Democrats pushing through Freeze on Credit-card Interest Rates
Price controls on credit cards, this is smart.
A top Senate Democrat moved Monday to impose an immediate freeze on credit-card interest rates, as congressional Democrats continued pushing to rein in financial-sector practices.
Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who heads the Senate Banking Committee, introduced a measure that would freeze rates on existing card balances until February, when tough new rules for the industry are slated to go into effect.
Mr. Dodd said he was making the move because companies are using the delayed implementation of the new standards, passed by Congress in May, to push through aggressive rate and fee increases. "No sooner had it been signed into law, but credit card companies were looking for ways to get around the protections," Mr. Dodd said in a written statement.
The measure is part of a populist push by Mr. Dodd, a fifth-term senator facing a tough re-election battle against former Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons next year. Mr. Dodd's ties to the financial-services industry and his receipt of a home loan from former Countrywide Financial Corp. have hurt his standing with voters. He was cleared of violating Senate ethics rules in the mortgage issue. . . .
Labels: pricecontrols
posted by John Lott at 9:30 PM
3 Comments:
Talk about doing something in exactly the wrong way! Common sense remains non-existent in the halls of power, I see.
Do you suppose any of his adoring fans will stop to ask why Dodd who has so many friends in the banking industry thinks a "freeze" is going to help the consumers more than it does the bankers?
Freezing rates at 29.9%? As a consumer with half a dozen cards (all with low balances or no balance at all), this does not help me in the least, but I suspect my credit card companies are going to love it!
Because when credit is already in short supply, obviously the best thing for everybody to do is put a price cap on interest rates. /sarcasm
Sheesh - didn't anybody in DC take Econ 101?
The constitution is out the window and fiscal insanity is the new rule. So under unlimited government we have banana-republic regulatory uncertainty and out of control spending. I predict in a few years our federal government will be in default like California. It will make last November look like a walk in the park.
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