Carper Does It Again: Chooses Banks Over People
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ attempt to cap usurous interest rates on credit cards fell far short of passage today. The deliberative body that Sen. Richard Durbin referred to as ‘controlled by bankers’ easily beat back Sanders’ attempt to restore sanity to the credit card industry:
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. Some Democrats and consumer groups have said that an interest cap is needed to put real teeth into an otherwise solid bill.
Other backers of the measure calculated that an interest rate ceiling would doom the popular legislation. The banking industry, which had some heavy-weight representatives monitoring the vote off of the Senate floor, warned that an interest rate limit could cause a sour reaction in the financial markets.
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.
In votes that will surprise no one, both Tom Carper and Ted Kaufman voted their banking industry constituency, as did newly-minted “Democrat” Arlen Specter.
Seriously, it is time to take Carper out. He no longer even pretends to care what the people in Delaware think.
Rather than complain about Carper’s representation of the constituency that paid for his services (and it wasn’t us), I’d rather guess at the swanky restaurant the bankers took our boy Carper to celebrate. Something with embarrassingly sized steaks, certainly.
I am comforted by my faith which tells me that Satan will be abusing Carper’s anus in hell for eternity….unless he repents on his deathbed.
My second ugh of the night. This issue seems like a no-brainer to me!
We should charge them 75% interest on the TARP money.
I suppose one could say, “If you don’t like high interest rates, don’t get a credit card.”
I don’t recall anyone running on a platform of capping credit card interest rates at 15 percent. They’ve been over 20 percent for a quarter-century. I thought we had this discussion in 1981.
So we are stuck with all our mistakes? What is this…France?
UI, was I the source of the first Ugh? Or was it Disinformation David?
The first Ugh was for DeLuca voting pro-gay discrimination.
yes, ugh indeed.
Carper is for Carper ONLY
look at his 20 top contributers, what do you expect ?
1 JPMorgan Chase & Co $58,079 $50,668 $7,411
2 Citigroup Inc $56,800 $48,800 $8,000
3 MBNA Corp $51,547 $47,547 $4,000
4 Norfolk Southern $46,520 $34,000 $12,520
5 Hercules Inc $36,680 $28,800 $7,880
6 Bank of America $35,880 $20,350 $15,530
7 DuPont Co $34,450 $21,350 $13,100
8 Fannie Mae $28,400 $18,400 $10,000
9 Amgen Inc $23,250 $13,250 $10,000
10 Young, Conaway et al $22,746 $22,746 $0
11 PricewaterhouseCoopers $22,499 $13,500 $8,999
12 United Parcel Service $22,000 $11,000 $11,000
13 FMR Corp $21,250 $11,250 $10,000
14 Goldman Sachs $20,500 $11,500 $9,000
15 Blank Rome LLP $20,450 $16,950 $3,500
16 Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp $20,000 $6,000 $14,000
17 Morgan Stanley $19,860 $9,400 $10,460
18 Wachovia Corp $19,680 $13,600 $6,080
19 State Farm Insurance $19,250 $19,250 $0
20 American International Group $19,150 $13,400 $5,750
We need finance reform !!!!
Cant find it on the internet ? let me knw
How do you expect Carper to vote ?
Top 20 Contributors to Campaign Cmte
Rank Contributor Total Indivs PACs
1 JPMorgan Chase & Co $58,079 $50,668 $7,411
2 Citigroup Inc $56,800 $48,800 $8,000
3 MBNA Corp $51,547 $47,547 $4,000
4 Norfolk Southern $46,520 $34,000 $12,520
5 Hercules Inc $36,680 $28,800 $7,880
6 Bank of America $35,880 $20,350 $15,530
7 DuPont Co $34,450 $21,350 $13,100
8 Fannie Mae $28,400 $18,400 $10,000
9 Amgen Inc $23,250 $13,250 $10,000
10 Young, Conaway et al $22,746 $22,746 $0
11 PricewaterhouseCoopers $22,499 $13,500 $8,999
12 United Parcel Service $22,000 $11,000 $11,000
13 FMR Corp $21,250 $11,250 $10,000
14 Goldman Sachs $20,500 $11,500 $9,000
15 Blank Rome LLP $20,450 $16,950 $3,500
16 Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp $20,000 $6,000 $14,000
17 Morgan Stanley $19,860 $9,400 $10,460
18 Wachovia Corp $19,680 $13,600 $6,080
19 State Farm Insurance $19,250 $19,250 $0
20 American International Group $19,150 $13,400 $5,750
Download: View Top 20 | Top 100
Capping credit card interest rates is a strange idea, particularly for Delaware. For stopping deceptive practices, poaching on teenagers, retroactive interest rate increases and other mouse-traps, there’s a broad consensus. Carper and Kaufman are with Obama and the people of Delaware in not wanting to impose an overall rate cap.
It’s like abortion. If you don’t want a credit card that carries 21 percent interest, don’t get one.
Keep in mind, also, that Kaufmann is not beholden to special interests and has even shown that hand (sorry, I have gambling references all over the place now, as I ramp up my mental preparedness for the gambling mecca on the horizon) on a couple of occasions already.
While it is easy to dump on Carper (really, it is), when you see Kaufmann vote like this, I do sincerely believe it should warrant a deeper look into the reasoning. Even taking something from Belinsky’s first paragraph in #11, then again considering Kaufmann place should be reason to pause and wonder why.
In the meantime, I am taking the outside bet: a small stack on the high-third.
If you don’t want a credit card that carries 21 percent interest, don’t get one.
Nobody ever does. The rate goes up later. That is a mouse-trap and a deceptive practice of the first order.
The problem is deeper than just credit cards. The problem is free-floating consumer contracts that can be changed at any time.
The real problem goes back to what Dick Dirbin said, that the banks basically run Congress.
Freida Berryhill’s list bears out that they basically run Carper, Inc.
Anon’s point about floating consumer contracts illustrates just how much Congress is willing to favor the banks over the consumers.
‘Bulo would argue that the very fact that a proposed cap on usurous rates can only garner 33 votes demonstrates that what passes for the mainstream in Congress is whatever the banks argue is the mainstream.
Since the bank lobbyists are permanent fixtures, the Beast Who Slumbers believes change can only come about by changing the ‘permanent fixture’ status of the banks’ greediest supporters and receivers of campaign $$’s.
In Delaware, that means Tom Carper. And his BFF, Mike Castle.
Exactly what is the case for a federal rate cap on credit cards? And what is the constituency?
Last month Frieda was gushing about Pete du Pont because he patted her on the head in 1978. Now she’s bashing Carper for voting the exact way that every Delaware lawmaker would vote on this bill.
Belinsky,
I take it that you will not be contributing to help RAISE $1.5 Million to BUY TOM CARPER’S VOTE BACK FROM THE BANKS.
Do I have that right?
“In Delaware, that means Tom Carper. And his BFF, Mike Castle.”
And that other guy who used to live here, what was his name? Oh yeah, Joe Biden, the senator for MBNA. They’re voting for bank jobs in Delaware, the way they always have and always will, especially now that the auto jobs are vanishing.
Belinsky, you say
“Last month Frieda was gushing about Pete du Pont ..Now I am bashing Carper.
I am not a registered Democrat or Republican, I am not “Bashing” anybody….I call it as I see it. Take my info or leave it, I just post the things I think people should know.
Sorry if I offended
I likewise don’t want to offend Frieda, who’s long battled for many good things, but need to point out the double standard that plagues some of the discussion here, which reflexively rips into Carper for voting the way that basically every Democrat would vote on this bill. Imposing an immutable federal limit on credit card rates is a laughable idea that distracts from the kinds of consumer protections that are truly needed. After a month of entertaining, nuanced and energizing posts, El Som launched this somewhat preposterous thread; Jason jumped in with his customary references to private parts; and a host of noctural readers prepared a heretic’s pyre because Carper voted against a loopy idea that belongs in the Green Party’s potpourri of fantasia.
No one in the Obama administration likes this idea either. I detect a thread full of Winona LaDuke voters.
Sorry guys… the hard rate cap is wrong on “Economics 101” grounds. There would be too many negative side effects.
Sure, the rate-gouging should be stopped, but with more sophisticated controls. Price ceilings are generally bad economic policy.
The first thing I’d do is reform credit reporting. The credit bureau mafia needs to be cut down to size.
Then, contract law needs to be reformed to outlaw or greatly restrict ex-post-facto modifications.
Financial companies are using dubious models to impose higher rates. We need to get our financial sector off the sub-prime heroin. The banks need to expose and justify their risk models that supposedly allow them to jack up your rates based on God-knows-what. If they can’t justify it, then they can’t raise the rates. (by the way, same thing applies to insurance companies, and other forms of consumer financing).
The Fed and the government oversees the banks, and with the new Federal subsidies we have more influence than ever. So we have plenty of leverage to bring rates down even without new legislation.
If the White House wants to restrain credit card rates, it has numerous ways to make the banks do its will.
Belinsky,
C’mon. Admit it. That list of top donors Frieda posted has eternal anal rape written all over it.
Self proclaimed Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders is now the economic model for Delaware liberal. That is what should be inciting ughs and groans.
He made the right vote and should be congratulated. If the bill had passed it would have returned CC back to only 20% of the public and sent us into depression. It would have hurt Delaware even more than most as our economy has a great deal of finance sector and retail jobs. Manufacturing would also have been hurt.