It seems whenever Mr. Reich has to give a Pro Obama, pro government spending article, the comments section for his blog are turned off.
I am flummoxed at how EVERYBODY wants the consumer to be enslaved and indebted as they continue to try and predict when the economy will recover. Rather than mildly assisting consumers who want to pay down their credit card debt by waiving future interest rate charges on their existing credit card debt, Mr. Reich proposes that the goverment go farther and farther into debt providing "stimulus jobs".
I had no idea how insulated people in the media are when it comes to actually coming up with solutions to problems that were caused by uncontrolled profiteering by Wall Street. Wall Street and the Government would rather you default on your credit card debt than mildly assist you in paying it down by waiving additional credit card interest rate charges.
Every month, law abiding citizens, many who saw their net worth plunge by 50% over the past couple of years, are still required to pay ridiculously high interest rates on OLD CREDIT CARD DEBT to the tune of 15 to 25 BILLION DOLLARS IN INTEREST RATE CHARGES EACH AND EVERY MONTH.
When you compare that kind of money to the 2 BILLION DOLLAR cash for clunkers program, do you start to see how the economy could easily be stabilized in a very short amount of time if a mild assist were giving in the paying down of credit card debt?
The irony is that 15-25 billion dollars per month that is currently going to the banks in interest rate charges WILL STILL END UP WITH THE BANKS, the difference is it will FIRST go through the consumers hands, who in turn can use more of their own money to pay off their debts. As those consumers respend their "extra money" every month, other consumers will reap the benefit of money first spreading between consumers. The recipients of this money will ironically enough, send it off to the banks to pay down their own debts!
The dynamic act of allowing a consumers paycheck to first circulate among their peers BEFORE it goes to the banks is the best of all stimulus packages.
These are troubling times when simple solutions are avoided and complex, Rube goldberg plans are implemented instead.
