| By Bob Weaver
Two measures will soon affect the lives of many Americans.
One new law expands the right of government to take-over private property, using imminent domain, for the use of businesses, like Wal Mart.
The second is a major change in bankruptcy law, coming after heavy lobbying by the banking, credit card and retailing industry, with the focus on the financial problems of working-class Americans.
The Republican-led Congress produced a 501-page bill, which will change the rules on October 17, 2006.
The pending change has led to tens of thousands of Americans filing bankruptcy before the new law takes effect, recent;y with nearly 10,000 filings daily.
The number is expected to keep climbing, reflecting a growing sense of urgency as the deadline nears.
Among the most noteworthy of the changes are new limitations on filing for personal bankruptcy, which excludes those with above-average income from Chapter 7 â where debts can be wiped out entirely â except under special circumstances.
Those favoring a crack-down on credit card debt, welcome what they describe as long-needed reform.
"We've got greater fairness now" under the new law, said Wayne Abernathy, executive director of American Bankers Association, an industry group representing banks and credit card issuers. "Where people have the means to pay, they're going to have to pay something."
But advocates for consumers and working people contend the new law unfairly boxes in people who become buried in debt after unexpectedly losing their jobs or suffering serious health problems.
Large doctor and hospital bills are among the most outstanding debts being listed. Expensive illnesses lead to about half of all personal bankruptcies, according to a Harvard University study.
Those opposing the change say it rewards the aggressive sales tactics of credit card issuers and other lender groups, which constantly bombard citizens with mailers and e-mail messages to use credit cards, re-finance their homes and enter into payment agreements that often cause undue hardship.
WV residents have been hard-hit by lending groups that charge extremely high rates for re-payment, frequently confiscating property when borrowers fail to make payments.
It still is "buyer beware," although WVs Attorney General is trying to defend state consumers from the tactics of credit card companies and mortgage re-financiers.
Travis Plunkett, legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America, called the law "harmful and mean-spirited."
While it will halt some abuse by high-fliers who shouldn't be filing for bankruptcy, Plunkett said it also will trap people and businesses that got into financial trouble through little or no fault of their own and block people's realistic chances at starting over.
Some economists say that taking away the traditional "fresh start" option from those middle-income people will be harmful to the U.S. economy, which has benefited greatly from entrepreneurial and other risk-taking.
Small businesses seeking to reorganize could acutely feel the law's changes.
But it's the impending change in personal bankruptcy requirements that have struck the biggest nerve with US citizens.
Single parents and those overwhelmed by medical bills are among those that opponents of the bankruptcy law revisions claim will be hurt most.
Consumers Union found separately that single mothers trying to make ends meet comprise a large portion of the filers.
Kenneth Klee, a UCLA law professor and former Republican staffer for the House Judiciary Committee who helped draft the last bankruptcy law overhaul in the 1970s, predicts the new law will have "a profound negative effect" that extends well beyond the debtors.
"It is a major strike against the working class," he said.
"You're going to have people going into the underground economy, not paying their taxes; they'll be dispirited and there will be more crime," Klee believes.
Hurricane Katrina victims may face especially tricky barriers to bankruptcy because of the new law's requirements for more extensive documentation and stricter deadlines.
Increased costs for legal fees and credit-counseling charges, means the cost of filing personal bankruptcy will rise for everyone.
It may cost a lot of money, just to file.
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