Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know it absolutely would be used to target political opponents from both sides.
The performance of the IRS is a strong counterargument to this.
The IRS has done this exact thing.
Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
51–60 of 205 posts
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know it absolutely would be used to target political opponents from both sides.
The performance of the IRS is a strong counterargument to this.
Actually, no, it isn't. Many conservative organizations were targeted by the IRS under the previous administration.
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/27/560308997/irs-apologizes-for-...
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
The performance of the IRS is a strong counterargument to this.
The IRS has done this exact thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy
"In January 2014, James Comey, who at the time was the FBI director, told Fox News that its investigation had found no evidence so far warranting the filing of federal criminal charges in connection with the controversy, as it had not found any evidence of "enemy hunting", and that the investigation continued. On October 23, 2015, the Justice Department declared that no criminal charges would be filed. On September 8, 2017, the Trump Justice Department declined to reopen the criminal investigation into Lois Lerner, a central figure in the controversy."
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Republicans play to suppress minority voters. What are they doing to suppress minorities?
They want to require people to show government-issued photo IDs when voting to prove they have the right to vote.
You make it seem much more reasonable than it is. Your statement is also really a lie of omission.
To summarize, the government (mostly state/local & mostly conservative) makes it harder to vote if you're poor and/or young.
The first and most obvious example is a national voting holiday. Only about 56% of Americans eligible vote in the presidential election. Also, lots of games are played with registration especially after redistricting.
Nothing done explicitly stops anyone from voting but they nonetheless shrink the electorate.
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#55Sounds too much like a social credit system.
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know it absolutely would be used to target political opponents from both sides.
When was the last time the OPM and it’s data corpus was weaponized politically (data breach incompetence aside)?
Trump revoking security clearances for nakedly partisan purposes. That isn’t a use of the OPM data, but what it enables. It is easy to imagine a future administration blacklisting political opponents from obtaining mortgages.
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#57It's interesting seeing the American perspective on this. The perpetual mistrust of government would, I think, be warranted were that government not elected by the populace. As it is, I am a little confused why the same skepticism is not directed at the for-profit entities now operating the credit scoring system.
The main goal of restricting a governments power isn’t to stop corruption, but to prevent tyranny of the majority [1]. A government elected by the populace is little comfort to minorities.
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#58If you look to Bernie's wonderworld, Norway (where I'm from), all that is taken care of privately. However the credit and debt registry companies are obliged by law to inform customers when a check-up is done on them. It's quite painless, and it's a service completely paid for by the finance industry, instead of being a poorly run and corruption prone state owned and agency financed by tax money. The debt registry ca…
Why aren't private corporations corruption prone? They're the ones DOING the corrupting! But somehow we feel they're better than government? Every 'appropriately funded' govt service I've used has been miles away better than the equivalent private service. Schools, hospitals, research facilities, police, student loan management company etc etc
>Every 'appropriately funded' govt service I've used has been miles away better than the equivalent private service...
Strange because my experience has been the exact opposite in every case, with the exception of police - and that's only because I don't have an immediate proxy. That private industry provides alternatives to these public goods and does them better is an indictment of the competence of our government, and shouldn't be viewed as an endorsement or evidence in favor of free markets for everything. These markets emerge because of government incompetence, not because of corruption or because the market is inherently "better".
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
The performance of the IRS is a strong counterargument to this.
Actually, no, it isn't. Many conservative organizations were targeted by the IRS under the previous administration. https://www.npr.org/2017/10/27/560308997/irs-apologizes-for-...
Is it possible that it was due to warranted concerns that these groups were misusing the tax-exempt status?
Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
When was the last time the OPM and it’s data corpus was weaponized politically (data breach incompetence aside)?
Trump revoking security clearances for nakedly partisan purposes. That isn’t a use of the OPM data, but what it enables. It is easy to imagine a future administration blacklisting political opponents from obtaining mortgages.
This can already be done with voting and party affiliation records and mortgage guidelines administered by FHFA (Fannie/Freddie/HUD), but isn’t.
Government is accountable to an electorate, private businesses are not (see: Equifax).