Austan Goolsbee of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers talks about the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 – also known as the Credit Card Bill of Rights – which he worked hard on and which kicks in today. Watch the video to get a taste of the types of credit card headaches you won’t have to deal with anymore.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
The joke lies in the disparity between his station–PhD–and the lowliness of credit card terms. The terms “should” be simple to somebody like him, but he’s ironically saying they’re not *objectively* simple (which is not to say he doesn’t get them). A proper analogy would be “I’m a quantum physicist and I can’t read this pre-algebra textbook.” Your president analogy doesn’t work b/c intel reports are actually part of his job, not something “below his pay grade” so to speak.
February 24th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Again, you’re not seeing the irony. It seems like you’re refusing to. Hey, I tried.
February 24th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
You’re making an unwarranted logical leap. If he can read the terms then he’s not necessarily lying. He can be exaggerating, and I think he’s clearly doing that here. He knows that credit card terms can be difficult to read. In saying that he can’t read them, he’s exaggerating their difficulty. That’s why I said hyperbole.
February 24th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
There is no joke in credit card terms. I don’t see what the joke is. Understanding the legal binding between the credit card companies and their clients IS part of his job. I think the analogy you gave just makes my point even stronger, I don’t know a quantum physicist who does not understand pre-algebra, you might find me one.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
First let’s clarify what he says. “I have a PhD in economics and I can barely read what these things [Terms and services] are.”
Following your logic, A president can say ” I am a president, and I can barely understand what intelligence reports mean.” He would then, by your standards, be exaggerating. There is no hyperbole, none that I can see.
He should try to appeal less to stupidity, and focus on the matter at hand.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Lol well said
February 24th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Before the Fed we had a single currency. IE the dollar printed by the treasury. That point is mute. The FED is a failed system and your answer that you are skeptical is not an answer to the statement that the current dollar is worth 3.8 cents vs 1 dollar from 1913.
The Fed is the problem and without it you could eliminate Income Tax.
The Revolutionary war was not fought over taxes but the right of the STATES to print INTREST FREE MONEY. B. Franklin.
February 24th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
I’m sorry you can’t understand your own credit card statements Mr. Goolsbee.
I’m an economist too, and while my B.A. isn’t as impressive sounding as your Ph.D, I feel very sorry for you if you spent so money money on that education but can’t figure out a credit card statement. I have no problem with mine, I don’t pay fees. In fact the credit companies pay ME, because I take advantage of cash back programs.
I would be happy to help you and other Obama economists understand economic issues.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
The people here who are focusing their “debate” on the comments he made about he could not understand credit card ToS’s are either complete trolls or conflict whores.
First of all, he was just trying to appeal to the audience. Even if it wasn’t his best choice of words, if you’re actually going to try to intellectually checkmate his choice to say it, then just stfu and/or gtfo.
How about actually discussing the pros and cons of the policies he was bringing to the table… my god…
February 24th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
If you’re really an economist, then answer me this:
How can you improve the overall health of the economy by reducing the profitability of the US financial industry with this Bill at the SAME TIME you’re propping the same institutions with money from the treasury?
Also how does paying to destroy a perfectly good working asset (say a car), to buy a new one with loaned money help the overall economy?