Don’t Lose the Home Without It.
By Jim Conley • April 28th, 2007 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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Barney Frank, Brookline’s Representative in Congress sure is attending to the needs of those who sent him to the Capitol. On Thursday, he announced that he’ll introduce a bill making Internet gambling (using credit cards) legal once again.
Says Frank, according to the Boston Herald:
“I strongly believe people should be able to do what they want with their own money as long as they are not hurting anybody.”
And especially if they use their American Express credit card to do so. Frank’s campaign committee has raked in quite a tidy sum from the companies who would stand to gain (in transaction fees) from increased credit card activity from gambling.
Click here to review Frank’s PAC contributions from the 2005-2006 campaign finance cycle.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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The quoted language sounds somewhat like that of a libertarian. I wonder if “with their own money” also includes by means of credit made available without the means to repay. And I wonder if “as long as they are not hurting anybody” includes themselves (or their families). A purely libertarian approach could apply to many things that may be considered to be on the slippery slope socially. The quoted language sounds like something the late Milton Friedman might have said about letting free markets work. But there really are no real free markets. If people hurt themselves (or their families) by doing what they want to do as suggested, then compassionate progressives may come to their aid. Certainly the recent amendments to bankruptcy laws will not. I think a clarification of the quoted language is in order.