Bob Pleznac writes:

“With over 30 years in the trenches. Morality in the credit system comes exclusively from debtors. If Congress or even a scattering of state legislatures gave half a damn about usury, the poor and middle class might have a fighting chance. IMHO, when the card companies put “universal default” provisions into their contracts that allowed vast increases in interest rates upon defaults other than those on the subject contract, it opened up the floodgates. My suspicion is that Capital One with its strategy of issuing multiple cards in denominations of $500/$1000/$2,000…. sometimes as many as 8 per debtor, then charging $39 late fees and $39 over limit fees on each, also expanded the “Universal Default” concept that moved initial interest rates of at little as 7.9% to “default rates” of up to 43% even if card payments were current. Ugly. Thanks for your essay. Keep punching.”

Larry Slatter writes:

”Here is my, and everyone’s I know, problem. Because my purchasing power has decreased, I am forced to live on some amount of credit while trying to figure what to cut back. The problem is that only credit card companies give repeated “loans” and our government, in bed with the banking industry, allows them to charge interest rates which insure I’ll die in debt. Good….I hope I owe the SOBs millions when I die.”

Mike Martini writes:

” Thank you so much for that great article on debt, which I read in commondreams.org. You have hot on a topic that is not talked about in the mainstream but affects most everyone. I have some experiences…good and bad…with credit card debt. And I know many people..one a close friend..trapped in debtor prison.

That’s great you are making a documentary about this. How can one but this once it is available?

I read your news dissector column daily and it is invaluable.

Thanks you for what you are doing and please don’t ever stop.

The Film In Debt We Trust premieres at the Nantucket Film Festival.

“I DON’T SHARE YOUR OPTIMISM”

Wendi Meremark writes:

”Not having seen the flight 93 movie’s catapulted legerdemain, I may not know what I’m talking about but ignoring what all was said, I see one done physical fact: The crash made two craters. Waaaay apart.

Think about it.

Photos: “Hunt the Boeing 757 in Shanksville, PA;” here: http://www.letsroll911.org/

Congratulations to everyone making it to Friday in the 11th Annual TV Turnoff Week. Others can still get in for the weekend. Turn it off. Deprogram. DeTV. Click http://tvturnoff.org/

If you had to choose one to keep, would you let them take your TV or your internet … on the condition you could watch TV on the internet? A no-brainer. (For those who only internet on the job, answer related choice: Lose the TV or the job — pick one.)

Danny, I don’t share your optimism that mass media’s social straitjacket can be remade or reformed to fit global-thinking acting-locally living. The media are the messages, ordained, and other news outside the bubble - real life - is called heretical. Groupthink and groupfear are intrinsic in mass media. For heaven’s sake if you put your soul in the news art, don’t lose it to ‘get the message out’ in mass media. It’s like giving them bullets to shoot at the peace.

“Just pass it on. The world’s essential ‘new media’ is word-of-mouth email. News spreads fast in the email relays. Your daily blog pieces, for a good example, going worldwide. The biggest news story in our lifetimes, and in our parents and grandparents lifetimes, the proverbial Story of the Century is, of course, the oil and natural gas on Earth only lasts a few more years. Say five years. Then no oil. On Earth. At any price. Emails and blog comments are talking about it everywhere, and the multiplier effect is spreading the news faster. No oil. Think about it. Read its news:

http://www.theoildrum.com/

“Pass it on. There IS a solution — THIS YEAR elect a Congress with write-in votes for a write-in candidate in every district. No Democrats No Republicans. Forget ‘party primaries.’ Vote for a neighbor in November. Meet the candidate names in your district on the internet.

“Common sense citizens for Congress. Pledged to Impeach. End militarism and then we can deal with the oil running out. Else we die. Groupsink. Big Story. Think about it. Send donations to MediaChannel.

NEIL YOUNG’s LATEST FREE TODAY ONLY

”Neil Young’s awaited album, every cut an attack against Bush or anthem for justice, is streaming for free today only. Clear Channel can’t shut down the protest music like they did the Dixie Chicks.

http://www.neilyoung.com/

BRUCE DOES PETE

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060425.SEEGER25/TPStory/TPEntertainment/

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