Senator Edwards is moving middle class economic issues front and center. It’s time.
The numbers are familiar — skyrocketing credit card charges, predatory mortgages, families working hard and sinking deeper in debt each month. What’s new is the aggressiveness of the solutions — and the fact that he is willing to make them a centerpiece in his presidential bid.
Will Edwards stand alone on these issues? Or will all the candidates get more aggressive in putting together proposals to rein in the credit industry?
Senator Edwards has put some hard-hitting proposals on the table. On credit cards, for example, he says he will work to end universal default, apply interest rate increases only prospectively, demand full disclosure of how long it will take a family to pay off a debt using minimum monthly payments, and restore ten day grace periods to late fees. He says he is ready to go after mortgage abuses and payday loans and initiate a plan to help families save for emergencies.
The centerpiece of the proposal is a Financial Product Safety Commission — renamed as a Family Savings and Credit Commission. This means more than outlawing any specific credit practice because, if done right, it would be the gift that keeps on giving — the reform that can provide consumer protection to match new products that the credit industry invents later on.
Talking about debt isn’t sexy. It often takes time to explain where the abuses are and what responses would be effective. The credit industry can throw up a cloud of dust to obscure any public discussion. And let’s face it — money is all on the side of the financial institutions. But Edwards is doing it anyway.
Americans for Fairness in Lending just sent around an email blast applauding Edwards for taking about the debt burden of the middle class. AFFIL represents several consumer groups that have been fighting for years on behalf of struggling families.
Congressional Quarterly ran a piece on June 4 (no link) entitled “Consumer Groups Say Seize the Day: Advocates Push Democrats to Move Beyond Stepped-Up Oversight of Financial Services.” The thrust of the piece is that consumer groups are tired of waiting. They are telling politicians to move now on mortgages, credit cards, bankruptcy, and payday lending.
John Edwards has stepped up. Will other candidates join him?
