Senate Loan Sharks

The President is telling a town hall meeting in New Mexico today that they have a right not to be "ripped off" by credit-card issuers, the day after the Senate rejected a proposal to limit banks to the 15 percent interest rate of credit unions.

“When banks are charging 30 percent interest rates, they are not making credit available,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, who proposed the cap. “They are engaged in loan-sharking.”

But his colleagues, who have approved billions of bailout money for banks, voted him down with only 33 votes to enforce the limit as Sen. Chris Dodd, who chairs the banking committee, suggested the Federal Reserve "study" the question.

"Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe," the President said last week. "But they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees that have become all too common."

The banking Mafia and their lobbyists don't agree, and they seem to have the muscle to enforce their will in the US Senate.