Posted on 02/05/2006 12:57:00 AM PST by kms61
FREDERICKSBURG — Alfonso Sosa, a house painter here who made about $20,000 last year, filed for bankruptcy the morning of Dec. 6, hoping to avoid the foreclosure on his family's mobile home scheduled for later that day. Judge Frank Monroe of Austin rejected the case 16 days later — with a bang.
In his ruling, Monroe said the new federal bankruptcy law is full of traps for consumers, calling some of its provisions "inane," "absurd" and incomprehensible to "any rational human being."
He stopped just short of accusing Congress of being bought and paid for, dryly noting, "Apparently, it is not the individual consumers of this country that make the donations to the members of Congress that allow them to be elected and re-elected and re-elected and re-elected."
(Excerpt) Read more at statesman.com ...
bankruptcy judge lambastes the Bankruptcy reform bill that recently went into effect.
And rightly so sometimes bankruptcy is the only way to get back on your feet !
You can flame me if you want but this law was wrong to begin with created for the credit lobbyist because they were to lazy to do their jobs to begin with !
The new bankruptcy laws are a travesty. I would say they approach, if not cross the line on constitutionality,
you'll get no flames from me. This law was first and foremost corporate welfare for the big banks and credit card companies.
Thankfully, we only have one card left to pay off and we are out of the credit game. Never again will I give that industry one red cent.
Just wondering, has anyone seen the lower rates that were touted as a benefit of this law?
You won't see any of those "lower rates", just as when politicians who come in and say "pass another law that the insurance companies will love and they surely will lower their rates!" and, strangely enough, no insurance rates actually drop then either.
Sorry I disagree with all the above. I see abuse all the time. I don't care if you get an application a day the devil did not make you do it. Responsibility people Responsibility. If you can not handle credit do not take it. The government is not your mommy and daddy.
The fellow should resign from the bench and run for the legislature, since he seems to prefer legislating to interpreting the law. Of course the bench is full of such people; more of a problem than the bankruptcy laws.
Or, he could simply resign and look for an honest job, like helping dead beats duck their debts; he seems to have a lot of empathy for them, the business is booming, and there are effective ways to circumvent the supposed tightening that the latest legislation imposes, as several enterprising attorneys have already pointed out.
The judge didn't "legislate" from the bench, since he did deny their petition. And they weren't ducking their debts actually. It was a Chapter 13 debt restructuring. But don't let the facts stand in the way of your rant!
I agree with you... The credit card companies made bad business decisions, took risks on people that they shouldn't have and then lobby the government to give them some recourse for their lousy decisions. The new bankruptcy laws, stink. Period.
At the same time, the government isn't the mommy and daddy of the modern day usurers. If someone is a credit risk, they shouldn't lend to them.
Obviously, none of these irresponsible bums owe YOU money.
Huh?
Excuse me?
Do you guys have a clue about why laws like bankruptcy laws even exist?
Do you know that in England, around the time of the revolution, if someone went into debt, they would PUT YOUR CHILDREN IN JAIL so that you could keep working?
Do you know that meant that due to disease and abuse there was only about a one in three chance you would ever see you children alive again?
So it's irresponsible if Mr. Bill can't afford his credit card payments, but it's ok for Megabux Inc. to welch out on paying Mr. Bill his health insurance, even though Mr. Bill spent 30 years of his life workin his behind off for Megabux and was promised health care? And the reason Mr. Bill can't afford his cc payments is he has to pay his doctor and he can't afford a lawyer to challenge Megabux?
And a big part of the reason that the largest American companies are FOLDING AS MANUFACTURORS AND RETAILERS is that they decided awhile back that they would MAKE MORE MONEY BEING FINANCE COMPANIES?
Do you know that .08 drinking/driving laws were passed even though 99% of the folks who have .08 are fine? Maybe the real problem lies in repeat offenders? You don't think the same principal applies with credit card abuse?
You must live in a world where people never get sick. Nobodies job ever gets outsourced. Lovers are happy and divorce never happens.
What a paradise.
What a dream.
What an illusion.
You know nothing about me in that regard, but for the record, my ability to reason and my reading comprehension do not depend on whether or not someone owes me money.
With chapter 13 you are getting paid. Chapter 11 you do not. Check the .gov site
There's an obvious solution.. don't buy things you can't pay for.
My understanding was that the new bankruptcy law was designed to slow the rampant abuse. I am not one of these anti-capitalist "workers of the world" who meet at G-7 summits and rail against the big bad corporations. If people borrow money they need to pay it back, and I don't care if it's you they owe money to, or some big, mean-spirited, capitalist, profit-making corporation.
Obviously, the abiltity to declare bankruptcy is a necessary thing in a civilized society, but it should be an absolute last resort, not an "oops, I was a tad irresponsible so I'll just get an abortion" type of remedy for personal irresponsibility.
Regards,
LH
People in the midwest are paying 50-75% more for natural gas this winter. Yes, they are maxing out their charge cards to pay for heat. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country. For every auto manufacturing job lost, another 5 are lost as well--supply chain jobs to Mabel at the diner. Meanwhile the Enron execs and OJ transferred their real estate to Florida which is immune from the Feds. The banks still keep pumping out the cards at 20-30% interest rates for the commoners. Makes you wonder how and why this country was founded in the first place.
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