REAL ART RERUN
THE CREDIT CARD HUSTLE
MORE TALES OF CAPITALISM'S DEPRAVITIES

This Real Art Rerun was first posted on May 6, 2003.

Earlier this evening I was watching C-Span for a few moments and I caught a bit of an interview with Robert Manning who wrote the book Credit Card Nation which is now apparently out in paperback; Manning's book, it seems, is not very flattering to the credit and banking industry, to say the least. Being curious, I did a Google search and managed to find a very interesting, very damning two part excerpt from the book dealing with small business, loans, and credit cards:

In contrast to the generous offer of easy money to unemployed students, the growing use of credit cards by small businesses is often the result of increasingly restrictive lending policies by commercial banks. In the same way the withdrawal of first-tier banks from low-income communities has sharply increased the demand for costly second-tier loans, banks are profiting handsomely from the commercial credit crunch by issuing credit cards rather than approving small business loans. The problem is that credit-card applications do not ask questions about long-term business plans and how the loans will be repaid. As a result, rather than paying 6% to 8% on profit-enhancing small-business loans, eager entrepreneurs soon find themselves burdened with 14% to 24% APR consumer loans that they often cannot repay.

Manning's words illustrate one of the countless ways that capitalism unleashed both contradicts the conventional economic wisdom and is dangerous to our nation. Capitalism's apologists take pride in the fair play and competition of their economic philosophy. The reality, however, is that those who have the most wealth continually rig the game in their own favor: there is no fair play; there is no competition. In the real world, capitalism unleashed cannot help but morph into a grand pyramid scheme ultimately benefitting only those at the top at the expense of those on the bottom. Free market fundamentalists also assert the virtues of the small business: "Wall Street is Main Street" and all that nonsense. Yet, in the name of free markets, banking regulations have been so weakened that small businesses are being totally exploited--this is a drag on the economy that takes money directly away from Main Street and redeposits it on Wall Street. These excerpts from Credit Card Nation show how wealth tends to feast upon itself.

In fact, if you combine the red-lining of small businesses which forces them to use credit cards, with other events such as Wall Street broker and accountant scheming against small investors, the energy companys' manipulation of California markets for great profits, political and corporate cronyism, the blatant pro-corporate propaganda ruling the airwaves, and a host of other capitalistic travesties, it's pretty hard not to conclude that the corporations have declared an all out, but quiet assault against the people of the United States.

For part one of the excerpt from Credit Card Nation, click here.
For part two, click here.

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