Carpe Datum

Credulous

I finished watching the recent Frontline show "The Secret History of the Credit Card" tonight (you can watch it online and/or find lots of neat stuff at the link). I watched it because I'm interested in the subject in general plus I always keep a sharp eye out for anything by Lowell Bergman, the producer who was portrayed by Al Pacino in the very good movie "The Insider". For the most part, I wasn't too surprised by what I saw. I mean, yes, the outrageous interest rates are unfair, etc., but it is hard for me to have sympathy for people who dig themselves into debt by choice.

We've got a little bit of debt, which is virtually unavoidable if you're basically starting from zero like we did a few years ago, but what we're not going to pay off quickly is going to go on a 0% card that we will pay off in a year or two (barring any unexpected consequences like another $4000 bill for windows, etc). I really hate paying interest, but I sure don't whine about it. People make choices financially, and even if they're stupid, well, they've got to live with it.

Now in cases of family tragedy or an unexpected job loss, that's the murky area, and I don't know of a good solution, at least nothing that could possibly be passed with the crony capitalists in power. No, the only way most sensible legislation will ever get to the table would be in an era of publicly financed campaigns, but that's yet another story.

Anyway, what was most interesting about the show was the part about the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Recently, many state Attorneys General (including ConservaBorg enemy of the state Eliot Spitzer) were threatening to initiate legal action against credit card companies based on consumer complaints of dishonest practices, etc. Well, the OCC stepped in and told the states to go to hell, that the OCC has jurisdiction, and they basically haven't lifted a finger against any of it since an action against Providian (and don't even *dream* that they took such an action while the Boy King was in charge ... it was in 2000).

So as long as the OCC isn't inclined to do anything, the credit card companies are basically free to do what they want. Pretty scary stuff, and yet another reason to be sad about the kind of people in charge of America for the next four years.

Posted by Observer at February 5, 2005 07:50 PM