War on the Middle Class

WAR ON THE MIDDLE CLASS

Max had been sick. I visited him at home a few times, but he just wasn’t himself. I’m glad to report he’s back. I was in the neighborhood so I stopped in at Burnies for a beer and was glad to find Max back at his customary spot. Here’s what happened.
“Art, I’m glad to see you. I need somebody to bitch and moan to and you fill the bill perfectly.”
“It seems like old times. I’ve missed you the last few months. What’s the problem?” I asked.
“Have you checked your credit card bills recently?”
“I always pay them on the first of the month; until then I drop them unopened in my bill pay folder. Why do you ask?”
“The Comptroller of the Currency has recommended that the credit card companies raise their minimum payment from 2% to 4%. If you’re used to paying the minimum you payment will double.”
“That could effect millions of people and the first I hear of it is from you?”
“It has been in a few newspapers and I first heard about it on the Lou Dobbs news, but when one thinks about the number of people affected and how much money is involved, it sure has been underreported. Personal debt is the worst it has ever been and a large part of that is on credit cards. Many people use multiple cards. If the payment on each of these cards double, it would be a financial disaster for the cardholder and there could be millions of people in that situation,” Max said.
“That could blow a hole in the economy. If people have to pay all their cash to credit card companies, they won’t have anything left to spend for other things.”
“They could put it on their credit cards,.” Max laughed.
“ I can see a lot of bankruptcy here and they just tightened up the bankruptcy laws. It makes me wonder if all this is part of some plot.”
“War on the middle class, Lou Dobbs calls it”
“How do we fight back?”
“I called Senator Durbin’s office. They knew about it, but they didn’t do anything about it,” Max said.
“And he’s the Democratic Whip. The second ranked Democratic leader in the Senate. So the Democratic Leadership knew about the rate raise and did nothing to oppose it. Whose side are they on?”
“Not ours. That’s obvious.”
“Wait a minute. Do you know anyone who received one of these increases?”
“ I sure do. Me. The rate on one of my cards doubled.”
“ Where do we go from here?”
“ Maybe Hugo Chavez could help us.”
“ C’mon, Max, that’s crazy.”
“ Around this planet a lot of people are coming together to fight this kind of thing. Chavez is part of that. Maybe it’s not so crazy. “
“Damn, Max, you’re talking a planet wide uprising of the common people”
“ I guess I am. Maybe that’s the only way.”
“ I wonder how long it will be before the uproar begins?” I asked.
“Not long after New Years. 2006 should certainly be interesting,” Max answered.