Credit card minimum payments are going up. Under pressure from the government to do something about the staggering personal debt that has hamstrung the economy, credit card companies will double their minimum payments. The good news is that it won't take as long to pay off your "Pile o' Debts"™. The bad news is, your employer isn't under pressure to give you a raise to help you meet your minimums.

It sure is nice of the Feds to think of Big Business' bottom line, instead of ours. I mean, first, they reformed the bankruptcy laws, making it harder for people, and (to be fair) companies, to evade their debts by filing bankruptcy. Then they make credit card companies double their minimums almost guaranteeing more bankruptcy filings.

If I was a conspiracy theory aficionado, a la Dale Gribble, I would finish by saying: All they have to do to completely enslave us is to pass no energy policy that will get us of foreign oil, keep gas prices up (so the gas companies can continue to make their record profits), and somehow force employers to cut wages.