Do Credit Card Companies Have Us Over a Barrel?

Do the credit card companies have us over a barrel? Guess it depends on who you ask but I would more then likely say they do. Personally I just received a notice from one of my companies "Chase", who stated that my current rate was going to double by the next two months. I had a certain amount of time to respond to the notice to keep the rate the same however if I did state to them that I wanted to same rate I could keep it. There was however one stipulation..... that they would have to cancel my account. Now does this make sense? This isn't the only instance of credit card procedures I have heard of that sound so asinine. Some companies are closing credit all together, reducing lines, hiking rate, imposing additional fees if late etc. etc. Some in congress are trying to battle these practices however I'm so confused on the whole matter due to the fact that these banks who are hiking our rates are the ones who just got bailout money from the government. It certainly seems like something should be done. Below is the article about credit card companies and the new rules.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/30345999