Carol Forsloff asked:


 

Whatever people say about Joe Biden’s gaffes, no one would accuse him of not being intelligent and articulate. We all know he can be wordy, perhaps, but not one who doesn’t have a lot of governmental experience that gives him a broad perspective on the national level.

Biden was laid back for awhile. We didn’t see him much on the national news except for the debate. But given the outspoken nature, and the type of speech of his Vice Presidential rival, Joe Biden has picked up pace and is beginning to take on the opposition with the type of passion and flair for which he has become known to many.

At a time of great controversy, Joe Biden may well be the one who indeed helps us make the final decision. He hasn’t gotten into the mud with the others and has a record that may upset some conservatives, but even those people know Biden to be someone who knows his material. If these same people were to be asked to choose between Biden’s knowledge on the economy and that of Sarah Palin, most of them would choose Biden as well.

We should focus attention on Joe Biden these days for lots of reasons. First of all, he has the background that we just discussed. Second both John McCain and Barack Obama have more than the ordinary amount of physical risks. McCain has had cancer four times; Barack Obama, as a black man, has had his life threatened publicly with one plan intercepted before the Convention. So the position of Vice President is more critical now than almost any other time except during the wars fought by the United States.

Here’s a snapshot of Joe Biden’s experience. Biden was born in  Scranton, Pennsylvania where he lived before becoming involved in politics. He received his law degree in 1969, then became a city councilman the following year. He became an attorney in 1969 and was elected to serve on the city council in 1970. Biden became one of the youngest senators ever elected when he first became Senator in 1972 and has been re-elected by comfortable margins to serve as one of those with a term that has been one of the longest terms in the Senate of anyone presently in Congress.

Biden presently chairs the Foreign Relations Committee. This certainly gives him the foreign relations experience the country needs now. He has helped resolve conflicts around the world, especially the war with Bosnia. Although Biden voted in favor of the original Iraq War Resolution in the Congress, when he recognized that he, along with other Senators had the wrong facts presented to them, proposed resolutions in order that the US take a different course in the region of the Middle East.

Joe Biden’s knowledge extends beyond foreign relations experience. He has served as chairman of the  Senate Judiciary Committee where he has dealt with drug problems, crime, and violence against women issues.  He also served as chair of the Judiciary Committee during the contentious hearings of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.  Biden chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious hearings. That allows him to manage controversy and get people talking about important issues. He knows qualifications, how to understand the needs of people in social situations and has a record of advocacy.

Most of the talk on the Internet seems to come from those who question whether Joe Biden is either liberal or conservative enough and whether his gaffes get him into trouble. That might be a good thing, given the extremes of left and right. Perhaps that’s because Biden may not the glamorous creature that we cling to these days, but his steady hand on the till that McCain referred to in the town hall meeting with Barack Obama might be what we need in a crisis. These are the days when potential crisis can occur. So he deserves our serious examination.

Aaron Wilmont asked:

Congress will begin debating if a Consumer Financial Protection Agency should be created, that will help to make credit agreements transparent. Banks complain this would obstruct credit.

All in all, consumer credit counseling services are in demand for many people, because of the lack of understanding of the contracts involved. There have been attempts made to protect borrowers from the confusing agreements with some transparency and Congress is being urged by the present administration to make lenders agreements even more transparent.

On the whole, this is basically an attempt to make it less of a risk for people that are taking loans to understand clearly what is entailed in the loan agreement to the dismay of some lenders.

Having stated this, however, it should be duly noted that this is really not so very different from the Georgia predatory lending laws that were enacted from the fall of 2002 to the spring of 2003 that required investors that purchased secondary mortgages to hold liability for wrongdoing in the original loan.

The predatory lending law was later repealed as it was felt it might prevent credit for the borrower that needed it most. This is what banks are complaining of with the transparency from lenders that Congress is currently debating, the fear of choking off credit from those borrowers that need it.

Regarding the ethics of many of the credit counseling firms as well as the many free and non-profit Debt consolidation and debt help organizations, a good general rule of thumb to use regarding them is that when debt settlement appears too good to be true, in most cases it probably is, and the only way to be sure according to financial experts is seek the advice of a credit counselor prior to agreeing to pay an amount decided upon by a credit card company in general. This is your due diligence as a consumer, as well as good common sense overall.

In many cases with some adjustments to the person’s budget they are able to pay off the debt and when using a licensed credit counseling company it is possible for them to help make arrangement to have the payments lowered to an affordable price. Choosing this type of option rather than agreeing to a payment is the fact that it will not affect the person’s credit rating in the same manner.

There are actually many different places where it is quite possible to find reliable credit counseling companies like the website for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies. Just go to your favorite search engine and type those names in and their website url’s will appear along with other related resources. Just remember that when dealing with a non-profit credit counseling company a fee of approximately $20 per month can be expected and in cases where it is not possible to pay one of these companies the fee can be waived until the financial debt issues have been satisfied.