You're assuming that all credit users are stupid. I think that's a fallacy. Some are, and some are scam artists. You admit that the lenders and the borrowers enter into agreements. What makes you think that the borrowers are too stupid to know what they agreed to?
It's true that some people are willing to gamble that luck will strike and that they will have a "windfall", either by lottery or law change, or something else. But life doesn't usually work that way. Planning is a better alternative.
BTW, I hope you're wrong that "most" Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. None of has to do that. I know some do (in all income classes), but that's not really a very good idea. If you're doing that, try budgeting. It's a lot less stressful, and you don't have to worry about minor setbacks like loss of a job or a health problem.
I am not sure you are reading my posts. I do not assume either the CC lenders or borrowers are stupid, and I think you missed the point that CC lender and borrowers entered into contracts that incorporated existing bankurptcy code and state exemption law and now that law is being changed after the fact in favor of one party over the other. I can't explain it any clearer than in my last post to you and if you don't get it, well, you just don't get it. What can I do.
As to planning, planning is great, and if your planning is bullet proof then you are in great shape. Maybe because of the financial train wrecks I see day in day out, of all shapes and sizes, I have become sensitive to the fact that practically everybody is vulnerable to financial catastrophe at any moment. $100,000 sitting in the bank? $200,000? Doesn't matter. Events can sweep that away in an instant. I don't say these things to put people on eggshells or render them less confident. I say them because they are real and should be considered by all when making public policy such as rewriting bk laws. But like I said last post, the debate is over and this bill is getting passed.
There is good news though, I figured out today how to siphon off a significant portion of the 5 year income stream that MBNA et al thinks it will be getting from all these coerced Chapter 13's under the new bk law. So the real moral of the story is while MBNA et al and its senator whores do all the dirty work, we slip in at the end and take the value. And that is sweet.
My hedge is that I have positioned myself to profit from the financial catastophe's of others. And while this bill is bad for country, its good for me, and . not