Say Anything Blog

The last time Obama said that he and his fellow liberals were ram-rodding through an ill-advised “economic stimulus” spending spree that had goodies hidden in its never-read-before-being-voted-on pages such as the creation of a federal bureaucracy to compile and monitor our medical records.

Obama broke just about every promise he made on transparency to get the stimulus through Congress with as little debate and scrutiny as possible.  He seems poised to do the same with credit card reform.  Leading me to wonder what he’s hiding this time.

(CNN) — President Obama urged Congress to quickly pass a credit card reform bill so that he can sign it into law by Memorial Day.

“It is past time for rules that are fair and transparent,” the president said in his weekly radio address.

“Instead of an ‘anything goes’ approach, we need strong and reliable protections for consumers. Instead of fine print that hides the truth, we need credit card forms and statements that have plain language in plain sight, and we need to give people the tools they need to find a credit card that meets their needs. And instead of abuse that goes unpunished, we need to strengthen monitoring, enforcement, and penalties for credit card companies that take advantage of ordinary Americans,” he said.

While Americans have a responsibility to live within their means, they also have “a right to not get ripped off” by rate hikes, penalties and hidden fees, Obama said.

“You shouldn’t have to fear that any new credit card is going to come with strings attached, nor should you need a magnifying glass and a reference book to read a credit card application,” he said.

Once again, Americans are victims who are too stupid to manage their credit themselves and so need Obama the Saviour to come to their aid.

Frankly, I think Obama is exaggerating more than a little bit with all this.  I’ll grant that credit card companies can be sneaky with the legalese, often hiding less-than-appealing terms in tiny legal print that’s difficult to understand once read.  But it’s not that hard to call in to customer service and ask for an explanation of the terms before you sign up.  And if you’re not running massive balances you can’t pay off, it’s not that hard to switch credit cards if your company is monkeying around with the terms.

Long story short, Obama isn’t looking to help anyone.  He’s looking for an excuse for bigger government.