Before you go out this Friday to piss away whatever money you have saved up.. or even worse, give that piece of plastic a work out, perhaps you should remember one important thing... America is bringing back Debtor's Prison!
As a sheriff's deputy dumped the contents of Joy Uhlmeyer's purse into a sealed bag, she begged to know why she had just been arrested while driving home to Richfield after an Easter visit with her elderly mother.
No one had an answer. Uhlmeyer spent a sleepless night in a frigid Anoka County holding cell, her hands tucked under her armpits for warmth. Then, handcuffed in a squad car, she was taken to downtown Minneapolis for booking. Finally, after 16 hours in limbo, jail officials fingerprinted Uhlmeyer and explained her offense -- missing a court hearing over an unpaid debt. "They have no right to do this to me," said the 57-year-old patient care advocate, her voice as soft as a whisper. "Not for a stupid credit card."
It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors' prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found.
Not every warrant results in an arrest, but in Minnesota many debtors spend up to 48 hours in cells with criminals. Consumer attorneys say such arrests are increasing in many states, including Arkansas, Arizona and Washington, driven by a bad economy, high consumer debt and a growing industry that buys bad debts and employs every means available to collect.
Whether a debtor is locked up depends largely on where the person lives, because enforcement is inconsistent from state to state, and even county to county.
In Illinois and southwest Indiana, some judges jail debtors for missing court-ordered debt payments. In extreme cases, people stay in jail until they raise a minimum payment. In January, a judge sentenced a Kenney, Ill., man "to indefinite incarceration" until he came up with $300 toward a lumber yard debt.
"The law enforcement system has unwittingly become a tool of the debt collectors," said Michael Kinkley, an attorney in Spokane, Wash., who has represented arrested debtors. "The debt collectors are abusing the system and intimidating people, and law enforcement is going along with it."
Take for example the article which clearly shows that the same social system that is bringing back debters jail can one day potentially bring back indentured servitude, child factory labor and if we're lucky, Impressment.
The only plus side to all this is that loom technology advanced to the point where bobbins will no longer come loose. I know I'm excited.
How are we suppose to deal with all this? Historically speaking, those who couldn't pay their debts were made to do so in a way that actually profited the rest of society.... Slave labor. But Americans are too stupid to divorce the concepts of slavery and racism, so there's pretty much no way we'll ever make people work off their debts again. We're sort of stuck with this mess for better or worse.
But what if we could work off our debt? It would be pretty nice if you think about it. No more calls from those student loans, instead you could do a months work for a couple hundred thousand of your debt. But then again, in our modern day's college system, it seems that student loans have a closer relation to indentured servitude than you think. Though making that comparison isn't all that accurate since college doesn't guarantee you a job or any useful skills for that matter.
But this seems to have gotten out of control. Just look at this story about a woman who's having issues with a funeral home.
A funeral home's debt collector threatened to dig her deceased daughter's body up and hang it from a tree unless she paid what she owed for the funeral service. That's when she started recording the calls, capturing such things as, "We're going to have your dog arrested, we're going to shoot him, and we're going to eat him," and, "Are you going to pay this bill or not or am I going to have to kill you?"So before you throw away your money on Friday just realize that stretching out that credit card can eventually land you in debters jail. And unless they make threats on you like this foolish credit collection agency, you're going to have to pay the dues eventually..
Threats of violence are definite breaches of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Armed with those recordings, the woman could go sue the debt collector in small claims court and collect statutory damages.
Reached for comment, the debt collection agency told KMOV that the recordings were "suspect" and said they sounded like an "unfortunate communication breakdown." They pledged to investigate the incident and said all their employees are given a copy of the FDCPA and are required to follow it.
This article did make me think about something a little off topic though, how the fuck do the police ever find criminals in NYC if they can't pull over people riding the subway to find out if they have a warrant or not.
Anyway, what am I saying, it's already past midnight. I'm sure you've already got your tents set up in front of Best Buy hoping for that latest and greatest technology piece of shit you'll just forget in a couple of months for the next best thing.
For you people all I have to say is... FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKIN' CAPITALISTIC PIGS!
Ha. just kidding, I'm going to go out and buy $5 dvds like the rest of you mindless sheeple. Or just go to Stone to get my Growler filled with Double Bastard Ale and drink to forget how bad society is. You know, like this family in Florida..
Fuck this gay earth....
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