BANKRUPTCY BILL: There does appear to be widespread agreement -- among those not normally in agreement -- that the bankruptcy "reform" bill is a bad thing. An effort is being launched here to get the blogosphere moving in a united effort against this very bad bill. (Via Glenn Reynolds)

A former student of Glenn's, and now an attorney at a Knoxville firm, writes the following:

As you know I somehow ended up being a bankruptcy attorney at the busiest firm here in Knoxville. There has been some media coverage of the bill, attorney Ann Mostoller was on the talk radio news a week ago or so, my office was called last week as well. The sad fact is that this is a horrible law, designed to feed credit card companies more money. What is worse is that the even more diabolical provision, especially concerning attorney liability has not been mentioned in the senate debates at all.

For instance, if a client lies to me about assets and they are later discovered by the trustee or a creditor, I am personally on the hook. There are many other provisions in the bill designed to either keep people from filing or make it so that bankruptcy attorneys look for other avenues. Something is wrong when the majority of bankruptcy attorneys and trustees think it is a bad idea, Hank Hildebrand the Chapter 13 trustee for MDTN has written an article detailing all the flaws, and this is from someone that stands to benefit from the increase in 13 filings after the amendments are signed in to law.

I am concerned that Zywicki thinks the bill is a good idea, I mean I can understand his assertions that reform is needed and maybe that a means test is the way to go, but the other provisions are so one sided it 's comical.

The bill does seem set to pass, despite the opposition noted here. The point is made that the senate moved the bill quickly after the first Times article on Feb. 18, and the blogs were caught napping because of other stories, etc.

I am less than happy that this escaped my focused attention until very late in the process. I simply had not absorbed the fact that the bill is such a very, very bad one for consumers - particularly the most vulnerable ones that are preyed upon by the "near fraudulent" credit offers that the industry spews out. This bill crept up insidiously while everyone was distracted and now is about to seriously bite.

Head over here, where Josh Marshall has special coverage of the bill's progress through congress. He's updating it quite frequently.