Points to the obvious fact that we the people are going to pay through the nose for everything besides the bounced checks, from huge fees, classes on budgeting to Wall St. ripoffs.

We the people pay everything, Wall street, nothing.

Here's something I don't understand (and which the reporter apparently didn't think to ask): If a prosecutor allows a debt collector to use his name, wouldn't that make the prosecutor jointly responsible for any illegal behavior by the debt collector?

Sure is nice to see the prosecutors being so careful to protect their integrity and their "good" name. That makes them the same as the slimiest collection agency that we hear about on Clarke Howard.

Thanks
JK

Even after Ms. Yartz paid $100.05 in February to cover the bounced check, the returned item fee and an administration fee, she got a letter signed by the Alameda district attorney informing her that her remaining balance was $180 for the class. After consulting with a lawyer, she decided to take her chances rather than pay for a class she could not afford, to avoid being punished for a crime she said she did not commit. Ms. Yartz also questioned the need for a class on budgeting and financial accountability: “If I meant to bounce this check like a criminal, why do I need a class on budgeting?”

Classes? I can think of a few others I would rather send to a class on financial accountability! The class we need - is how to extract ourselves from class warfare before they think up of more nefarious ways to imprison us. There are more ways of being imprisoned than actually having physical bars surrounding us, but the way it is looking, even those bars are hovering over us if we aren't careful. Now we have troubling legal bars to contend with as well.