Credit card debt has jumped by 25 percent in the past 10 years, reaching $963 billion in January 2009, according to the Federal Reserve. Delinquency rates have increased by more than a third since the end of 2006, with 5.6 percent of accounts at least 30 days late in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to statistics cited by the White House.
Exacerbating the situation is that card companies, hurting from lost revenue, have in recent months taken punitive measures such as raising interest rates and cutting credit lines for both delinquent customers and those who have paid on time.
Senator Menendez will be at NJIT today to talk about the importance of the bill, which is said to "protect consumers, and especially young consumers, from skyrocketing credit card debt, unfair credit card practices, and deceptive credit offers. The Senator was on the Ed Show on MSNBC last Wednesday night to talk about the bill:But the Congress apparently has no appetite to make some changes when the credit card companies could still take 36% interest. Sen. Lautenberg tried, but failed to get the Senate to pass an amendment that would cap the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) consumers pay at 15 percent, the same interest rate cap that Congress imposed on loans and credit cards issued by credit unions almost 30 years ago. The Senator pointed to the lack of a national APR which has allowed banks to charge interest rates as high as 41 percent on credit cards while receiving zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve:
"Since credit card companies seem unwilling to put any limit on the unconscionable interest rates they charge to Americans, Congress needs to step in and protect consumers," Sen. Lautenberg said. "Especially during this economic downturn, we have to stop credit card companies from taking an already bad situation for struggling families and making it worse."
Many have voiced concern over the lobbying efforts of the credit card industry that have weakened the legislation. Apparently the bill has been slowed by piggybacking amendments. We'll see if they can get the current bill through the Senate before they head for vacation and then how long it takes to reconcile.
Devastating poll numbers this morning should increase the pressure on Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) to consider retirement so a safe Democratic seat doesn't turn into a Republican one.
Ben Smith says that "at some point -- not immediately, but pretty soon -- DSCC chairman Bob Menendez and the White House will have to consider trying to push Dodd aside, or perhaps offer him a high-profile appointment (Ambassador to Mexico?), in order to run the state's popular Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, for the seat."
Q: "Does the DSCC still support Chris whole-heartedly in light of these new numbers, and do they surprise you?"
Menendez: : "Are you serious? Chris Dodd is going to be re-elected. He's a great senator."
Q: "So the DSCC still supports him all the way?"
Menendez: "Absolutely."
The longer Dodd's poll numbers stay down in the dumps (he's currently down by 16 points in the latest poll), the more these questions are going to come for Menendez and the DSCC. Even if Menendez was contemplating something else, it's not like he could or would come out and say it now. Dodd emerged badly damaged from the AIG executive compensation situation, which Senator Menendez aggressively pursued. The Dodd race will be one to watch and could be a test for Menendez as Chairman. That will be in addition to the Burris seat in Illinois.
Wally Edge has observed that Dodd, Gravel, Hunter and Tancredo did not register for the Feb 5. primary. I knew the other three were not serious candidates, but I'm surprised by Dodd. Indeed he does not appear on the state list.
Senator Chris Dodd, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, wrote to the chair of the National Governor's Association and all 50 governors urging them to defy the Bush administration's proposed changes to the SCHIP program, which would affect health care coverage for millions of children:
As you know, Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey recently announced that he will defy President Bush's rules intended to prevent states from covering more of the nation's 9.4 million uninsured children through the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). I am urgently calling upon you as Chair of the National Governors' Association (NGA) to join him and, indeed, urge all of your members to follow Governor Corzine's lead in defying these onerous rules.
The SCHIP program is the only success story in health care for working families since the failure to pass universal health care in 1994, providing coverage to 6.7 million children. [....]
It is unconscionable that at a moment when more than 9 million children from poor-to-middle class families have nowhere to turn for health care that the Bush Administration would restrict the number of children who can access this successful program they desperately need by preventing children with family incomes more than two-and-a-half times the poverty level from qualifying for assistance.
In a letter to President Bush last week, Governor Corzine went a step further and threatened legal action:
I ask you to reconsider your position given the critical importance of this issue. Please also know that I am prepared, if necessary, to pursue legal action to further the goal of protecting our most vulnerable children.
Luckily, it appears that there has been a breakthrough compromise reached today in the Congress on the SCHIP legislation, and Senator Menendez, who fought to defeat an amendment that would have eliminated coverage for 3,000 New Jersey children, is tentatively optimistic:
"I am in the process of reviewing full details of this final bill, but initial indications are very positive. What we have is a deal that will keep millions of American children and families from being pushed into the ranks of the uninsured. Our state in particular has many thousands of children and families who don't qualify for Medicaid but also can't afford private health insurance, and they have nowhere else to turn. [...]
"As the president continues his stubborn and uncompassionate veto threat on this bill, I will continue to stand up for the millions of children that he is turning his back on."
Happy September 5th! All of the loyal Tsunami Tuesday states are entering the homestretch. There are only five months -- some 153 days -- until New Jersey holds it presidential primary.
(I've started a new blog to discuss national politics, history and other events that interest me, called Public Ledger. One of the things I'll be doing is making video entries from time to time, so here is one such effort discussing the Democratic candidates' response to question on marriage equality, and why popular misconceptions are making it harder to achieve. Thanks!)
(last one to vote is a rotten egg! - promoted by Jay Lassiter)
Once again, it's the fifth of the month and time for our 2008 Presidential Strawpoll!
This one is a bit different because I took out the "Don't know" option. By now, there have been several debates and detailed policy positions released, so most of us have a fairly good idea of who the candidates are and what they stand for. Over the next few months, your support can and probably will change. But let's get a snapshot at where you are today, okay? So have at it below and please leave your thoughts in the comments.
Here at Blue Jersey, the fifth of May means two things: Cinco de Mayo and our Fourth Monthly Presidential Strawpoll!!! Only 8 more to go before the real thing!
The New York Times has updated its Presidential big donor maps based on the FEC disclosure reports. As I did earlier for the New Jersey Republican big donors, I've made a table with the breakdown into North Jersey (zip codes 07000-07999) and Central/South Jersey (08000-08999). Again, I caution you that only people who gave $250 or more are included. [Update: I forgot to say that numbers are in thousands of dollars.]
Obama and Edwards are pretty comparable in New Jersey. Clinton beats both of them put together. There's no doubt she is very formidable here in New Jersey. Richardson badly underperforms compared to his national numbers, while nearby senators Dodd and Biden do fairly well in comparison.
Last month's results are here, along with February's results. As he has not come forward with his intentions, Wes Clark is no longer included in this poll.
Hillary Clinton 37% [43%] Barack Obama 23% [20%] John Edwards 9% [9%] Joe Biden 9% [7%] Bill Richardson 6% [4%] Chris Dodd 2% Dennis Kucinich 1% [2%] Undecided 14% [13%]
I haven't found data from previous months so I can't say much about the trend, but I would have expected Clinton to be further ahead. The number in brackets is how the votes of unaffiliated "likely primary voters" breaks down.
Note - ARG has different numbers posted on their front page showing Edwards tied with Biden at 9%. ARG can't explain the discrepancy and someone is "looking into it." If this changes the above analysis, I'll post an update.
Update: ARG has updated their website with new numbers. Joe Biden and John Edwards are tied at 9%.
Disclosure note: I'm working with UnfairCreditCardFees.com to help raise awareness about the interchange fee. This is an updated version of a post that has appeared on other progressive sites.
Not familiar with the interchange fee? That is probably because Visa and MasterCard want it that way, seeing as how they control more than 80% of the market and wrote rules that make it virtually impossible to tell consumers how much interchange fees cost them. Whether you're from New Jersey or anywhere in the US, this is an issue that affects us all.
The interchange fee is a percentage of each transaction that Visa and MasterCard banks collect from merchants every time a consumer uses a credit or debit card to pay for a purchase. If you're curious the cost was more than $30 billion in 2005, more than late, annual and cash advance fees combined. Additionally, interchange fees cost the average American family hundreds of dollars per year. In fact as this consumeraffairs.com article highlights,
Interchange fees are often so high that merchants lose money on plastic transactions, particularly for `micropayment' purchases such as food. Because retailers are barred from offering discounts for buying with cash, the end result is that prices go up for all the goods they sell, and consumers never know why.
Yesterday we broke the news that Senator Menendez would be co-sponsoring Senator Dodd's "Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007" - legislation that would restore habeas corpus, ban torture and uphold the Geneva Convention. This is what Menendez had to say about it today:
"Protecting the American people is our most sacred responsibility, therefore we must do all we can to destroy those who would try to destroy our way of life. In doing so, however, we must not compromise the values and virtues of our nation and Constitution. This act will give us the tools to defend America from her enemies, while never ceding our standing as a nation of freedom and justice."
Senators Leahy and Feingold are also co-sponsors of the legislation. No word yet on whether Senator Lautenberg will support the bill.
You can become a citizen co-sponsor of the legislation by filling out the form in the ad in the right-hand column or by visiting Restore-Habeas.org.
(I had been planning to post this yesterday, and forgot. Here it is a day late!)
We are now less than a year away from New Jersey's projected Democratic Presidential Primary. This is the first of what will become a monthly strawpoll, with the last one to take place on February 5, 2008. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order and the position will rotate every month.
UPDATE: After a day and a half, this poll is called at 68 votes (all further results are void). And John Edwards is the overwhelming victor.
While Jay Lassiter and JRB were doing an amazing job with DNC Winter Meeting videos at blogger's alley, I sat in the press section and watched the first crop of Presidential candidates. You can see videos of the DNC speeches at democrats.org. I urge you to sit and watch the candidates you're interested in -- I'll try to tell you my perception of the events based on my notes. (I decided to break this into separate diaries since it was too long.) For disclosure, I have not decided on any candidate -- I like Edwards and Obama the best, but in principle I want a governor with a record of success -- but I have an irrational bias against Hillary Clinton that you can filter out. Also, since I was too tired to go to Saturday's meeting, those candidates (Biden, Richardson, Vilsack, Gravel) won't be covered. Blue Jersey has no position for or against anyone. So please feel free to advocate and organize for your favorite candidate, here or in your own diaries. We hope to have all the candidates participate here.
First of all, I've never been at anything like this. It's been a long time since I saw Jesse Jackson and George H. W. Bush in (separate!) rallies in 1988. So I was totally psyched. But I think that the whole room -- indeed the whole meeting -- was especially excited. The victories in 2006, having the first woman speaker of the House, the knowledge that the public has rejected Bush and the Republicans, and the victories in the Mountain West and other 'red states' all add up to a rejuvenated party. It was clear in the speeches, in the crowd, and in the caucus meeting that Democrats feel that at last it is our turn. Almost every speaker promised universal health care in the first term, and praised Howard Dean and the 50 State Strategy. Howard Dean said that the speakers were limited to 7 minutes, which no one obeyed, and 100 signs or less, which everyone but Hillary Clinton followed. They also got up to 30 seconds of intro music. I had visions of Derek Jeter coming up to the plate with loud rap music blaring or Mariano Rivera and 'Enter Sandman' , but strangely enough, no one chose rap music or heavy metal.
