Below are the contents of an email received just this afternoon from Congressman Bart Gordon
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Dear Friend,
Everyone seems to rely on credit cards these days.
However, many credit card companies engage in unfair and deceptive practices, like imposing excessive late fees or increasing interest rates even if you paid the minimum or full balance on the card by the due date.
Today, Congress is going to start addressing the ways that card companies do business, and I want to know what you think.
Please click here to take my credit card survey – it will take you no longer than a minute to complete.
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My response:
Congressman Gordon, I have a few words for you. Your staff has received the following reply to your e-mail, and it has been posted here, among other places, for public consumption. Similar thoughts will be expressed in your survey if I can ever manage to get the survey page to load.
We’re friends, are we? That’s presumptuous, sir. I’ve contacted you twice during your tenure. The first time to express outrage at your comments regarding the “economic bailout”, the second to forward a request you denied. You did not have my vote in the most recent election, and as part of the problem with this country, you will not have it at any future time. None of these facts suggest a friendship exists between us.
I realize you and your staff probably don’t have the time or ability to address each e-mail personally, but perhaps “dear voter” would be more appropriate?
My friendship is a valuable gift I extend only to those deserving of it. It makes you seem foolish and phony to presume I have conferred it upon you simply because the greeting sounds polite.
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| Everyone seems to rely on credit cards these days. |
Everyone? Really? Are you unaware or simply unconcerned with the fans of a man from your very own district, Dave Ramsey? Have you chosen to simply ignore the growing segment of the population who chooses not only not to RELY on credit cards, but to refuse to carry them completely.
Since, apparently, you are ignorant of this segment of the US population, allow me to introduce us.
We believe in living within our means…a concept you and your ilk are clearly unfamiliar with. We believe a man should exchange value for value, and deserves that, and only that, which he has EARNED.
We pay cash for things. We find it difficult at times, because this means we frequently have to make difficult choices. Sometimes we can not afford to have two items we want, so we must decide between them. Sometimes we can not afford to have both that which we want, and that which we need…so we must do without the things we want, in order to meet our needs. This, again, is clearly a foreign concept to you.
We refuse credit cards because we recognize that we have a CHOICE in how we manage our finances…and we CHOOSE not to sign a document that promises us outrageous interest rates, exorbitant late fees, and a lifetime of servitude to our masters, the creditor. In short, sir, that which YOU call “deceptive” is that which WE seem to have identified clearly and quickly…and have avoided.
We, sir…those who live within our means, refuse to participate not only in the recession YOU AND YOUR ILK have created, but also in the attitude of entitlement you choose to wield as a political tool with such statements as “Everyone seems to rely on credit cards”.
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| However, many credit card companies engage in unfair and deceptive practices, like imposing excessive late fees or increasing interest rates even if you paid the minimum or full balance on the card by the due date. |
Having introduced you to those of us who live within our means, allow me now to introduce you to a new word:
Bias
You, sir, have a large one.
You send an email asking for INPUT…for my OPINION…on whether or not credit card companies use deceptive practices. the SUBJECT of your e-mail is “Survey: Credit Cards Companies…Deceptive?” You’ve made every effort later in the email to convince me that you’d truly like to hear my opinion.
Yet you begin your e-mail by presuming a gift I have not given, presuming I fall in a group of unwise, undisciplined, and irresponsible people you label as “everyone”, and then STATING AS FACT the very thesis you CLAIM to be testing.
You are biased, sir. You presume I am in trouble with credit cards, and that I am angry with their “deceptive” practices, and then dare to suggest you actually CARE what I think.
Your survey results, whatever they may be, will not stand up to even the most cursory of statistical examinations.
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| Today, Congress is going to start addressing the ways that card companies do business |
Of COURSE they are…because that is how you and your ilk do things now. You no longer REPRESENT the citizens of this country or this state, rather you issue edicts that prescribe for them a life YOU deem fair, appropriate, and safe.
It is inconceivable to you that ANYONE…a man, a family, a business, or a nation, be held responsible for the consequences of their own actions. As a result, you see it as your right and duty to dictate, by fiat, how companies shall do business, what they may charge their customers, and what policies they may enforce regarding their OWN money and product.
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Please click here to take my credit card survey – it will take you no longer than a minute to complete.
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I have done so several times…and have, as yet, been unable to reach the page referenced. It seems your concern for my opinion is so deep that you have neglected to ensure the resources are available to collect it.==================
EDIT : I have since been able to submit my answer to Congressman Gordon’s single question survey…which did not allow comments. The answer I chose was :
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Cardholders have a personal responsibility to spend within their means — if they default, the card companies should be allowed to impose penalties. Congress should not involve itself.
