Castle Does His Master’s Bidding
Senate Hopeful Mike Castle tried to fellate the credit card industry yesterday, but he failed. You see, the Democratic majority passed consumer friendly credit card reforms in April, but such reforms did not take effect until 2010. So what did the credit card companies do? They raised their rates, hiked their fees and generally put the screws to the consumer while they still could.
The reforms passed in April were to limit when interest rates can be hiked and requires 45 days’ advance notice of significant changes in card terms. Further, retroactive interest rate increases were to be banned, and interest rates cannot increase during the first year of a new card account. Further, the bill banned universal default, double-cycle billing, over limit fees, excessive late payment fees, dormancy or inactivity fees, and credit cards for people under the age of 21 unless the parent is a co-signor. The bill also extended the life of those gift certificate cards.
What does our good ole flip flopping fake moderate Mike Castle do? He votes for the bill in April, but when the Democratic Congress decided to screw the card companies back for screwing the consumer, Mike Castle decides it was time to screw his constituents once more, since it had been a while.
Lawmakers voted 331-92 to pass legislation to halt rate hikes that credit card companies began imposing after Congress passed credit card reform legislation earlier this year, and move up the reforms to December instead of February. Castle, R-Del., who voted for the original reforms in April, tried to delay Wednesday’s vote by calling for the Federal Reserve to submit a study to Congress within a week on whether speeding up the reform schedule would be feasible. He said credit card companies have a lot of work to do to prepare for the new law. His proposal failed on a mostly party-line vote of 253-171.
Castle said the reform issue is significant in banking states like Delaware.
“They have already lost jobs in the banking world,” he said. “They continue to, and my judgment is that we do need to give them the time to properly implement acts such as this.”
They had time, you freaking pissant Castle. These reforms passed in April, over six months ago, and they used that time to screw the consumer, your constituents, instead of preparing for the rule changes. You see, the banks don’t vote for you, you big eared Alfred E. Neumann stand in. The consumers do. You are elected to serve us, not the banks. The banks were given time to adjust to the new rules, and they made profit off the backs of your constituents. So if you are so worried about banking jobs being lost, all you have to do is tell your banking friends to use those profits to “adjust” to the rule changes.
And the News-Journal buried Castle’s complicity at the bottom of p. A-11, as a sidebar to the national story.
Buying the usurers more time. How much extra campaign cash were you able to wring out of THAT favor, Metamucil Mike?
Oh, and if you get your news online, you have to go about four clicks, if you even know what you’re looking for, to find it buried there as well.
First, you click on Delaware Online. Nothing there. Then, you click on News. Nothing there. Then, you click on Politics and Gov’t. Nothing there. Then, you click on ‘More Stories’, scroll down, and finally find an unfeatured link.
Mikey has every reason to be happy with the local rag today. They buried a story that smokes out the real Mike Castle.
My trusty Google Reader prevents the News Journal from hiding anything from me.
Recognizing that a weak economy still needs a government boost, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to provide the jobless with up to 20 weeks in additional unemployment benefits and expand a first-time homebuyer tax credit to include a far larger pool of people entering the dormant housing market. The $24 billion bill, passed 98-0, also provides tax relief for struggling businesses.
The bill now moves to the House. Will Castle vote for it?
He will vote against it. He voted against the stimulus.
Alas, Castle supports a decent bill and you go nuts when he exercises due diligence on the implementation.
Perhaps you want to increase unemployment? I thought Liberals and dems supported working stiffs?
You must somehow believe every government action is good and great?
In the meantime Obama has not produced a financial overhaul bill to regulate the documented abuses by banks and total ignorance of the situation of government.
There must be a fundraiser to attend or a golf game going on, better get Obama going before the Basketball season heats up.
Mike Protack
If Castle had exercised ‘due diligence’ when he was their cheerleader as Governor, the financial meltdown might never have occurred.
When the history of the “Money for Nothin'” era is written, Delaware’s legalized usury laws will have a prominent place in the narrative. And most of the jobs lost during those ‘go-go’ years were to the blue-collar ‘working stiffs’ who became an afterthought (in Mikey’s, Pierre’s and Tom’s brains) to the allure of fatcat bankers.
Protack, if he supports due diligence on the implementation, why did Castle not ask for this study six months ago when the original legislation was passed?
Um, here’s the thing.
If the bankers have a problem THEY can hire people to solve it, rather than asking GOVERNMENT (Like Mike Castle? Like the folks who’d get handed a “hurry-up” at the Federal Reserve?).
That’s the actual, old school, conservative Republican reply.
“…He voted against the stimulus.”
Yea, what a terrible mistake that was. The stimulus is working wonders! What’s the unemployment rate again? I know it was 6.8% last November. Seriously, could you remind me what the unemployment rate is? I really can’t remember. I am sure it under 6.8% by now, right? Well, even if it is not, I am sure it never went over 8% because the messiah assured us that it wouldn’t.
BTW, the wondrous stimulus bill has “saved” 52 jobs in Philadelphia and has created ZERO there thus far!!!
Philly has spent a paltry 11% of its stimulus allotment so far (via Nutter on Hardball). Things are going to kick into gear soon.
Nutter was saying that he attended the first ‘graduating class’ from a group trained in the new Green Jobs facility.