Congress might finally pass bankruptcy court bill: Way Too Late, but Hopefully not too Little

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123144562914865337.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

There are a number of things wrong with this whole situation, but I'll just point to a couple:
1. This could (and should) have happened a long time ago and done a lot of good
2. Why the F&$k does CitiGroup have any impact on whether or not a bill passes?

The first is a big deal, but the 2nd is just so absurd, so I'll begin there.

I'm not naive, we all understand that corporate America has too much influence on Congress, but it's like everyone stopped even pretending to hide that fact. Basically, everyone in Congress knew it was a good idea, but wouldn't push the bill forward for fear of upsetting one of the banks that caused this housing nightmare in the first place? That is of course after they gave them billions of our tax dollars.

So basically, Congress gave them a ton of money and was still too afraid to just ONCE make a decision to help the actual people that voted for them? I know it takes money to get elected and that is what sucking up to banks is for, but really, don't these guys even pretend to care about Americans?

1. To summarize what this is about, basically the only thing that is not legally negotiable in bankruptcy is your primary house's mortgage. This was a not huge problem when this began because you could just go to the local bank and try renegotiate. However, with the securitized nightmare of mortgages we now have, that is impossible, even when it is better for "homeowners" and banks. (fyi, this means that rich people with multiple houses have always been free to do this, just not the people that own just the one measly house).

This could have happened months ago, even before the sub-prime crisis hit, but it was forever being blocked by republicans. Now that there is a new Senate, it has life again. I watch a lot of CSPAN and this was discussed in the House/Senate months ago with the general acceptance that it won't go anywhere because there were not enough votes (apparently, that meant that Citigroup didn't like the idea...).

Democrats have plenty of faults, but this was a good idea a long time ago and it seems everyone knew it, but as long as the guys in charge (e.g. bankers that have screwed the country over 6 ways from Sunday) disagreed, it couldn't go anywhere. Having a huge majority and a new president that isn't (I hope) owned by lobbyists and big business might allow our government to start to finally make some intelligent decisions.

Change is: Making logical decisions that ironically enough put "Country First"

That said, everyone should join and actively support Change Congress: http://change-congress.org/
because the President is a good start, but a corrupt congressional process needs to be fixed and you can help.