The credit stuff is old, but relatively under-the-radar news.
Back in 2005 a really egregious bankruptcy "reform" bill passed, which made it harder to get personal debt relief. The usual liberal activists were against it but couldn't beat it back as they did with Social Security privatization that year.
Talking Points Memo set up a temporary guest blog specifically dedicated to the issue, where one of the writers was... Elizabeth Warren!
Here it is, still.
It still chaps my hide that Joe Biden was the sponsor for this thing in the Senate. He actually has a very populist record on economic issues, but banking was a constituent industry for him.
In one of the debates Obama said you couldn't allow cross-state competition among insurance companies or they'd all find the state with the laws most tilted in their favor, like the credit industry had done with Delaware. Insider baseball, but I appreciated it.
Warren's on the TARP oversight board now, which is good cause she's a mensch.
Anyways, the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights passed the House but was never put to a vote in the Senate. Coulda been killed any number of ways, since it one Senator can stop a bill if it doesn't have too much momentum.
Definitely should be done, but it might get lost in the shuffle over the stimulus, with further bailouts, healthcare, and energy on the horizon.