Credit Cards vs. Income Taxes: Which Really Needs Reform?
A look at the idea of reforming the credit card laws in comparison with reform of the income tax system. Which would be a better thing?
Recently President Obama spoke about passing new legislation aimed at “reform” of the Credit Card laws in order to prevent the Credit Card companies from taking unfair advantage of the consumer. The president chided them about everything from the high interest rates they charge to the so-called “hidden charges” contained in the large amount of fine print in credit card agreements.
I believe that there is a need for some reform of the manner in which credit card companies operate so as to make it more fair for the average consumer. It also seems to me that no fair-minded individual could dispute that. The amount of credit card debt that many people in our land have acquired has indeed led to an alarming situation. It is certainly a contributing factor to the rise of bankruptcy in America. The large amount of credit card debt in this nation is also helping our economy further into the tank, as people pull back from spending on anything other than necessities and are having to choose between paying for groceries and paying the credit card bill.
However, I feel I must protest this protest on the president’s part. Not because the idea of credit card reform is a bad idea, but because of the incredible hypocrisy and misdirection the idea represents.
The monumental hypocrisy is shown by the simple fact that the worst abuser of credit in the nation, perhaps in the known universe, is our very own federal government! It was recently revealed that for every dollar spent by our government, at least fifty cents has to be borrowed! That is as astounding admission. With our current record budget of 3.7 trillion dollars, half of that, or 1.85 trillion dollars, will have to be borrowed from somewhere. Actually, it will be many “somewheres”, because no one institution or even nation can afford to lend that amount of money without bankrupting themselves! Paying that kind of debt back is literally impossible without opening the printing presses to run off money 24/7 which would result in making the double-digit inflation of the 1970’s look like the “good ol’ days”!
The misdirection represented here would make any slight of hand practitioner proud. While the president shows with one hand his good intention of reforming the credit card laws, you and I are distracted from the other hand picking our pockets through an ever increasing tax burden. I would submit that of the two financial villains, it is the tax that is far more insidious and destructive.
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