I call for an end to the current bankruptcy protection laws. The authority to make bankruptcy laws rests solely with the Congress and these laws must be uniform throughout the country (Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution). It is therefore illegal for states or local governments to enact any bankruptcy laws, and these should not be enforced. Those who cannot or will not meet their financial obligations should go to jail or be ordered to perform services to those owed at a judge’s discretion.
If a corporation cannot meet obligations made to creditors (including employee benefits), then the owners and/or stockholders of the corporation should liable to pay these obligations out their own pockets, in proportion to how much of the corporation they own. The PBGC should be abolished. CEOs should be held criminally responsible for bad accounting practices. I am against any form of corporate bailout or buyout by the government.
To help ease the financial burden of those who prone to over-borrow, I favor usury laws that would limit the amount of interest and fees that can be charged against a debtor. I need to do more research on what the interest and fee limits should be and how to make the laws so that they don’t violate Constitutional principles. All debts should be cancelled every seven years by federal law as Deuteronomy 15:1-6 says. The states should have the right to prosecute national banks in cases where they defraud or deceive their debtors. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency should only get involved in cases where constitutional federal laws concerning commerce are not being enforced by state or local law enforcement.
About Me
- Matt
- I am born again Christian with a strong interest in politics, doctrine, science, and how these relate to one another.
4 comments:
And who will pay to build all of the debtor prisons? For perspective, last year over a million and a half individuals filed for bankruptcy. Millions more are in serious financial jeopardy. Economists estimate that for every family that declares bankruptcy, there are seven more that should based on their debt load. More people will file for bankruptcy this year than will get divorced or graduate from college. Even more startling, married couples with children are two times more likely to file for bankruptcy than married couples without children.
In the Bible, it says that those who owe money and can't pay should be required to serve their debtors (as I said they, "should go to jail OR be ordered to perform services to those owed at a judge’s discretion"). Most such debtors would chose the latter, and more people would avoid getting into debt in the first place.
And the other things that I said would also reduce the number debtors. Limiting the interest rate at which money could be loaned and the length of time that it could be loaned would prevent many people from falling into debt. There are also many bad government programs which encourage debt including welfare, the Federal Reserve System which loans money to the Central Banks cheaply at the expense of taxpayers. This in combination with wasteful government spending increases inflation which leads to more borrowing. Furthermore, the government bails out lending institutions which make bad loans. Put these practices to an end and there will be far fewer debtors in this country.
However, the Bible also says that:
"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. And this is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what the has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord's remission has been proclaimed." Deuteronomy 15:7-10
I have changed my mind about this. Read this
article .
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