Meanwhile, the public was being fleeced by the retail card issuers, debit cards, transfer fees and, thanks to the Republican Congress, have no recourse except limited bankruptcy. I believe that lending and repayment should be governed by contract law, not market law.

Congress should enact a maximum APR for all retail credit issuers–establish a usury APR limen, require issuers and consumers to sign a term contract defining the terms of the credit offer and provide sanctions against issuers who ignore the contracted rate schedule and those who obfuscate new terms with pages of small print that currently says: "We can do what we want if you buy on credit." One of my card issuer’s statement of billing and payment terms states: "there is no way to avoid a finance charge every month." To me, that is fundamentally wrong.

Further, the issuers can sell their receivables to firms like GE Money Bank (truth in advertizing!) for operating cash and, at the same time, eliminate the financial risks of uncontrolled accounts receivable. The balance sheet looks great and nothing except debt list purchases increase the selling company’s value in the stock markets. Assets are up and liabilities and reserves are down. What could be better? Wall Street responds favorably to the new balance sheet or earnings announcements, even though sales might be stagnant or falling for their products or the company’s true financial health in its industry is being misrepresented to its owners, the stockholders.

Thank you, Mr. Illis, for exposing the real villains in America’s consumer economy.