WTF?
2009-04-23 · Original WordPress address
From whitehouse.gov:
The President brings representatives from the credit card industry in to talk about changing their relationships with their customers, and announces his principles for consumer protections.
I don't remember voting for the CEO of visa or mastercard. Not to step on Don Boudreaux's territory, but here's a gem:
Q Is there a balance between protecting consumers and letting the credit card companies have revenue here?
THE PRESIDENT: We think that it's been out of balance. And so we think we need to create a new equilibrium where credit is slowing, those who are issuing credit are able to make a reasonable profit -- but they're doing so in a way that is responsible and consumers are not finding themselves in a bad situation that they didn't anticipate.
The credit card stocks didn't tumble or anything so my question is with all this cheap talk who is Obama pandering to? Even if the terms of sub-prime mortgages are a big mystery, the terms of credit cards aren't. Everybody knows cards have high interest rates and that they always have. Who has accumulated large balances on their cards by making purchase after purchase, not paying down the balance every month and yet thinks these large debt burdens are somehow the credit card company's fault?