On the Idea of Reparations

Find me an ex-slave and I’ll be happy to support his claims for reparations FROM THE STATE WHERE HE WAS ENSLAVED because everyone should be paid for their work.

If you want to argue that the descendants of slaves should receive reparations FROM THE STATES WHERE THEIR ANCESTORS WERE ENSLAVED, I might go along with that.

The southern states were the primary beneficiaries of slavery. The northern states benefited as well but no where near as much as the southern states. To be honest, I live in New Jersey and I am just sick and tired of supporting their sorry Republican rear ends. Let those states who benefited the most make the most restitution. 

Beyond that, count me out. My people were in Italy and Austria-Hungary when slavery was a thing so don’t expect me to support using my tax dollars on an equal basis with states like Alabama or Mississippi for reparations.

The Obesity Epidemic

Yes it's an epidemic and it's getting worse.

The CDC has a new report out from December 2018 which discusses average height and weight in the US by race and sex.
The heaviest group is white males averaging a whopping 202.2 pounds with an average height of 5' 9.8" for an average BMI of 29.2.
On the distaff side the heaviest group is black females averaging 186.1 pounds with an average height of 5' 4" for an average BMI of 31.9. That means the average black female is obese.
To put this in perspective I'm male, 6' 0" (apparently I've shrunk an inch in my old age) and weigh around 180 pounds so the average black female in this country outweighs me. Asians are doing something right with men averaging 5' 6.8" and weighing 161.1 pounds for a BMI of 25.4 and females averaging 5' 1.5" and weighing 132.4 pounds for a BMI of 24.6.

The 2005 Bankruptcy Law

Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren are old adversaries. In 2005 Biden sponsored a bill to update bankruptcy law and Warren, an expert in bankruptcy law, wanted nothing to do with it.

The major criticisms revolved around the claim that the law made things better for the credit card companies at the expense of the consumer. Considering the credit card companies apparently spent around $100 million pushing the bill that sounds like it's pretty accurate.

Bankruptcy law is complicated especially when you combine it with credit card companies and their often barely ethical practices.

The 2005 Bankruptcy law was based upon the erroneous claim that fraud and abuse of the bankruptcy system were widespread. Like the claim that voter fraud is widespread no one ever found any evidence to support that claim. It turned out that unexpected medical expenses were the most likely cause of bankruptcy. There’s no real surprise there.

In the meantime, remember that Delaware is the credit card capital of the country because of two things.

1. Marquette National Bank v. First of Omaha Corp. in 1978 where the SCOTUS held that credit card companies could export interest rates from the states where they were located to other states.

2. Delaware’s 1980 Financial Center Development Act which, according to Forbes, provided the following incentives, with commentary in parentheses, to credit card companies.

• Invitations: It gave out-of-state banks permission to enter Delaware, provided that they met certain conditions — for example, employing at least 100 people in the state
• Interest rate flexibility: It largely eliminated usury ceilings (so 24% interest became OK)
• Option to charge fees: It allowed banks to impose several types of fees on revolving and closed-ended credit, if they were disclosed (disclosed usually on pg 178 in teeny print)
• Tax breaks: It implemented an inverted tax rate for banks making more than $20 million, taxing big banks at a lower rate than smaller banks (I’d like to meet the guy that came up with this one)

In 1980 there were hopes that the act would add 1,000 jobs. As of 2017 some 47,000 people are employed in Delaware’s financial sector.

So, I wonders why a senator from Delaware would be friendly to credit card companies. It’s hard to figure out but MAYBE if I try REAL hard I might be able to work it out.