Minister Al-X

Reading My Mind: How to Turn Your Red State Blue

My man Outlandish Josh Koenig sent me
the following link today. If you want to know what schemes and conspiracies Minister Al-X has brewing (other than the usual world domination) give a look at the section Taking on creditors.

So what would a newly evangelical kind of progressive movement look like in 2005 and beyond?

Here’s an idea. One thing that nearly all Americans share is debt. Building a movement around credit reform—through the formation of local “debt clubs” that would be part of a national campaign, for example—would be one way for progressives to reach out to non-believers.

Almost one in seven households have declared bankruptcy. Many middle class families that took out second mortgages during the ’90s refi craze are now skating on thin ice. The average American family saw its credit card debt rise 53 percent during the ’90s. Credit card companies have dramatically raised late fees—revenue from which increased fourfold between 1996 and 2001—while reducing minimum payments.

The result is that people stay in debt longer and pay more. Using an industry standard 2 percent minimum payment, a $5,000 balance will now take 32 years to pay off, at an interest cost of almost $8,000. In the last decade, more than 14,000 payday lending establishments have sprung up across the country wherever there are working and poor people living paycheck to paycheck (including military bases). Their short-term, high-interest loans, which are easily rolled over, can approach annual rates of 450 percent.

Young people today are beginning their adult lives already buried in debt: The average college student now graduates with $18,900 in student loans, the bulk of it non-subsidized debt at commercial interest rates. The interest costs of these loans are likely to increase as Republicans seek to cut federally subsidized Stafford loans and Pell grants.

Yes I am an evangelical progressive, and yes I am going to be preaching credit and debt issues until we get some meaningful debt reform enacted, or until I'm assassinated by MBNA's thug brigade.

I've also been thinking of renaming myself Reverend Wedge- but I think it would lead to too many wedgie jokes...

posted by Anonymous @ 6:03 PM