And away we go...

Just read a story on Boston.com about how credit card companies have started a massive reduction in available credit. Essentially, the long and short of it is that to reduce the debt on their books and to lessen the chance that in these economic times someone may use a credit card with a large balance to cover expenses that they can't cover otherwise, they are starting to reduce the credit limits of many of their customers' cards.

I have two problems with this:

1. Many of these banks are the very same banks which received bailout funds from the government which was partially targeted with the purpose of easing their lending standards; not tightening them. This was supposed to increase the flow of credit, thus increasing the public's spending power and helping the economy to recover. This action is effectively the exact opposite of that.

2. A reduction in the balance of one of your credit cards could negatively impact your credit rating. Ultimately, if you have less credit available, you are therefore using more of your available credit when you carry any balance. Since the ratio of used vs. available credit is a factor in your credit rating...you see where I'm going.

I think it's the exact wrong thing to do right now, especially given that these institutions were just standing in front of the government, hats in hand, asking for money. Money that was supposed to help them increase the flow of commerce. Shame on them for taking it and then turning around and essentially exacerbating the problem. And shame on the government for this "blank check" that they've essentially written. Ultimately, the complete lack of oversight and control over how the money is used completely pulls the teeth right out of the bailout.

Wait...he did what now?

Well, he seems to be at it again...but this is old/new news at the same time. We've all heard of the legislation which President Bush is trying to push through Congress with respect to the creation of special "tribunals" to try cases involving top al-Qaida operatives. Apparently, buried within the deep recesses of this bill is a provision which would pardon, retroactively mind you, any American national from any crime relating to the torture or interrogation of detainees as well as the ordering thereof.

You see ever since the Supreme Court found that, contrary to what President Bush and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales believed, the rules of the Geneva Convention DID apply to the handling of terrorist detainees, and therefore so did the War Crimes Act of 1996; this administration has made it one of its top priorities to try to gut that aforementioned legislation.

The War Crimes Act of 1996 made it a felony to mistreat detainees in violation of the Geneva convention. With the Supreme Court ruling, this administration was suddenly not only facing the prospect of being in violation of the Convention, but now being in violation of federal law. This, obviously, would not do.

So, the President has reacted in a way in which I have come to expect this President to react in; by trying to ram poor legislation with hidden provisions through a favorable Congress before the winds of change bring a new Congress which would not accept such a provision. This, to me, is despicable and against everything that this country and our Constitution stands for. This man took an oath to uphold the Constitution and this country's laws; obviously with his hand behind his back, fingers crossed. Congress should not allow him to simply change them when they do not suit his needs.

I guess that's the saddest thing about this whole story to me. It's one thing for a President to be corrupt and then to be let off the hook by a colleague. (See Nixon, Richard and Ford, Gerald). It's another thing entirely to watch the entire system of checks and balances put forth by our forefathers crumble before your very eyes because Congress, like this President, is corrupt to the point of ineffectiveness.

Shocking

Last night, I had what, for me, was a shocking conversation. My wife and I went out after bowling with a few friends and the Presidential Election came up. This led us to discuss who and why, etc. This, in hindsight, is something in the future that I should avoid discussing with friends. Why? Because much to my surprise, they all seemed to believe that George Bush has actually been a successful president. George Bush!!! One went so far as to say, "The reason you don't like George Bush is because he did what had to be done." To which I replied, "No, the reason I don't like George Bush is because he is the leader of the free world and the man cannot put together a coherent sentence. Not to mention that 'what had to be done' was apparently and invasion of a country which was completely unrelated to the attacks we were responding to; an invasion which was built upon the back of complete and utter fabrications."

The overwhelming opinion at the table was that the erosion of privacy that is going on right now is completely OK as the Constitution does not specifically grant a right to privacy. The argument being that if you're not doing anything wrong, why should you care? (Which is the standard argument for this and I should have been able to deflect it easily.)

I was flat out shocked that these, some of my closest friends, had such an opinion. This shock basically caused me to get very frustrated and I was unable to adequately articulate things like "The Fifth Amendment is intentionally vague for exactly that reason...it's called due process...innocent until proven guilty" and all that jazz.

My big problem is that I feel like that is such a naive viewpoint. People who don't care that their evey conversation is being listened to truly believe that their government is out for their best interests and will only use the information they gather to "fight evil". Blind faith. I have a far more cynical view of our government and it has done nothing in the past several years to convince me otherwise.

Unfortunately, I ended up snapping at one of my closest friends which I felt very badly about. I've since apologized, but still don't feel good about the way things went.

Lesson learned, though. Don't talk politics with your friends.