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Emergency Consumer Credit Stabilization Act of 2018

Dec 10, 2008 | By: Mr_Blue | (0) Comments | Permalink | Tags: financial crisis, economy, credit cards

It is 2018; the U.S. is experiencing the second economic crisis in ten years. Congress passes the Emergency Consumer Credit Stabilization Act of 2018 (ECCSA) after little discussion and debate. ECCSA authorizes the treasury secretary to dump hundreds of billions of dollars into the credit card industry which is being plagued by consumer defaults. ECCSA is quietly inserted into a big appropriations bill.

Prior to the passage of the ECCSA this is what the newspapers are saying:

“The 2016 Elections: Lowest Voter Turnout in U.S. History ” - New York Register Sun

“Personal Income drops for the Fifth Year” – Chicago Register Sun

“US Express Card Purchases Employment Services Company, Peoplepower, Inc., for $20 billion” – Los Angles Register Sun

“Consumers have continued to leverage themselves. They have exceeded their capacity to borrower and ability to pay it back,” says Jack Doe, Chief Economist, Bank of The Americas.

In the ECCSA is a new program euphemistically called “Consumer Lifeline Program” (CLP). CLP allows credit card companies to offer the “option” of allowing consumers to “work off” their debt. CLP is essentially a legally authorized indentured servant program. Internal memos from US Express Card indicate plans to sell pools of cheap labor to companies all over the world. The memo states “We have successfully created a perpetual circle of customers for ourselves and clients.”

Do you think this can happen? I think so. Just think about the past eight years.

I am concerned that our current economic model of relying heavily on consumer spending, which is funded in large part by credit card debt, is not a model to rely on for future economic expansion. We cannot improve our economy or better yet, maintain or improve living standards by relying on consumers who are unemployed, underemployed or underpaid. But, I am not an economist so what do I know.

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