...as it represents further erosion of our individual protections and provides corporate fascism with yet another lever that erodes our personal freedoms:
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March 8, 2005
OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Debt-Peonage Society
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Today the Senate is expected to vote to limit debate on a bill that toughens the existing bankruptcy law, probably ensuring the bill's passage. A solid bloc of Republican senators, assisted by some Democrats, has already voted down a series of amendments that would either have closed loopholes for the rich or provided protection for some poor and middle-class families.
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Warren Buffett recently made headlines by saying America is more likely to turn into a "sharecroppers' society" than an "ownership society." But I think the right term is a "debt peonage" society - after the system, prevalent in the post-Civil War South, in which debtors were forced to work for their creditors. The bankruptcy bill won't get us back to those bad old days all by itself, but it's a significant step in that direction.
And any senator who votes for the bill should be ashamed.
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<link>
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/08/opinion/08krugman.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=