26 Aug 2005
Not Quite Totally Wow

I've been blogging a lot lately on the subject of the upcoming rise in minimum payments on Americans credit card debt. I was initially more concerned over my personal situation vis-a-vis this issue than I was with the overall effect - now that concern has been reversed.

I finally managed to get a hold of some upper level people at the card companies with which I have business dealings, and have discovered that they're all planning to implement these regulations in a rather creative way. Rather than going to the exact limit - from 2% of the outstanding balance to 4% - they're going to "interest and fees plus 1% of the outstanding balance, or 2% of the outstanding balance, whichever is greater."

This is good for me, personally, as it means my minimums will not be rising by much, if at all, due to my excellent credit rating and history, and hence my relatively low interest rates on these loans. But ...

This formula is utterly dependent on interest rates: get a higher rate on a given card and you're screwed. And getting higher rates on your existing loans isn't tough: just be a day late on a single payment!

Given that many credit card companies have recently raised fees and rates, and that the Fed shows no interest (pun intended) in lowering rates out of a (misguided, I believe) fear of inflation, the impact on the economy still promises to be something rather severe. Probably not a repeat of the Great Depression (which it could've been if the companies had stuck exactly to the intended meaning of the regulation, rather than to the letter) but certainly a recession, and possibly a rather deep one.

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The Drone Ranger

Some of my friends just can't understand why I swear I'll never return to the corporate cubicle wars - I'd rather live in a homeless shelter than put up with one more "beach party" in a warehouse, where "participation is not mandatory, but attendance will be taken". Beatings will continue until morale improves ...

They tell me I must be worried sick over where the money's gonna come from to pay the bills next week, but in truth, I'm a lot less worried now than I was when I was slaving over a hot terminal for Da Man. Nobody's gonna ship my chickens to India next week and hand me a pink slip.

I'm a human being, not a human resource.

You just want to come in and do your job? Too bad. Before you can get down to business—and that is the reason for work, isn't it? — you have to wade through nonsense, miles of it and hip-deep. Pep rallies, team-building exercises, politics, line-toeing, tribute-paying, office cliques and nepotism and hoop-jumping. And it's all the bullshit that's really important. If you don't buy into all that, it doesn't matter how well you do your job.

(link) [Washington City Paper]

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