Credit Catch 22

On April 12, 2011 the Maryland General Assembly signed the Job Applicant Fairness Act into legislation. "With this Act, Maryland will join the states of Hawaii, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington in prohibiting the use of credit information for employment purposes" (globalhrresearch.com) This law that goes into effect on October 1, 2011, will place many limitations on employers who like to run lengthy credit checks on new applicants and employees with the intent to use their credit scores to punish them. "It will prohibit most employers from using credit reports to discharge an employee, deny employment to a job applicant, decide compensation, or evaluate other employment terms and conditions unless the evaluation meets certain timing and job-related requirements as outlined in the law" (globalhrresearch.com). This is great news! My only question is, why the hell hasn't this already been done and why the hell isn't this a statewide law by now?

Is there some desire for Anarchy in this country? It seems like the average American is being slapped in the face by "The Man" every time we turn our heads. What's even worse, if we attempt to hit the 'big bully' back, we face jail time for assault. So in order for us to stop this constant infliction of pain we have to get a paper trail on "The Man." We have to file restraining orders and fight it out in court. This is preposterous! I do not for one second understand why a company needs to do a credit check on me BEFORE I am offered a job. I could understand if it was a federal job or some kind of other government employment but not the local Kmart or Sears. Listen I am not an idiot so I know that applicant credit checks may be necessary for some employers to get a sense of the person they are hring, especially if the job requires handling large amounts of money. On the other hand this does not make sense for a company looking to fill a position that requires little to no handling of currency. In addition it makes less sense for an employer to check an employees credit after they have been working for some time and haven't done anything wrong. It is a fact that company's who practice this type of behavior are doing so to save money, ironically I think these companies may end up harming themselves in the long run.

How can you tell who is going to be a good employee? I mean if a guy comes into an interview wearing shorts and a T-shirt OK, he might not be such a good choice. Besides blatant telltale signs like this how do you know that the person with good credit will be a better employee than the person with bad credit? Guess what, they don't care. Here is the sad truth. These companies that are administering these credit checks are only doing what they have been trained to do, save money. Whether people believe it or not this economic downfall that we are in will eventually affect everyone. I don't care how rich and comfortable you are, do not be fooled. Your riches can disappear just as easily as the money you spend is printed. These companies already know that, and that is why they are taking advantage of an opportunity to cut cost and make "wise" decisions. With so many job seekers with overqualified experience looking to fill so little job openings employers now have the power to chose who they want to hire more effectively. And who they want to hire is the best person for the lowest amount of money. In addition to this supposed money saving tactic, companies are also finding ways to terminate employees and refuse raises. A bad credit score! ding! ding! ding! Basically these companies want you to pledge your life to them while they could give a damn less about you. You are only a number on the bottom line, and if your number no longer fits into the equation, you will be rejected. Sigh, you have to wonder sometimes, how did a country as economically strong as the United States get into this quicksand of debt? Didn't anyone know this was going to happen? Well of course! The people who were supposed to know what is going to happen knew what was going to happen. But they treated our economy kind of like a credit card. Buy now...and worry about paying it off later.

Fact:

1. This country's economy is already in ruins due to the over use of credit by it's citizens and it's government.

2. Once into the recession, what did our government ask us to do to jump start the economy? They told us to go out and spend money, use credit, get our economy back to the way it use to be.(not a good goal if you ask me).

3. Most people who are looking for jobs now have been using credit to survive during these hard economic times. In addition to their already high credit from the days when no one had a clue what was going on at wall street, now these same people or overwhelmed with credit debt.

4. Some people cannot qualify for most jobs because they have bad credit. They have bad credit due to the fact that they don't have a job. They don't have a job because the economy is in ruins. The economy is in ruins because the government allowed the major banks to approve too much credit to too many people who didn't have money in the first place.

So, understanding the fact that some of you might say, "well if someone ran their credit up and can't pay it off it's totally their fault. They have to accept the consequences." That statement is true and false. It is true that they will have to accept the consequences, but it is not true that this situation is totally "their" fault.

Our money 'is' actually credit itself. The Federal Reserve prints and administers money to the American public with debt already attached to it. During affluent times in this country Presidents and other government officials alike gave us a false sense that our country's wealth was untouchable. Once creditors were allowed to give credit to anyone they wanted, people started signing loan applications and swiping plastic like crazy. Little did anyone know that getting a credit card was like getting several favors from the Devil. He delivers what he promises but at a high price, you get a couple of fancy new shoes or a new stereo and he gets...your soul...FOR ETERNITY.

When all is said in done there is only one solution to our debt crisis, we will have to start from scratch. Our present economy, as well as many others around the world, has hit the point of no return. It's like Evil Kin-evil attempting to ride his motorcycle across a huge gorge. Once you get close enough to the edge there ain't no turning back. You have to continue to accelerate your momentum in the hope that you make it across. We are in the same position but the difference is, we are attempting to jump the Hoover Dam on a motor scooter and we are to close too the edge to turn back. The disheartening truth behind this all is that we knew this scooter could not make this jump but we still attempted it. Now, no matter which way you slice it, we are going down. We are going to crash and burn. Hopefully, after this inevitable change in our society happens we will be able to look at the mistakes we made and try to correct them. So I say yes, these bills that are being passed are great news for the average Joe, they should have been signed into laws a long time ago, but they are only supplying a band-aid to an open wound that needs to be clogged and stitched up. Our Monetary system will fail, it is only logical, nothing good lasts forever everyone should now that by now. The only thing we can do now is survive until the day comes and try to prepare ourselves to deal with it when it gets here. Remember...all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.