That wacky bankruptcy bill

It looks like those of us being chided for our bleeding hearts by opposing the bankruptcy bill had every right to be skeptical of the intentions of the bill's primary backers-- credit card companies. From the WaPo via Salon:

As Congress debated -- if that's the word for it -- the bankruptcy bill that passed the House yesterday, we heard a lot of demonizing of Americans who find themselves in bankruptcy. When he introduced the bill in March, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said bankruptcy had become "a convenient financial planning tool where deadbeats can get out of paying their debt scot-free while honest Americans who play by the rules have to foot the bill." The American Bankers Association read from the same talking points when the House passed the bill yesterday. Edward L. Yingling, the group's executive vice president, issued a statement saying that, while the bill ensures that bankruptcy protection is "fully available for the neediest Americans," it will rein in "some filers who wrongly use the system as a financial planning tool."

In voting for the bill yesetday, 73 House Democrats either bought into that sort of thinking or were so blinded by the lobbying strength of the credit card industry that they never did much thinking about the bill at all. But you've got to wonder what they'll think on the morning after, as they check out this report in today's Washington Post. The story: When Americans emerge from bankruptcy, they're typically inundated with offers from credit card companies trying to get them hooked on credit all over again.

And who's there to defend this passing-out-cigarettes-in-the-cancer-ward treatment? The American Bankers Association, of course. "Just because someone files for bankruptcy doesn't mean they should be denied access to credit, nor does it mean that they cannot handle a credit card," Tracey Mills, a spokeswoman for the association, tell the Post. "People file for bankruptcy for many reasons," Mills said, including job loss, divorce and medical bills.