from the N.Y. Times
Despite complaints that banks and credit card companies are gouging customers by charging outrageous interest rates, the Senate on Wednesday easily turned back an effort to cap interest rates at 15 percent.
The effort by Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, drew only 33 votes and needed 60, with a bipartisan group of 60 senators opposing it as the Senate pushed its credit card overhaul toward the finish line.
Bennet & Udall both voted for this. Kudos to them. But a boatload of Senators decided that usury ain't so bad...
But Mr. Sanders said the card companies and banks were engaged in conduct that could get others hauled into court. He said one-third of all credit card holders are paying interest above 20 percent and as high as 41 percent.
"When banks are charging 30 percent interest rates, they are not making credit available," said Mr. Sanders, who noted credit unions are limited to 15 percent. "They are engaged in loan-sharking."
My big worry is not any specific vote as they bring up this legislation. This particular one will hurt many individuals, but is not as bad for the economy as a whole as the killing of the cram-down legislation was. But any one of these can occur in the give and take of legislative vote wrangling. That's life.
What is worrisome is that when we come to the votes, time after time, we're leaving the financial industry to continue as before. We get great speeches about changing how they operate, but where it matters, in the legislation, no change.
And that means we are looking at a much longer time to recover and, when we do, more big crashes.
As Japan demonstrated with their lost decade, the self-interest of the financial institutions actually hurts the economy, including those same financial institutions. But like an alcoholic, they cannot see that they are harming themselves.
And they appear to have bought enough Senators that they can continue their binge...
