Credit Card Joe

http://therealjoebiden.wordpress.com/2008/08/24/credit-card-joe/

August 24, 2008
Credit Card Joe
Filed under: Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Obama/Biden 08, politics
Tags: bankruptcy, Barack Obama, credit card debt, credit cards, Joe Biden, Joseph Biden, Obama, Obama/Biden 08, politics
Procrustes

In today’s repost of an article he wrote for The American Spectator in 1998, Byron York provides a detailed profile of Joe Biden, “The Senator from MBNA,” the “giant credit-card company based in his home state” of Delaware that was bought up by Bank of America in 2006.

Be sure to read York’s article, but to be brief, as described by NNDB.com, Biden’s record in regards to credit card company MBNA is enlightening, to say the least:

Over his long career in politics, Biden’s biggest financial supporter has been the giant credit card company MBNA, which was also one of George W. Bush’s biggest donors in 2000 and 2004. His son, Hunter Biden, was hired as a management trainee at MBNA straight out of law school, and was quickly promoted to executive vice president. The younger Biden has since left MBNA to establish his own lawyer-and-lobbying firm, but still receives a $100,000 per year consulting fee from the bank, which has since been swallowed by Bank of America. In 2006, Hunter Biden was appointed by President Bush to a five-year term on the Amtrak Reform Board.

OpenSecrets reports for campaign years 1998 through 2004 alone, MBNA was indeed Biden’s top contributor—$214,050. In 2006, MBNA contributed $80,625; in this campaign cycle, for 2008, Bank of America has contributed $58,000 and MBNA Corp, $56,625. More on Biden’s lobbyist cash here.

As is just about everyone else in internetdom, OpenSecrets posted its own article today about “The Money Behind Biden.”

Then, on the little matter of the proposed bankruptcy bill—for which, by the way, Joe Biden has consistently voted in favor—on March 10, 2005, Obama cheerleader Arianna Huffington wrote an opinion piece at Salon:

So what does the bill do? It makes it harder for average people to file for bankruptcy protection; it makes it easier for landlords to evict a bankrupt tenant; it endangers child-support payments by giving a wider array of creditors a shot at post-bankruptcy income; it allows millionaires to shield an unlimited amount of equity in homes and asset-protection trusts; it makes it more difficult for small businesses to reorganize while opening new loopholes for the Enrons of the world; it allows creditors to provide misleading information; and it does nothing to rein in lending abuses….

It all—ALL—benefits the credit card companies and Credit Card Joe is their BFF.