Where The Money Is

President MBNA affirms the old saw about why they rob banks -- or in this case, helpless peons.

One could safely infer the notion that bankruptcies are on the rise because more and more people look at it as an easy way out, rather than that they might be driven to it by being given a credit card that was beyond their means, and pounded into the ground by usurious interest rates after the first late payment.

Anyone who thinks that the poor ol' financial industry is gettin' rooked by a bunch of Chapter 7 hucksters needs their head examined. Considering how banks and financial companies took a bath on speculative investments in scams like Enron and WorldCom, marginal lending is a great way to make back that money they lost. It's easy and it's fun. And all you have to do is sponsor a poor homeless senator, for just dollars a day!

''Bankruptcy should always be a last resort in our legal system," Bush said. ''If someone does not pay his or her debts, the rest of society ends up paying them."

Many debtors will have to work out repayment plans instead of having their obligations erased in bankruptcy court under the law, which will go into effect in six months. The legislation won final congressional approval last week after being touted for eight years by banks and credit card firms.

The measure would require people with incomes above a certain level to pay some or all of their credit-card charges, medical bills, and other obligations under a court-ordered bankruptcy plan.

Notable exceptions:

• When you run a pyramid scheme pretending to be an energy-trading firm.


• Corrupt hedge funds.


• Pedophile cults with lots of settlements to pay and gilded man-dresses to buy.


• Savings & loans ripoffs. Don't worry, Neil, the American taxpayers'll bail your worthless ass out! We won't even make you re-pay us for your incompetence and corruption.


• Arbusto. 'Nuff said.


• CaterAir. Ditto.


• Harken. Do we detect a pattern here?


• Defense contractors who not only get sweetheart no-bid contracts thanks to friends in low places, but still have the goddamned nerve to soak the taxpayers for more.


• Record budget deficits, that seem to just keep getting more and more record-y.

We'll see how our fiscal stupidity serves us when the Chinese peg the renminbi and start cashing in their T-bills. Can America declare Chapter 13, or is that the sort of irresponsibility our would-be Dad-In-Chief is trying to discourage with his tough love?