Debt Relief Begins at Home

The British and the US government have reached an agreement to forgive an estimated $16.7 billion in debt that African nations owe to western democracies. While I agree that this is a laudable goal, one can't help but notice that, at least in the case of the American government, this philanthropic effort also reeks of hypocrisy.

Isn't this the same Bush administration that backed a bill in Congress – a bill that the financial services lobby pretty much wrote themselves – that made it harder for its own citizens to declare bankruptcy? Aren't millions of Americans going to be prevented from getting relief from their own debt by this legislation? Aren't these debtors, many of whom go into debt in the wake of medical emergencies that leave them with exorbitant bills they have no way of paying, going to be prevented from making the same kind of fresh start that this same administration finds to be so desirable in the case of African countries?

That wouldn't be a wee bit hypocritical, would it? And yet I don't see Bush and the Republican Congress making any kind of effort towards debt forgiveness for Americans. But then, we just live here and pay taxes, so I guess we don't count. African countries get debt relief, while credit card companies are allowed to extract their pound of flesh from impoverished Americans in order to maximize their profits.

Doesn't charity begin at home?

Tom Moran