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Sure as a single rain drop can put out a forest fire, Congress can protect us from predatory credit card companies and the banks who control them.

Too many legislators in Washington, D.C. need or just plain want the money banks and credit card companies are ready, willing and able to pay out to protect profit. Band-aid legislation that looks good to consumers might pass out of Congress and be signed into law. Major surgery is need though and I doubt there are enough representatives and senators willing to support its performance.

Even if there was will in Washington, any significant government regulation would have to wait until George Bush is gone from the White House. We already know how lowly he regards children in need of health care. Do you really think he would sign any bill that would hurt his banking buddies' bottom lines?

Here in California, I can, by law, be charged no more than 10% interest a year to borrow money from a friend money, $10 for every $100 borrowed.

Read the fine print on your credit card statements. You can be made to pay 30% or more in interest every year until you pay back the money a credit card bank loans you when you buy anything using their credit card. This can mean paying over $2000 for something that cost $1000, the $1000 borrowed plus over $1000 in interest.

There once was government protection against usury, "an unconscionable or exorbitant rate or amount of interest," according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. No more. Banks can charge as much as they believe they can get away with charging.

The federal government and state governments are the reason people who have come to depend on credit cards to pay their bills are abused, why middle-class people are becoming poor and poor people are becoming poorer. They have allowed interest rates to become onerous and usurious. They've allowed the predatory practices of banks and credit card companies that have resulted in many Americans being all but enslaved.

You, me and everyone else regularly ripped off by banks through credit cards are the only ones who can protect us.

Pay for what you buy with cash and stop using any credit card. If you know in advance you'll have to make a purchase you'd usually make with a credit card, put enough money in a savings account every month so you can pay cash when you make the purchase. Yes, this may be a pain in the posterior. Better, however, to save before you buy and, maybe, get paid a bit of interest than to pay

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