Most people are not trying to hide behind bankruptcy, as many studies have proven. The bill was not about cheats. It was about making more money and further indenturing people to the debt slavery system. Most people who have credit problems have lost their job, have used credit to stay alive or come out of the military with no prospects and no money. After Iraq, debt. Thanks for helping us out.

Lobbying is the real culprit. The "bought and paid for by corporate interests" Congress. Leahy's vote, the vote of a senator from a poor, rural state should have been political suicide, but looking at Leahy's financing revels that his heaviest contributors are, you guessed it, banks. Senators and Congressmen don't need credit cards and no longer represent anyone who does. They are the new aristocratic class.

Thanks Marney for this excellant piece of truth ,written exceptionally well!Captain Video has it spot on too.I recently used a check card ,you know a debit card at the grocery store for a small purchase.I exceeded my balance by $2.00 .The bank paid the overdraft but charged me $29.95 in penalties.While my acount was overdrawn there was a $6.95 a day charge to my account and I was notified by mail two days later ,however I did not get to the post office for a week.A week of $6,95 was $34.75 plus the $29.95 penalty came to $64.70.That is 32 and a third times the overdraft of two dollars,in one week!Thats alot of vigorish !Mafia loan sharks should have it so good! Peace

IRS the Federal Reserve is no more Federal then Federal Express. It is a privately owned bank that is never audited, never questioned, and is extremely powerful in determining how much interest we will all owe on everything especially housing and income taxes. A good movie on the subject:
http://tinyurl.com/23drlk

Yes, credit card companies are like the mafia. I have never owned a credit card myself, and I'm married, raised two kids with special needs, sent them to college (their college was paid for by state and federal grants) own a house, and have never had a family income over $26,000. Of course, when our kids were small there was still medicaid, food stamps, Section 8, Head Start and Children With Special Health Care Needs, all of which have been curtailed or gutted. The reason that people like Ms. White are forced to turn to credit cards during times of hardship is that there is no social safety net in this country. If she lived in Western Europe, or even several "Third World" countries, her needs would have been met by the state. Instead, she was forced to become an indentured servant to the credit card companies and the bank that holds her student loan. Credit is a trap--a way to keep citizens enslaved to the system. Try to avoid buying anything on credit, and, as Felipe Calderon said above, don't take out student loans, go to a state university. Our kids' college education, including books and fees, were 100% paid for by state and federal grants. This was partially because of our income, but in some states (New Mexico, for instance), state colleges are free to residents regardless of income. A friend of mine had a son at a state university in New Mexico who did a year at the University of Oregon under an exchange program, and the state of New Mexico paid for that, too. Don't believe all the BS about the need to have a good credit score, either. I had NO credit score, because I had never bought anything on credit, and my wife had a bad credit score because of some old unpaid medical bills, and yet a local credit union gave us a conventional mortgage on a three bedroom house that looks like a villa in Provence or Tuscany, with payments that were less than most people pay for renting a one-bedroom apartment. A friend of mine went through bankrupcy and less than a year later bought a $21,000 car on credit. The banks and credit card companies just want you to think that your life will be ruined if you stop paying them. The reality is that they are as addicted to lending as consumers are to borrowing.

Republicans will never understand this because most of them haven't had the humiliating experience of rummaging through their car, purse, and pockets to scrape together $1.70 to buy their child a slice of pizza.

if you're so poor you can't afford $1.70 slice of pizza, you probably shouldn't have a car. it's crap like this that really irks me. people have become so dependent on cars that they oftentimes become makeshift homes when people finally hit rock bottom.

i agree with the author. we are difinitely living in the time of mafia style corporate government control. it's like uncle sam has got one hand in your back pocket stealing ur money while his other hand is in ur crotch raping you for good measure.

fuck america!

I wonder what would happen if everyone skipped paying their credit card bills for a month or two. or altogether.
f**k the CC companies--they're crooks, and they use our money to finance their Kleptocracy, formerly known as the United States of America

Predatory lending is a term that describes the practices of all lenders. There are no longer defined legal limitations in the United States on predatory lenders. Since usury laws ended in the early 80's there has been a consolidation of unethical lending under laws that the banking industry shepherded through congress and state legislatures. These laws hurt the middle class in insidious ways that allow lenders to advance plainly criminal lending to the working class. Financial institution standard practices maximize their effect by an invented credit reporting and credit score scheme that is legitimized through propaganda advertised to Americans daily while lenders sell the idea retail. Most people pay 4-6% points above their risk level under this scheme. Over many years the American public lose much of what might have been savings for retirement to these predators. This is perhaps the true meaning of bank robbery: the bank robs the customer

superheinz:

It is obvious you been in Ms White's situation. Your comments make about as much sense as our idiot president's comments about poor people with sick children -- Take them to the emergency room!

I lost my business during the days of the dot.com debacle. I was on shaky financial ground, but recovering, when 9/11 hit. From that point until just recently I can totally relate to Ms White's story. What kept me sane during the past six or so years were my dogs. No, I don't have human children; my dogs are my family. If not for them, many days I was so depressed I would not have even gotten out of bed. If not for them, I would not have fought so hard to keep my home, and yes, I guess I'm part of the reason the housing market is falling through the floor. I refinanced twice in order to stay afloat.

I know of elderly people caught in the same type of situation: A fixed income, increased expenses, and credit card debt. Again, if not for their cats and dogs, they might have lost their will to live.

Did you ever consider that the cats and fish may be part of Ms White's family, or the pain her children would have felt if they "gave them away?" I'll bet they would have given up their pizza to feed their pets rather than not to have them at all.

No, I know her priorities were in the right place. Heart trumps logic, thank goodness!

"Capitslism is, and always has been, horror without end."

"Calederon" writes

"If you cannot afford to go to college without them, go to a State University, or join the reserve and get GI Bill."

Military recruitment much? "Sell your body to the war machine" -- oh, wait, we already have.

I'm offended by the two sanctimonious prigs who dare to nag this woman about whose life they know absolutely nothing. "You shouldn't have a car if you can't afford pizza" (imagine church lady voice) "If you can't afford food why do you have pets?" (I'm imagining Mrs. Lovejoy from the Simpsons on that one). When you are in those dire straits every little comfort you have becomes a buoy to keep you from sinking, a reminder that life can be worth living. And a car, for someone who doesn't live in the city, is a lifeline... how do you get to the doctor without it? The dentist? Work? Handle a non-ambulance emergency? I've been there; have you? No, I imagine you've never faced having to live without the trust fund - am I right? Congratulations on pulling yourself out, Ms. White, my regards to the cats.

Hawkwind

If you were in trouble and someone handed you a gun with one bullet, they'd be charged with a crime. If they hand you a credit card, they're saviors? Far from it. CREDIT IS NOTHING BUT A TRAP TO KEEP YOU ENSLAVED TO THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM. DO NOT FALL FOR CREDIT IN ITS MANY GUISES.

Really, giving away the family pets or euthanizing them is not a financial solution.

America is a land of vast resources, resources should be equally accessable for all, along with the resposibiliy of stewardship. Our government should stop giving it away to corporations that provide little or no stewardship and then sell us back our own resources.

"Nobody can do what Countrywide can."

Similar story, different strategy: $90G in the hole (most accrued as the result of a trama, plus penalties and the rape-interest,) force to live the cash life. Credit rating: zero. Certain employers, it turns out, will not hire bad credit risks cause "studies" show said bad risks are more likely to steal. The TSA works off the same theory. Many "landlords" will not rent to bad credit risks, even with extra advance cash payments. On the other hand, a debit card covers nearly every other situation, and keeps ya honest - you only spend what you have.

Unless there's an emergency anytime in the near future. Then, of course, we're screwed...

Same sort of thing. Heart trauma (3 open heart surgeries) lost business, credit went to crap, now unable to be hired in my field because of credit. Had to start my own business again, borrowing money to do so.

Marney's experience is shared by many, including myself. I struggled for nearly twenty years after getting out of school. After ten years I quit using credit. But ten years after tearing up my credit cards, I was still paying on them, with a 32% interest rate.

Of course, without credit cards or the opportunity to create a pile of savings (I paid on student loans for 18 years), I also had a pile of medical debts. The last car loan I had was 29% -- on a five year car loan!!! Finally, after slipping on my self-employed taxes, I threw in the towell. Here's where it got really interesting: The person ahead of me at the bankruptcy office had two homes, without mortgages, and his own business. He kept everything and got a discharge of all debts. I had nothing, but had shuttered my business and taken a job. So I got shoved into a repayment plan, forking over 20% of my pay for five years.

Because I am in bankruptcy, I can't even rent an apartment. Utility companies charge me the highest rates; banks place 20 day holds on my payroll checks and some want co-signers to open a savings account. I live on cash and am viewed with suspicion as a result.

Because of the credit reporting industry, there will never be a fresh start for me or anyone like me. I am lower than a peasant because I have no credit and own no property.

"Capitalism is horror without end."

Many people are learning this without having to delve into revolutionary texts.

They need to go to the bookstores & libraries & the internet & find the texts to find the voice for what inevitably happens under capitalism.

Marxists.org is a good place to begin.

Maybe the poster that was upset about her having pets thought she should eat them? I swear some people are just heartless. I can hear that conversation now with the kids
"Sorry kids, we're broke right now, so tonight we're having Fido burgers, I know you'll miss him"...

"Isn't there a term for near-30% interest on loans? Something like, "loan sharking"? "Usury"??? Does the mafia even charge this much?"

Central banks continue to engage in what I consider "legal loan sharking" because it is in the vested interests of those they serve - spendthrift politicians and money lenders who control our economy and maintain the status quo of the tiny but powerful elite. Keeping the majority in debt is the only way politicians can maintain control and expand the sick ideology of the super-wealthy who have been buying legislation since this country was established.

The mass media and most historians fail to discuss how the dominant class in this country and throughout the world have gone about achieving their goals....by supporting predatory banking systems.

"As if things weren't already hard enough, the credit card companies got a big gift from the Congress via the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. (FYI, Biden voted for it; Edwards, Obama, and Kucinich voted against it."

Yup, that's right Marney. 19 Democrats and every Republican voted in favor of this legistlation which was written to protect the "predatory" banking system/industry and the majority in the House & Senate who undoubtedly received benefits in the form of campaign contributions from either the banks or the large corporations they loan money to and whose boards of directors they sit on to call the shots.

If the majority in this country had knowledge of how this government works in cooperation with a banking system that has managed to screw-up our economy with their bogus lending policies, you would see millions of citizens in the streets protesting.

The Bankruptcy Reform Bill wasn't the only gift given to the Central Banks. Do you remember the Savings and Loan Scandal back in the late 80's when the Resolution Trust Company, a/k/a the U.S. Government, bailed them out to the tune of $500+ billion? Well, guess what? The government is bailing-out the banking system again in the "sub-prime" loan scandal.

Until the idiots in this country DEMAND campaign finance reform, we can expect to pay these scumbags the interest that our government allows them to collect, usury or not, according to the laws they have put in place.

We all saw this coming with Bush's bankruptcy law. It was a setup by the banks to make debt slaves. That much was crystal clear and yet our Congress voted for it anyway. Will we ever vote for these people again?

Now add in adjustable housing prices based on a Prime Rate of 1.00% or so and we have the well forseen catastrophy infecting the banking industry today. We can't pay the mortgage OR sell the house - debtor's prison here we come. Thus dies the American dream, not with a bang but with a whimper.

We must remember that poor people and poor countries throughout the world have been and are being devoured by International Loan Sharks - called the World Bank and the IMF. Run by our own NeoCons as I recall.

And so it goes. When will this nation of sheep quit trying to squeeze through the eye of a needle for corporate greed and enjoy the simple life of Waldon Pond? I think that we owe that life's lesson to our children.

It's curious, also, how monthly amortization (for instance, a home mortgage) hides the fact a 5% loan on something like $100K over 30 years is actually more like 93% interest or somesuch last I calculated it: http://ray.met.fsu.edu/~bret/amortize.html

We've got rampant usury in our society.

Amazing so many democratic presidential hopefuls (?)voted for the law that made this happen. This was one of Obama's first votes...so much for all his promises. Check out the financing of his Senate campaign and you'll know why he voted yes. Keep in mind, that 29% is often and mostly PLUS prime on your cards.
I thank Marney for sharing her story and I'm damn glad she could find some joy in fish and cats. God knows we need some love in this world :)

The Preditors among us are the Sociopathic American Corporations. The people in charge look like us, talk like us but look at us as prey. The results touch our lives every day, even as they cut us out of the herd one at a time. I wonder if we will know it is time to turn on them before we are gone.

That 'ordinary American' needs to learn to quit blaming others for her decisions. If the rates are too high or you don't like the terms...don't borrow the money. It really is, just that simple. The continual refusal to accept responsibility for one's own choices and actions in this entire article is stunning.

The fact is, if these loans and rates didn't exist..she would never have gotten the money she needed in the first place. What's better...CHOOSING to take a loan or making a charge, or not even being able to if she wants to?

Buck up, take responsibility as a conscious ADULT for your charges and loans. We're not here to be your playthings.

Someone posted a note about "Money as Debt" a video you can google and watch for free. It sheds great light on our system of money. The plight of many Americans has created a rampant underground / private economy. I get e-mails about them all the time. People are opting out and finding ways around their credit scores. Something is happening in this economy and it aint pretty.

To the people that lectured Ms White about owning a car:

What world do you live in? I take the bus every day because I am appalled at the gas prices. Every day I see young single moms struggling on the bus with strollers and baby carriers, trying to calm, screaming children while the other riders glare at them. Hell, they work hard, too.

If you choose to live where a car is not necessary to get to work, you end up paying an exorbitant amount for rent. If you move out to where the rent is reasonable, the mass transit is not doable or is unreliable. The working person really can't win in this regard. Think before you post.

Hey mountain goat, you still eat sh*t? Like the other goats?

Is it really a mastter of "chossing" to buy your child $50 worth of school supplies at Target when all your money just went for food, rent and utilities?? Are you supposed to send him to school empty handed---or better yet, swipe the necessary items----if you refuse to borrow? As a single adult there were plenty of weeks I did without, or got by on one meal a day. But you can't ask kids to make those kinds of sacrifices.

So I guess your next comment will be that only those with six-figure incomes should have the right to reproduce. Right?

Fractional reserve banking system, how America went bankrupt...

I'm sure that if MtnGoat will help us butt a few political heads we can get Universal Health Care like the rest of the civilized world and most of these tragic bankruptcies need not occur.

BTW, I see that real sharks have the genes to make fingers and toes. Obviously, unlike loan sharks, they also have the compassion not to use them to pick our pockets or kick us when we are down. And the great shroud of the sea rolls on...

Rush Limbaugh had the stupidity to declare that credit had nothing whatsoever to do with our economy. That it didn't effect it to any major degree..

What an IDIOT.

National Association of Realtors donations to Congress:
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000062

No wonder the cost of housing has tripled!!! Google Case-Shiller index.

Equally outragges is the student loan industry an $85 billion dollar business for the banks!

There was a post on Huffington a week or two back about credit cards and all the mailings we get everyday enticing us to take their card and the low (introductory) interest rates. The author (I'm sorry I don't recall his name) explained that credit card companies DON'T want you to be able to pay off the balance every month. They don't want financially comfortable people they want people to struggle and meet the minimum payment only! Then they can AND WILL hit you with usary rates and lot's of vigorish and late fees. It is planned to work that way, WE are viewed as prey and anyone who subscribers to their card WILL be picked up and shaken upside down until ALL the money falls from their pockets. If you want a little revenge, send back the postage paid envelopes with lots of blank paper in them, try to make the companies have to pay excess postage fees (yea it's childish, but) it's a bit satisying. Get a debit card and keep an eye on how you use it. My wife and I spent several years living on cash only and it's amazing how much more thrifty you are. When you go to the grocery store and you've got ten bucks in your pocket you ONLY buy what you went in there for, when you use your debit card the impulse is to succumb to the stores merchandising. The banking and credit industry is legalized theft, but we can't expect politicians to do anything about it, they are as crooked as most business in this country is anymore. Maybe term limits would work, but we tried them in Michigan and we still have the yahoos doing favors for "friends and those who donate to the camaign. Here they just switch from the house to the senate to avoid the term limits. Scum one and all!

Caelidh August 19th, 2007 1:49 am

"Rush Limbaugh had the stupidity to declare that credit had nothing whatsoever to do with our economy. That it didn't effect it to any major degree.. What an IDIOT."

Rush Limbaugh has made a fortune promoting lies to the majority of his listeners who are incapable of critical thinking. I would suggest the bullsh*t he spews to his audience is dangerously calculating in an effort to protect the interests of the corporatocracy and his own cushy job.

Limbaugh is cunning and plays the self-interest game very well.

Mntgoat is full of shit like W. When W was running for president, he visited an army base. When asked about the fact that many people in the army had to resort to food stamps to get by, W had the nerve to tell them, like mntgoat, that they needed to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." What a hypocritical SOB. Bush and family have sucked off the American tit for so many years, one can't begin to count them. Bush's brother ripped off the Silvarado Savings & Loan and the taxpayers bailed them out; they've gotten rich off of war investments through the Caryle Group, and the f**ker is still eating at the trough while he destroys this country and shits on its Constitution. Every business decision W has ever made was a diaster, and he had daddy Cheney to bail him out while the other investors in his oil company --Arbusto went bust. How dare these bastards to smirk and lecture others about being self-sufficient!!! When the middle-clas and would-be middle-class see these crooks for what they are and no one pays them a single cent, then we might get somewhere. Yes, if the game were not rigged and if the companies were honest, then people ought to pay their debts. Having been screwed over by credit card companies, and out-right theft by Citifinancial, I know what some of these people are going through. Citifi after having taken over Associates continued that company's illegalities. They take your money and post it in strange ways, they do "reverse payments" which they refuse to explain--and engage in all sorts of theft. They call your house ten times a day threatening all sorts of crap. They even sent me a letter telling me my mortage was like a credit card and they could treat it as such, charing daily interest. But for years, they would send me no explanation of why they were demanding more and more money, and no matter how much I sent them, it was never enough. Before I realized they were doing this to lots of people, I thought I was doing something wrong. They have a predatory-lending type contract with me, but that wasn't enough, they had to post funds so that my payments did not pay off the mortgage in time. I initially had a $10,000 loan and paid $3,000 against it in one year, then borrowed another 15,000--on that $25,000, I have paid back over $72,000 in 15 years. They called demanding more--saying I still owe them $3,000. My son made an Excel spreadsheet according to the payments I have made and the terms of my contract--he informs me that if they had applied my monies properly, my loan would have been paid off and an additional $20,000 I paid was unnnecessary. I sent them a letter telling them this, and demanding my deed to be cleared and that they return the $20,000. I have since heard nothing from them--no calls, no letters. I had to declare bankruptcy because of credit cards that were charging interest through the roof--I declared bankruptcy TO STOP THE INTEREST AND LATE PAYMENTS. I received about $4,000 in goods and services and the other $11,000 was interest and late payments and fees. I paid all of that off within five years. Please Mtngoat don't lecture me and others about responsiblity. I have had responsibility up the ass. I am just thankful my children are grown so that I am no longer a wage slave--if I starve, that's my affair. If you have little ones, you are a hostage to this f*cking deadbeat system. I am going to post a poem I wrote in the next block so that anyone who does not want to read it can skip it--but it sums up the way I feel about this society and one's obligation to work and be productive. Mtngoat and W, kiss my ass and save rhetoric for someone who hasn't been screwed.

Mortgages are ALL rip-offs if you look at what you actually pay over the course of it. Mine is for 130,000 and if I pay on time over the life of the loan I will have paid the original amount off just shy of THREE TIMES. So for their 130K investment they are getting back over 300K. Pretty nice profit huh?

A Modern Day Diogenes

Twas an early morning in autumn with a hint of winter in the air
As I walked toward my place of work, I had to stop and stare
It was sheer curiosity on my part and I ought to have gone on walking
But a homeless man and a finely dressed lady were in the midst of talking.
The homeless man sat on a bench with the sun upon his face
And the finally dressed lady stood close by all dressed in silks and lace.
And it was this total incongruity that sparked my curiosity.

As I stood close by and eavesdropped on what was said between the two
I guess that it is fair to say that I learned something new
That I had no known before I stopped to listen in the way
And I must admit that I have looked at things a bit differently since that day.
The lady introduced herself as belonging to one of the town's religious sects
And she took great pains to inform the man of his current lack of prospects.
But he could change in just a few steps--and she was more than willing to offer her help.

"You can start by taking a shower down at the local mission place.
You'll look good in a new set of clothes and a cleanly shaven face.
You seem an able-bodied man, and it is a sin your talents have no enjoyment
When with a little effort on your part, you'll be presentable for employment.
If you will tell me what you can do, I'm sure we will find a way
To have you employed and earning money by the end of this very day.
The man took a deep breath and sighed before he looked up and replied:

"Well, I thank you ma'am for your concern and I am sure you mean me well.
I thank you for telling me how to find heaven and to avoid hell.
I thank you also for your offer of help in a gainful employment search
And as you seem interested in what I can do, I'll aid you in your research.
I appreciate all you're trying to do, and please don't think I don't
But before I can tell you what I can do, I'll tell you what I won't.
I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but I don't think I'm worth all your trouble.

I won't be a medicine man who charges more than one usually pays for rent
Who goes on strike and the death rate falls by thrity-five percent.*
I won't work for a drug company pushing pills that might destroy your liver
And makes all sorts of healing claims on which they can't deliver.
Of course, I could leave that job and work for the FDA;
And switch back and forth as it suited me like a ping pong ball in play.
I guess you think it haughty of me to snub--membership in such a cozy club.

I won't be a legal man who represents the rich and tends to spurn the needy
And often times is more incompetent than he is actually greedy.
I've seen some men and women with bar cards whose incompetence made me sob
While a kid with a GED and a love of the law could do a better job.
Sometimes the legal field becomes complacent and lazy
And such an insane game that a man of ordinary sense is driven crazy.
Some lawyers take a contingency fee; if there's a million for him and a hundred for me.

I won't be a judge who gets paid to slam the jailhouse door
On poor fools who have incompetent lawyers because, well, they're poor.
I won't be a warden or a prison guard who will give you a thousand reasons
Why your tax money ought to go for more and bigger prisons.
I won't be a cop who feels threatened if some black kid looks him in the eye
Or if that kid should curse him, thinks that kid deserves to die.
Sometimes cops make a stand, thinking its a gun and a badge that make a man.

I won't work in a nuclear power plant, which is nothing but a big boiling kettle
I would like to think I'm made of sterner stuff and of a better mettle
Than to produce thousands of gallons of toxic waste with no place to put it but drums
Where it can kill your children's children from now to kingdom come.
Who wants a mess in their backyard which can lead to catastrophic slaughter?
Does it make sense to do all of this just to boil some water?
I wonder if the people realize, this is what their tax dollars subsidize.

I won't work for GE who "brings good things to life" along with bombs and such
A precision pilot in a precision plane can have a precision touch
Only to discover that the precision bomb blew civilians to smithereens
And the politicians who ordered it all remain extremely calm and serene.
If you call the dead insurgents who will know or who will care?
Meanwhile defense companies watch the increase in the price of their shares.
With a war going full blast, Raytheon is hiring at last.

I won't be a Tony Snow who wants a job so badly that to win it
He will sell his soul and then must take any old lie and try to spin it.
I won't be a congressman who sends our soldiers to oil-rich lands to die
Because it was more expedient to go along then to ask the question "Why?"
I won't be a lying president who misleads the nation into war
And kills tens of thousands of civilians and desires to kill some more.
I guess what I want you to see, is politics are not for me.

I won't be a preacher who warns of hell in exchange for his pay
And says if you want to attain heaven you must do just what I say.
I won't be a teacher who teaches your kids to memorize rather than think
Or to march in line and raise their hands to go to pee or get a drink.
I won't drill into their heads that authority must always be obeyed
In fact, I'm sure I'd teach them to question it, so I wouldn't last a day.
This is a not a society--that will suffer gladly variety.

I won't be a diamond merchant whose wealth comes from working slaves
Who must mine the land that ought rightly to be theirs anyway.
They work in terrible conditions, in what used to be their land
So that some nice lad can put a ring upon some lassie's hand.
I won't give you money for your car title at an interest you can't repay
Or take most of your money for cashing a check, and then send you on your way.
These are the ones that Jesus Christ would take his whip to without thinking twice.

I won't give predatory loans in an office on main street
And spend a million bucks on advertising to make it seem legit
Guido is Guido whether in the mob or in a three-piece business stripe
But Guido just breaks your leg while the legit guy ruins your life.
The "family Values" folk say the Ten Commandments ought to be in every school
I say they ought to attach them to every business license and every legal rule.
Little kids don't steal, kill, and sin. No, it's politicians and businessmen.

I won't push credit cards that send families deeper into debt
Leading to more broken homes than adultery or alcohol has yet.
And congressmen and women just keep taking money from Citi-Fi
While the politicians and preachers wring their hands and pretend to wonder why.
The churches keep on harping on sinful movies and on Hollywood birds
And assure us all our ills would disappear along with illicit sex and dirty words.
Family values folks have perception refusal, seeing financial sins as business as usual.

I thank you lady for trying your best but as I told you from the start
I don't think you and I will see eye to eye or even heart to heart.
I don't want you to help me conquer worlds or enlist me to help those who do.
Enough mischief gos on in the world, would you have me add mine too?
So I would only ask one favor, and beg you not to look so stunned
The morning is cool, can you step aside, for you are blocking out my sun.
After hearing that homeless man that day, I've never looked at work in quite the same way.

Notes: In 1976 in Bogota, Columbia, there was a 52-day strike in which doctors saw only emergency care. According to the "National Catholic Reporter" the death rate went down 35%. An 18% drop in the death rate occurred in Los Angeles Country in 1976 when doctors went on strike to protest increase in mal-practice premiums. In 1973, according to the Jerusalem Burial Siociety, the Israeli death rate dropped by 50% during the month in which doctors reduced their patient contact from 65,000 to 7,00. See: Confessions of a Medical Heretic by Roert S. Mendelsohn, M.D., Contemporary Books, inc. Chicago, 1979, p. 114.

Diogenes was the founder of the Cynics in ancient Greece. It is said that he lived in a large broken clay jar on the outskirts of Athens. He allegedly walked around with a latern purporting to look for an honest man. When Alexander the Great approached Diogenes and asked "Oh, Diogenese what can the mightly Alexander do for you?" It is said that the philosopher looked up and replied: "you can stand aside as you are blocking my sunlight."

Marney,

Thank you for sharing your personal, sad story. Talk about predatory behavior!

These banks worked for over a decade to implement that bankruptcy bill, lubricating many political hands before finally achieving success. This bill is one of many examples of why we must end private campaign financing in order to save our country.

Had the congress people been beholden to the citizens who ostensibly elected them to office instead of their wealthy banking benefactors, this bill would never have been passed.

The Medicare drug bill was yet another example of a sweetheart deal for pharmaceutical companies – after the application of sufficient lubrication to venal politicians. This drug "benefit" is accomplishing little more than enriching already rich corporations, while hastening the bankruptcy of the country.

Politicians are not only apathetic about the plight of citizens such as yourself, they don't even care about the fate of the country. Their only concern is getting reelected so as to keep gorging at the trough of money which we involuntarily supply.

The system is rotten to the core. It's sickening.

I don't see how we can fix the system from within the system. Some people suggest we ought to have a revolution. That's preposterous. Americans are remarkably complacent and docile compared to other people, and besides, conditions have not yet deteriorated enough to animate Americans into real action. When a large percentage of Americans are living in their cars and struggling to survive, then maybe they will feel they have nothing to lose by becoming activist.

In the meantime, what can we do? The only cure for our decaying political system is to eliminate private campaign financing, to make the politicians beholden to the public and not the corporate lobbyists. But how can we do that? The politicians have zero interest in such a reform; the current system is too lucrative for them. In addition to campaign contributions, the politicians enjoy lavish paid junkets, meals, gifts, and club memberships. Who would want to give all that up? Sure, every now and then they pay lip service to campaign finance reform to pacify the masses, who then pipe down and go back to watching American Idol or some other televised "circus."

I think a simple, non-violent way to shake up the system would be for everyone to refuse to vote. That would totally de-legitimize the system and maybe rattle it so much that it opens up an opportunity to implement the said campaign finance reform. Beating our heads against a corrupt system in the hope that something good happens, is idiotic. What is it people say is the definition of insanity? Something like engaging in the same behavior and expecting different results? It's time to engage in a different behavior, or rather, refrain from the behavior of voting.

Dave

Here is a hot flash, don't vote, or vote, either way it doesn't matter your vote isn't counted if everyone stayed home we would still have a less than 50% turnout according to the numbers, and the elite would still be elected. Sure sheeple you get to choose which rich bastard gets to screw you this cycle. Yup, american dreaming all the way.

HOLYMOLY: Wonderful poem and interesting prior post. I, too, have lived (and learned to live) on low income. When I had a late fee put on a card, I would call up and politely ask that it be removed as I feel I am diligent about debts and everyone is late now and then. They always comply. Second, MANY cards offer 0% interest for 9 months, so you can move debt from one card to another as I have done for several years. As long as you don't miss a payment, they keep their word. One must use tricks to beat them at their own game!

I, too, have battled credit card companies who eagerly increase your rate when you are in trouble and miss a payment.

DON'T PAY IT! If you are overextended or out of work, don't make the mistake of trying to keep things going by using savings, etc. to keep things going. When I lost regular employment, I should have immediately called credit card companies and told them so. They have programs that will allow you to make reduced payments, reduced interest. You don't have to go through a debt consolidation program to sign up for it. Call yourself and tell them you want to pay off your balance but without a job you are unable.

A lot of people are suffering through this right now. And of course unemployed American citizens might consider those jobs that we allegedly don't want, but it seems all those are taken.

In my 50s, I am finding it difficult--for the first time in my life--to find a reliable,decently salaried job. I think my age must have something to do with it. I'm disgusted.

The banks have all turned us into serfs. A serf during the middle ages was in debt and could not own thier homes. How many people do you know who actually own their homes free and clear of their mortgage? Even then they still have to pay taxes on their home.

IMPORTANT _ YOU CAN LIVE IN THIS WORLD WITHOUT A CREDIT CARD. Boycott the bastards. I've never used a credit card. Not once. In my 40+ years of life.

I'm a successful professional with a wife and two kids. My job involves heavy travel, and we have a normal lifestyle, but without a single card.

There are occasional inconveniences, but debit cards are a great help for online purchases. Enterprise rents cars to people without credit cards. Trust me, any American _ or anyone else _ can live without plastic. Destroy yours now.
IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO FIGHT BACK. These jackals only understand cash, not reason or humanity.

Marney, God bless you. Thanks a lot for being honest.

Sadly, it's not just the lending agencies or, more broadly, corporate power, that's behind America's current financial and social decline. It's jackass neocon citizens like "MtnGoat." Cruelty has power in our society.

It's also many poor or struggling middle class Americans themselves. Don't kid yourself. Their hatred of what they call "Liberals" is so snarling vicious, so willfully ignorant and absolutely blind, that they'll consistently vote and argue against their own interests _ and against their children's interests _ for the sake of their hateful, half-baked ideology. Note MtnGoat.

He typifies the attitude of right-wing Americans _ even those who ARE poor _ toward the poor and struggling.

"The continual refusal to accept responsibility for one's own choices and actions in this entire article is stunning."

That's it right there. Perverting the good, traditional value of individual responsibility, and losing sight of the better, human values of kindness and understanding. The woman who wrote this, like many other Americans who've struggled with debt, is just trying to lead a normal life and give her kids comfort.

MtnGoat _ go back to your mountains, subhuman. You and your kind have destroyed our country, sacrificing your compatriots on your altar of your anal prissiness.