Not long ago, I was listening to Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) being interviewed, and I was struck at how intelligent and morally serious he was. Biden is justly viewed as a smart foreign policy hawk, but he also expressed his opposition to Social Security privatization in a particularly lucid way.
All in all, he came across as just the sort of person you'd like to have as president.
There's just one issue that's the exception. And that's what's wrong with most of the Democrats: There's always one issue that's the exception. But before we get into that, let me explain Biden's particular problem.
Biden supports a bill in Congress that would make it harder for people to declare bankruptcy. This is one of those abysmal pieces of legislation that exists only because businesses with a vested interest in it have lobbied hard for its passage and that would have no chance of success if more than a tiny fraction of the public were aware of its existence.
Bankruptcy filings have risen slightly in recent years. Credit card companies argue that it's because people are gaming the system, going on irresponsible spending binges and then using bankruptcy to stick their creditors with the bill.
The more likely explanation is that the rise in health insurance costs has driven more people into bankruptcy. A recent Harvard study found that half of Americans who declared bankruptcy did so because of illness or medical bills. Regardless of why you go bankrupt, though, the new bill would make it easier for creditors to seize your assets. Nice, huh?
This isn't to say there aren't abuses in the bankruptcy system. There are. The bill simply does nothing to stop them.
The worst abuses are loopholes allowing corporations or wealthy individuals to declare bankruptcy and keep millions of dollars safe from creditors. One such device is something called an "asset protection trust" -- a kind of savings fund that can't be touched by creditors. States actually compete with one another to offer the most generous trusts so they can lure businesses and affluent individuals to park their money in that state.
The most popular state for such trusts is corporate-friendly Delaware.
Delaware, of course, is home to Joe Biden. It's also home to many credit card companies, the driving force behind the bankruptcy bill. You don't have to connect a lot of dots to see the picture here.
