I put down my keyboard for a few days after the President signed the congressional legislation offering the nation credit card reform. The result has been a long vacation and four months of silence on this website. When I woke up this morning, I noticed a brief news story regarding consideration of the [...]

One of the commonly accepted contributing factors of the Great Depression in the 1930s was the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill, which increased taxes on goods imported into the United States.  After retaliation by foreign governments, trade between countries shrunk dramatically. After a few days to think about what the Federal Reserve has done, I’m wondering if [...]

Well, it looks like today is the day that a few senators have finally said that bailout nation has gone too far with its proposal to bailout the United States automakers.  In my opinion, it’s unfortunate that the government was negotiating among themselves how quickly they could lower the salary of well paid American workers.  [...]

The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights sponsored by Representative Carolyn Maloney moved out of the House Financial Services Committee on Friday by a vote of 39 to 27.  It will now be brought up for a vote in the full House.
Read More:

Washington Post - Credit Card Bill Passes One Hurdle
Reuters - House Panel Backs Curbs [...]

One way to know that the odds of credit card reform are pretty good is to check out the title of a recent New York Times article: Credit Card Overhauls Seem Likely.
The article, which sums up the pressures on legislators and regulators for reform on the credit card industry, asks another important question for consumers: [...]

Here’s an editorial published in the Houston Chronicle from Congressional supporters of credit card reform legislation titled Give Consumers Tools to Combat Credit Card Giants.

Congress held hearings last week examining marketing practices of credit card companies to college students in conjunction with its consideration of credit card reform.  Here are a few of the articles from the past week covering the issue:

Taking Charge - Student Credit Card Issuers Under Investigation.

Washington Post - Too Young to Handle Credit?

Center for American [...]

An Orlando Sentinel article tells consumers not to hold their breath for credit card reform from either the Federal Reserve or from Congress.  It’s an election year and the credit card industry is putting strong pressure on Congress and the Federal Reserve to weaken reforms.

Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) said that the Credit Card Bill of Rights has bipartisan support and that he expects it to pass, according to WCAX-TV News.  This is in contrast to previous reports from others who were less optimistic about the prospects of meaningful Congressional legislation on credit card reform.  Nevertheless, it is good to hear.

Suze Orman weighed in this weekend on the proposed credit card reforms of Congress and the Federal Reserve, calling them “better late than never.” Orman explains some of the key measures in both the Federal Reserve protections and the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, as well as makes a few additional suggestions. [...]