The American Debtors Prison

The Beginning of Sallie Mae's End

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 22 May 2006 02:12:00 -0700

Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren did not understate the case when she said "Student-loan debt collectors have power that would make a mobster envious".

Thanks to a 60 Minutes segment on the Student Loan Marketing Corporation (aka SLM Corp, aka Sallie Mae) on May 7, Alan at studentloanjustice.org has received more than a thousand emails citing personal experiences ranging from suicide to broken families to American citizens being forced to flee the country--all because of Sallie Mae's predatory lending and terrorist-style collections practices.

Meanwhile, former Sallie Mae CEO Al Lord is allegedly using the spoils of this corporate activity that has destroyed so many lives to put in a bid for a professional baseball team, and to build his own private golf course. With a net worth of somewhere around $250 million, and Sallie Mae's faithful companion in Congress (Rep. John Boehner, R-OH) recently taking over as House Majority Leader, what is to stop Lord from flaunting the money that other people have worked so hard to earn for him? Is his character going to stop him?

Ralph Nader quickly followed the 60 Minutes segment with an essay of this own on the subject, which you may read here. Unfortunately, Nader's essay merely summarizes the 60 Minutes segment, which barely scratched the surface of the savagry that Sallie Mae is famous for among its victims.

Sallie Mae's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness: It has such a complete stranglehold on debtors, such complete legal immunity against prosecution for "unconscionable" practices, and such complete control of the U.S. Congress, that the huge number of people Sallie Mae has injured have no choice but to take extraordinary action. Even members of the RIAA are smart enough to hide their enormous wealth and their puppet-mastery of Congress on media issues. In a supreme display of sheer arrogance, however, Sallie Mae has not even made an attempt to hide its abominable role in American society. Indeed, Al Lord freely admitted, "It would be very hard for me to tell you that what I make is not a lot of money." Meanwhile, Sallie Mae reportedly sent damage-control emails to colleges and universities the day after 60 Minutes' segment aired. Why would a fine, law-abiding, upstanding, socially-responsible corporation need to engage in this kind of immediate damage-control?

Al Lord will probably end up keeping his $250 million, unless investigators uncover some kind of criminal activity that would force him to forfeit his baseball team, golf course, and any other toys he purchases. The key is to begin the investigation in earnest....

Either way, if Al Lord believes in Heaven and Hell, one must wonder on what conceivable grounds he could expect the other Lord to allow such a man to ever catch even the briefest glimpse of Paradise. No wonder he is building a beautiful golf course, while he still can....

Make no mistake about it, the 60 Minutes segment marks the beginning of the end of Sallie Mae. The company itself will likely continue to be responsible for even more suicides, destroyed families, debtors imprisonment, and other atrocities, for years to come. However, the individuals who are responsible for so much human suffering, while cowering behind the obscure moniker of "Sallie Mae", are finally beginning to have their names written permanently into history, so that future generations may regard them with the contempt they have earned. Not just Al Lord, but other executives, the army of attorneys who carry out Sallie Mae's will like mindless mercenaries, and the members of our U.S. Congress who have betrayed the American People for a bag of Sallie Mae brand gold coins.

Fear Not--Bank Regulators Are On The Job!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 6 Apr 2006 23:33:00 -0700

In one of the most inadequate examples of journalism I have ever witnessed, a bizarre nine-sentence AP article that briefly appeared today reveals that bank regulators--particularly the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)--are "paying close attention" to high-risk mortgages. The article appears to be entirely based upon a speech given before the New York Bankers Association by John Reich, director of the OTS.

What makes this article so bizarre is its content, structure, and complete lack of purpose. Out of 9 sentences total:

5 sentences repeat some variation on the statement that regulators are watching the situation with risky mortgages.

1 sentence mentions that Mr. Reich's speech was distributed in Washington, which is about as useful to the reader as describing the color of Mr. Reich's necktie.

4 sentences contain useful information--but only if you know how to interpret it.

That is nine sentences total, to fully describe one of the major sources of debtors imprisonment in the United States. (I know that adds up to ten sentences, but one sentence had two clauses).

Since the Associated Press apparently does not wish to bother with details, please allow me to fill in the blanks by interpreting those 4 sentences of pseudo-useful information in the article.

Federal regulators are paying close attention to increasingly popular high-risk mortgages and the credit risks they pose for banks, the government's top thrift regulator said Thursday.

Translation: Consistent with the best-known secret in Washington (that regulators are supposed to protect consumers, but ultimately protect those whom they "regulate" instead), the "top" thrift regulator in the United States of America is primarily concerned with the trouble that risky mortgages could cause the banks that irresponsibly issue those loans in the first place. There is no mention of Mr. Reich being remotely concerned with the well-being of American citizens and families whose lives may be devastated by predatory banking practices.

Consumers increasingly have been using them to buy homes they otherwise could not afford.

Translation: If the consumer cannot afford a home, the problem is their lack of income, and lack of income is precisely the reason that it makes no sense to loan them money at any interest rate. This sentence is merely a disguised statement of the fact that banks are engaging in predatory lending to the most vulnerable consumers.

And banks and thrifts have been turning to them to maintain their loan volume and profits in a competitive market, sometimes lowering standards for extending credit.

Translation: The so-called Middle Class are already completely maxed out on credit (i.e., they are in so much debt that they can't handle any more), so banks are moving into the ghetto market to find new customers, even though it is more than obvious that these new customers have little or no means to repay a mortgage. In the short term, however, it looks good on the banks' financial statements to be handing out so many new loans. Again, this is a statement of predatory lending.

The regulators do not seek to stanch innovation by banks, but to encourage sound banking principles.

Translation: This is yet another veiled statement that regulators are more concerned with keeping banks sound, than with keeping consumers sound.

I should also mention that the article never probes the question of why the New York Bankers Association would ever want the "top" official charged with regulating them to speak before their group. One would naturally expect that if Mr. Reich were doing his job well, he would be the most hated man at every bankers association from coast to coast. Trade organizations typically invite only people who are friendly to their own interests to speak....

However, the reality of our pathological regulatory system is that regulators routinely leave their low-paying federal government jobs to take on high-paying positions in the very industries they once "regulated" (*wink*). So it is in their best interests to protect, pamper, and sleep with the industries they "regulate". In other words, federal regulators' work often consists of nothing more than proving their allegience to the industries they are supposed to "regulate", in order to obtain high-paying jobs in the private sector. For example, former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay began his career as a federal energy regulator....

Is it any wonder that the American Debtors Prison can destroy so many lives in the United States, while most Americans remain unaware that it even exists, when the journalists in our corporate-controlled news media don't even attempt to investigate the stories they report?

All the best,
Paul

I Read The News Today. Oh, boy....

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:38:00 -0800

Three young black men have been arrested in Colorado for the unprovoked, brutal beatings of three white men as they slept in their homes, in separate incidents that occurred during a tragic two-hour spree of random, senseless violence in suburban Denver. One of the victims, a prominent Littleton attorney, died from his injuries six hours later, his head swollen to three time its normal size.

According to witnesses, the black youths--one age 17, and two age 18--allegedly sought out prosperous white victims completely at random, based on the size of their homes, and battered the victims in the head and torso areas with tire irons and other blunt objects as they slept, using lethal force. Witnesses describe the young attackers as "smiling and laughing" as their startled, unarmed victims struggled in vain to fend off multiple attackers. "They were laughing the entire time. They were enjoying it, like it was fun or something," said the deceased victim's wife, who witnessed the attack but was not harmed.

Public outrage over the sheer inhumanity of the attacks has fueled demands that prosecutors pursue the death penalty, even before the three men had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault.

Meanwhile, it is beginning to emerge that similar random violence by black youth against white men has been increasing over the past decade all across the nation, yet the media has largely failed to report it. As one telecommunications manager in Chicago said, "This has been going on for far too long. Everyone knows it. But nobody wants to talk about it or do anything about it. It seems like each night I feel more and more afraid to go to sleep. Who knows what you could wake up to?"

Lawyers for the alleged assailants have already begun to establish a defense for their clients in the media, citing broken homes, drug use, and boredom as "just a few of the many social diseases that ultimately led these basically good kids to do some truly awful things."

At least one prosecutor disagrees: "I find it absolutely reprehensible that anyone would even suggest that simple boredom, or a divorce in the family, or a conscious decision among the perpetrators to use drugs, could somehow justify the inhuman brutality of bludgeoning a defenseless stranger to death while the victim peacefully sleeps in his residence, with no motive other than pure, unadulturated hate. There is no reasonable explanation for this crime, unless you are willing to use the word 'evil'."

Although publicly, prosecutors have been quiet about whether or not they intend to pursue the death penalty, legal analysts say that the death penalty is almost a certainty for all three men in this case.

You may wonder why I would post news of brutal attacks and murder here, in the American Debtors Prison blog. The reason is because there is a striking similarity between the way our legal system treats "deliquent" debtors, who have committed no crime, and the way it treats those who are accused of committing the most savage of felonies.

The three assailants in this news story are black, and there remains to this day a vast disproportion of black prisoners to white prisoners on death row across the United States. The racism inherent in our legal system's decisions on whether or not to pursue the death penalty for similar crimes is perfectly evident to anyone courageous enough to face that reality. In this particular case, people were calling for the death penalty even before the alleged assailants had been arrested or charged with any crime at all--yet after they had been identified by witnesses as being black.

The exact same thing happens in the American Debtors Prison. Financial service industry propaganda has focused exclusively on debtors who default for any reason as being "delinquents" or "deadbeats", while entirely avoiding the significant matter of just who initiated the problem by consciously agreeing to risk a financial loss by loaning money to consumers in the first place. The industry certainly never mentions the vast amount of resources it devotes to researching and producing rhetoric, propaganda, and psychological manipulation of consumers that is necessary in order to convince otherwise responsible consumers to enter into debt obligations--a euphemism for indentured servitude, or slavery.

In other words, "delinquent" debtors have been demonized by financial service industry propaganda in the media to the point where there is an inherent bias--a negative "gut" reaction--against any debtor who defaults for any reason--even if their job was downsized or outsourced to communist China, they were incapacitated in an accident, suffered gross hardship from a divorce or death of a spouse, or any other reason that is completely unrelated to the debtors desire and intent to repay their debts in full.

If you don't believe me, try the following experiment. I have separated various words and phrases into two categories below, and the connotation (emotional "feel") of each category is obvious. Ask yourself honestly, do you feel comfortable moving any of these words or phrases from one category to the other?

Hard Worker

Saint

President

Philanthropist

Hero

Lazy Bum

Terrorist

Criminal

Murderer

Delinquent Debtor

The question is, why would you feel that "Delinquent Debtor" is so very different from "Philanthropist", "Hero" or anything else in the first category that you cannot imagine moving it away from murderers, criminals and terrorists? Recall the recent NACBA report that showed 79% of debtors in financial trouble are in trouble because of circumstances "beyond their control"--death of a spouse, incapacitating illness, loss of job to downsizing, etc. Why would you rather classify someone who was unable to work because they were involved in a terrible car accident alongside murderers and terrorists, rather than moving them alongside heros and presidents?

After all, before that car accident, that debtor might have been doing the work of a saint--and might still be doing the work of a saint, infosar as it is possible under the circumstances?

The answer, quite simply, is that decades of carefully orchestrated financial service industry propaganda in the mass media has conditioned Americans to feel distaste whenever they hear the phrase "delinquent debtor". Notice that I said feel--not think. When you use your mind and think for yourself, you begin to realize that each debtor has their own unique circumstances. And only then might you recognize that bad things happen to truly good people which prevents them from being able to repay debts that they have every desire and intent to repay.

Trapped in an endless blizzard of media images about "members" having "privileges", and repeated assertions that only those who pay their bills on time are "responsible" consumers (rather than irresponsible debtors), we have been trained like Pavlov's dog to have an emotional, gut reaction every time we hear the words, phrases and euphemisms that financial service industry propaganda has programmed us to feel uncomfortable about.

And it is precisely this programming that allows the financial service industry to cast sane, sober, hard-working, responsible American citizens into the American Debtors Prison, with no means of escape by non-miraculous means, and in full view the the world--all without anyone even noticing.

This is an example of exactly the same fundamental principle of propaganda that allows a white supremist organization to raise children who feel nothing except digust, contempt and hate whenever they see a black person. It's a gut reaction; they aren't thinking at all. Pavlov's dog.

If you think you are so well-educated, so great a thinker, and so intuitive that you could never fall for such simple-minded brainwashing by people who serve evil interests in this world, then consider this question carefully: What was your "gut" reaction to public demands that the three black men in the news story above receive the death penalty? Don't just feel the answer, but take a moment to truly think about it. Be honest with yourself, even if you are an opponent of the death penalty on principle.

The simple truth is, if you are white, there is an overwhelming likelihood that deep down, in your gut, you felt that these three black men deserved to die (or at least receive excruciating punishment) for their crimes.

Excruciating punishment, and death, are also characteristics of the American Debtors Prison, which supposedly only applies to "deadbeats" and "deliquents".

If I haven't already made my point clear, then consider this. The news story above about brutal beatings in Littleton, Colorado is fictional. I made it up. There is no epidemic of young black men senselessly beating prosperous white men all across the United States. It never happened. However, something equally tragic did happen. Here are the known facts of that case:

It was actually three well-to-do upper middle class young white men from a city called Plantation, Florida (seriously), who are alleged to have randomly sought out minority homeless men to brutally beat and kill with baseball bats, while smiling and laughing, on the sole basis that they believed homeless persons are inherently "deadbeats", something less than human. Other than changing a few details, the brutality, savagry, and senselessness of these crimes was exactly the same as described above. The head of the victim who died six hours after being beaten (Norris Gaynor) had swollen to three times it's normal size. And the white kids who did it laughed. Their names are William Ammons, Brian Hooks, and Thomas Daugherty.

Yet there is no public outcry for these three young men to receive the death penalty. In fact, news media reports have all but exonerated these three savages by repeatedly pointing out that they came from broken homes, were bored, and smoked pot. It wasn't their fault. Something must have went wrong in their utopian, suburban upbringing that led to their "mistake". They were basically good kids who did an awful thing. They weren't evil. They weren't black. They weren't homeless. They weren't "delinquent debtors".

And so the media struggles to determine what went wrong with these young white men, what happened to them, rather than what they did. This quest for external influences that are beyond a person's control is something that the media never conducts when describing "mistakes" made by blacks, the homeless, or debtors who default. That is why there are vastly more blacks on death row than whites. That is why there are 3 million homeless people in the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen. And that is why no one acknowledges the existence of the American Debtors Prison until they have experienced it from the inside, as an inmate.

Freedom begins in the mind, and Americans have had their minds utterly brainwashed by financial service industries to believe that anyone who defaults on a debt for any reason deserves the ultimate punishment: The American Debtors Prison--a fate that may be worse than death.

It is time for Americans to wake up and begin thinking for themselves again, rather than allowing gargantuan corporations that control the mass media to program them how to feel. Only then will we stop modern day atrocities like racism, homelessness, and the American Debtors Prison.

By the way, there is, and has been for many years, an epidemic of savages beating homeless people for "fun", or out of sheer hate. This has gone on across America for years. But homeless people are not prominent attorneys, so the media has never concerned itself with this ongoing abomination.

Lastly, it is noteworthy to mention that a surprisingly large number of America's 3 million homeless people are otherwise sane, sober, responsible, good citizens, and hard-working. The only reason they don't have a home is because the are inmates in the American Debtors Prison.

But you won't see that in the mass media either--until I have completed the American Debtors Prison film.

All the best,
Paul

Bankruptcy "Reform" Law Isn't Working--Or Is It?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 21:59:00 -0800

The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys has released a damning report concerning the efficacy of last year's bankruptcy "reform" law--at least in terms of the law's stated purpose. Unfortunately, the law's real purpose is being fulfilled magnificently.

The law's stated purpose, as indicated by its euphemistic title "The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005", is to prevent people from using the bankruptcy system as a "financial planning tool". Of course, it is sheer insanity to suggest that a poor person in the age of modern debtors imprisonment could ever conceivably use bankrupty as a tool for building wealth. However, as you may recall, the law applied almost exclusively to poor people, but did nothing to prevent corporations and wealthy individuals like Donald Trump from using bankruptcy as a financial planning tool. To quote from my own blog entry on Trump's latest bankruptcy in April of 2005:

"No such problems for Mr. Trump, however. His latest bankruptcy is the definition of smooth-sailing. Under the Chapter 11 reorganization plan, Trump's company will borrow $500 million to refurbish it's casinos, and expects to save some $98 million annually with lower interest payments."

Passage of a law that even members of Congress themselves admit was written by the credit card industry will certainly be regarded by future generations as one of the darkest moments in American history (learn more here)--as will Hillary Clinton's reprehensible role as the only senator who did not even bother to vote on the bill at all, in a sickening betrayal of the American People that could only have one selfish purpose: to enhance her chances of winning the presidency in 2008.

The NACBA's report analyzed 61,335 people who have used the services of credit counseling agencies since the law went into effect in October 2005. The report's findings are as shocking as they are predictable:

97% did not have the means to repay any debts.
79% had fallen into financial trouble due to huge medical bills, death of a spouse, or loss of a job.

Hardly the description of 61,335 "deadbeats" who are abusing the bankruptcy system as a "financial planning tool".

Which brings us to the real purpose of this "reform" law--to allow the financial service industries to exploit and manipulate consumers through predatory lending, to terrorize defaulted debtors unimpeded by constitutionally-mandated bankruptcy protection from creditor harassment (the real purpose of bankruptcy), and to force consumers into the American Debtors Prison, with no means to escape.

That purpose fits perfectly with the data obtained in the NACBA's study.

As one would expect, the financial service industries have a creative explanation for why the NACBA report contradicts everything they based their bankruptcy reform law on. AP writer Marcy Gorden quotes one banking industry public relations officer as saying that "the recent trend in filings was 'a very small snapshot of the (bankruptcy) system right now. ... We haven't gotten to a 'new normal' right now".

And with that brilliant analysis--which contradicts reason, the history of usery, and the observed facts--the banking industry walks away from one of the worst Congressional scandals in American history, unscathed.

The 'new normal' is the American Debtors Prison. Bought and paid for by the financial service industries, and delivered to your door by your own elected members of the United States Congress.

You may read the entire NACBA report here (72KB, PDF).

All the best,
Paul

The Temporal Credit Assignment Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 02:39:00 -0800

The results of a scientific study on rats seems to indicate that our brains learn by going over previous events in reverse, on the premise that our last action before success was the action that resulted in success, so our brains tend to focus on that event and work backwards.

Whether or not this is true is another story. What makes this relevant to debtors imprisonment is that it relates to a well-known dilemma in decision-making theory, called the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem.

The Temporal Credit Assignment Problem basically asks the question, if you've never done something before, how do you decide where best to begin? For example, if you've never played chess before, how do you know which opening move is best the first time you play (assuming you haven't been previously tutored)? The answer, of course, is that you can't know what the best move is. You might make the best move by random chance, but you can't know what the best move is the first time you play. You learn the best moves by practice, practice, practice--just like any other endeavor in life.

Which raises the question, how does a 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 50-year old American citizen know how best to handle their personal finances, if they have no previous experience with finances to learn from? If their goal is financial security and prosperity, where do they begin?

The answer is that they can't know where to begin. They can only begin by making some decision--any decision, and noting the success, failure or neutrality of the result. They can then learn from the experience to inform them on their next move. That is just the way human life is.

But the American Debtors Prison does not even attempt to recognize this fact of life. Instead, like a predator, the wardens of the American Debtors Prison use the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem as a weapon against people who have little or no experience with finances--particularly young people.

For example, if you are 18 years old, recently graduated from high school, you have a lot of decisions to make that will dramatically affect the course of your life over the next several decades. Where to live? Where to work? Go to college? Who to date? What to prioritize? Who to believe? All these questions must result in conscious or unsconscious decisions, if you are to get out of bed each day at all.

It is financially suicidal for a non-wealthy citizen of a capitalist nation to go into debt, because capitalism implies freedom, and debt is slavery. To go into debt when you are 18 years old is to subjugate your freedom to the whims of another person or institution from the very beginning of your adult life. Yet 18 year olds are inundated with credit card solicitations, offers of "low interest" student loans, sales pitches for new cars and hundreds of other unnecessary toys, and business "opportunities" that might at first glance appear to offer the key to future success.

But without any experience whatsoever, how is an 18 year old supposed to make an intelligent, informed decision about credit cards, student loans, sales pitches, or business "opportunities"? They can't. The best they can do is make any decision at all, and use the results to learn how to make better decisions in the future.

It is tempting to suggest that an 18 year old may seek tutoring from teachers, books, parents, and successful friends, to help them make good decisions from the beginning. The problem here is that very few adults are capable of handling their finances responsibly--and even when they do it is accomplished by the grace of good luck, because financial security is always contigent on the whims of others. (Example: If Americans suddenly agreed that cash was worthless, and breadcrumbs were the new currency, Warren Buffet would be forced to hunt for breadcrumbs in order to eat each day--this multi-billionaire would actually have to labor in order to earn the breadcrumbs to pay for his daily needs).

Is it wise for an 18 year old to trust the advice of a credit card company when planning their financial security, considering that credit card companies operate using the same fundamental principles that drug dealers use? Is it wise for an 18 year old to trust the advice of a college student loan officer, whose job it is to approve loans that fund his own salary--loans that must be repaid by the student alone over 10 years or more, at interest, with no legal requirement for full disclosure of the consequences of default beforehand?

One of the reasons the American Debtors Prison represents a bona-fide human atrocity is because it can only exist by exploiting inherent weaknesses that are a natural part of being human, like the fact that humans cannot make wise decisions without first gaining the experience needed to evaluate those decisions. Those who use debtors imprisonment as a means of enslaving others do not go after Bill Gates or Warren Buffet--not because those men have no money (they are multi-billionaires), but because they possess enough life experience to avoid making fundamentally bad decisions with their finances (usually).

No, the wardens of the American Debtors Prison go after 16, 17, 18 year olds. They go after young, recently married couples looking to purchase their first home. They go after intelligent, but poor people who crave a higher education without the means to afford one. They go after ambitious, but inexperienced older folks who are seeking genuine "opportunities" to prosper. They do this because once imprisoned, it is impossible to escape the American Debtors Prison by non-miraculous means, and the only people who are susceptible to debtors imprisonment are those who are ignorant of the fact that debt IS slavery.

However, just like drugs provide a quick high, and one must continually get high to avoid "coming down", experimenting with debt allows inexperienced people to enjoy a new car, a college education, an XBox, or anything else that gives them a "high"--all before they have worked to pay for it. The consequences come later. But just like drugs, debtors can maintain the high by repeatedly going into debt as a means of forgetting all those bills they are obligated to pay. This is precisely the behavior that credit card companies and other creditors devote their efforts to promoting. And just like a drug dealer, as long as they can keep attracting new recruits they couldn't care less whether some of their earlier customers overdose and die--or enter the American Debtors Prison.

The American Debtors Prison is an atrocity, perpetrated by those who exploit natural human weaknesses for their own advantage, regardless of how many other peoples' lives are destroyed in the process. It is a land of predators and prey. And from the young or inexperienced person's perspective, the field of decision-making is littered with land-mines because of the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem.

Comprehending this is the first step toward avoiding the catastrophe of debtors imprisonment.

All the best,
Paul

ChoicePoint Lightly Tapped On the Wrist for Data Breach

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 02:07:00 -0800

The Federal Trade Commission has fined ChoicePoint, Inc. $10 million dollars for a "data breach" that sold personal information on 163,000 people to an alleged crime ring. ChoicePoint will also spend $5 million dollars to set up a fund to help victims of the identity theft that will inevitably result from the company's gross irresponsibility.

According to FTC chairman Deborah Platt, "This is an important victory for consumers and an opportunity for ChoicePoint to get data security right." The FTC has also proudly noted that this constitutes the largest fine it has ever imposed on a company for failure to keep personal data secure.

The problem is, this fine represents even less than a slap on the wrist to ChoicePoint. A slap on the wrist hurts. This fine doesn't.

Executive Paywatch informs us that the CEO of ChoicePoint, Derek V. Smith, enjoyed $8,960,165 in total compensation in 2004. He also received $6,639,293 by cashing out some stock options. Not only that, but Mr. Smith has another $88,882,599 awaiting him from stock options not exercised in previous years. (see details here).

In other words, for irresponsibly placing 165,000 American citizens at risk of financial catastrophe, criminal victimization and debtors imprisonment, ChoicePoint was fined less than the amount that just one of their employees "earns" in one year.

Inmates in the American Debtors Prison eventually learn the fact that their government does nothing to protect their rights, or to prevent others from harming them. But this token gesture by the FTC should make it evident to every U.S. citizen that the U.S. Government fully supports debtors imprisonment of the poor by the rich. The personal cost of this "data breach" to each victim relative to their resources is profoundly higher than the price that ChoicePoint has been required to pay in compensation.

If the U.S. government truly took identity theft and debtors imprisonment seriously, there could have been only one outcome: ChoicePoint would have had its corporate charter revoked, and its assets sold to compensate its victims. Instead, it was lightly tapped on the wrist by the Federal Trade Commission, in a manner that only lovers can appreciate.

Happy Valentines Day,
Paul

The Birth of The American Political Prison

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 21:18:00 -0800

Several day ago, the news broke that U.S. President George W. Bush has authorized the state security apparatus to spy on American citizens without due process of law. In that time, I have struggled to decide how to address such a serious issue. The only thing that saddens me more than Bush's fundamentally misguided decision to spy on The People, is The Peoples' unwavering resolve not to care about it, let alone do anything about it.

Fortunately, even the mass media has publicized this issue, and writers around the nation are making the arguments that need to be made against domestic surveillance. That is pretty easy to do, since those arguments are perfectly obvious to anyone who understands the most basic principles upon which the United States of America was founded (i.e., support for personal liberty, and opposition to government tyranny).

So I've decided to use this opportunity to explain how a virtual prison like the American Debtors Prison orginates, because what President Bush has effectively done by authorizing domestic spying is to inadvertently authorize the creation of The American Political Prison.

First and foremost, the American Debtors Prison is a virtual prison, in which the "chains" that bind are actually the electronic transfer of personal information about debtors from one place to another. For example, if a debtor defaults for any reason and begins to be terrorized by collection agents, they could previously move to another location ("skip"), re-establish their ability to earn an income without interference from collections terrorists, and return to a position of financial stability that would allow them to repay their defaulted debts. The electronic transfer of personal information in the American Debtors Prison makes "skipping" all but impossible today, because the instant a debtor establishes residence in another location, collection agencies know about it. And collectors will immediately begin to interfere with the debtor's ability to earn an income just as before, by terrorizing them at home and at their new job, illegally revealing their defaulted debts to new co-workers in a misguided attempt to coerce payment, etc. There is no escape from the American Debtors Prison by non-miraculous means, because the electronic transfer of personal information allows anyone to track any other person, anywhere, at any time. The American Debtors Prison has utterly annihilated the concept of personal privacy, in the most profound sense imagineable.

But what is domestic spying, if not a fundamental invasion of privacy in a nation that prides itself on constitutional guarantees of personal liberty? The U.S. government does not have warehouses full of people listening to phone calls live, reading emails as they are sent, or otherwise introducing a human interpretation into the vast amount of personal information they gather. Just like the credit bureaus, which claim to be able to determine unique human beings' characters by creating a standardized scoring system based on nothing but data of dubious authenticity and credibility that is stored in computers, the U.S. governement analyzes the bulk of its data using computers to "listen" for certain words in your telephone calls, using computers to scan emails for certain words and codes, etc. It is all done by computers--the very same kind of computers that give us the "blue screen of death" at the most crucial times in our own daily use of computing technology.

In other words, the U.S. government's ability to discern anything meaningful about a typical subject's intent is no different than credit bureaus' ability to discern anything meaningful about a typical debtor's intent. The government can't discern anything meaningful at all about peoples' intent by merely intercepting their communications and using computer programs to analyze discrete examples of their language and behavior out of context. Especially in the United States, where The People are supposedly enjoy freedom of speech, analyzing that free speech with computer programs cannot possibly lead to accurate assessments of real peoples' character and intent. (Human analysis cannot succeed in that regard either, for that matter). For example, do YOU know anybody who says one thing, and does something completely different? Or more to the point, do you know anybody who doesn't?

Here's an example from the American Debtors Prison: A debtor's credit report generates a score that classifies him as "high risk", which naturally implies that the computer program which generated that score was somehow able to discern details of his character. However, when a human being investigates the matter, she may discover that something entirely different is really going on. Perhaps the debtor fell "off the radar" because he is working 80 hours a week doing odd-jobs for the enormous amount of cash necessary to hire an attorney who can negotiate with his creditors, precisely because he intends to repay his debts. After all, the American Debtors Prison itself prevents debtors from obtaining gainful employment through normal channels, so it only makes sense that many debtors prisoners would be forced to go "off the radar" if they are to survive at all. Conscious attempts to elude tracking by predatory lenders and terrorist collection agents does not necessarily mean that everyone who "skips" is trying to run away from their debts. It can just as easily mean they are diligently trying to repay their debts by the only means creditors have left available to them (which literally requires them to "run away" from collection agents, since collections terrorism represents a major, if not an insurmountable obstacle to earning an income with which to repay debts).

No computer program can discern an individual's true intent by merely cataloguing and classifying a tiny subset of the nearly infinite variety of possible human responses to extraordinary stimuli like collections terrorism. But the credit bureaus claim they can identify a true "deadbeat" by simply scoring whatever inaccurate, contradictory, incomplete information exists in their databases. And so does the U.S. government claim that it can identify a true "terrorist", using essentially the same criteria.

In other words, domestic spying is about as reliable at identifying terrorists as credit reports are at identifying "deadbeats". Which is to say, it is not reliable at all.

Yet all of that information the U.S. government gathers about its citizens in its futile attempts to identify terrorists does go somewhere. It goes into various files and databases, where it may be lost, stolen, or shared with other government agencies. This massive dissemination of personal information, taken completely out of context, and rarely if ever interpreted by intelligent human beings, is analogous to the credit bureaus' endless quest to gather, store and distribute personal information about consumers. The end result is a glut of so much dubious information that there is no conceivable way to analyze it at all and arrive at accurate conclusions. So the agencies who gather, share, and analyze so much data have no choice but to resort to heuristics (analytical shortcuts) instead.

In this way, a teenager who borrows a library book about the Manhattan Project for a book report can be flagged by some government computer program as a "potential" terrorist. And that is the status this citizen will possess in top-secret government databases until an intelligent human being finally investigates the matter and "clears" him. If no intelligent human ever researches this, that citizen will carry the label of "potential terrorist threat" for the remainder of his or her life, without even being aware of the fact--until it suddenly becomes a weapon to be used against him (perhaps when he runs for President of the United States 30 years later--because he is a good citizen and a patriotic American). This is precisely what happens to debtors prisoners when they suddenly realize what financial institutions and credit bureaus have been doing to them all along, quietly, behind the scenes, without their knowledge, until it was too late.

President Bush's decision to spy on American citizens is not only an attack against everything the United States of America stands for, it is an example of exactly what we should be fighting against in the so-called War on Terror. There is probably nothing Osama Bin Laden would love more than to make American citizens distrust each other to the point where democracy, freedom, liberty, constitutional rights, rational thought, and simple human decency grind to a halt in the United States, causing us to destroy ourselves with no effort at all on his part. President Bush is making Bin Laden's dream come true.

Likewise, if it were possible, the credit bureaus would store every detail of your personal life, right down to a play-by-play of every action you take, every moment of every day. Why? Because they have carefully cultivated a mythology in our society that they, and they alone, are able to discern a citizen's true character and intent--as long as the credit bureaus have enough personal information to feed into their computer programs and generate a score. The simple-minded theory they proffer is this: the more information you plug into the computer, the more accurate the result will be. It is a fundamentally misguided, if not downright stupid theory.

But here is a secret: even the credit bureaus are aware that this analysis is bullhit! However, they continue the ruse because it is the perception that the credit scoring system works that creates "added value" to their services, not the reality of whether or not that system actually works (and the reality is, it doesn't work well at all).

The credit bureaus would joyfully sacrifice YOUR personal privacy down to the minute details of every movement you make, every moment of the day--if it were possible to do so--because that is what maintains the illusion that they have a useful product to sell at all. Even though doing so would create such a degree of false accusations, distrust, faulty assessments of individual character, corruption and other unintended consequences, that the fabric of society itself would be put at risk. But the credit bureaus don't care about that; non-human corporations have no national loyalty. They are only in it for the money. This kind of capitalist fundamentalism is a concept that Osama Bin Laden could easily relate to, and it can be articulated simply:

"Even if every other person on the planet suffers, and the entire world is destroyed, it's worth it as long as I get what I want."

Likewise, President Bush is merely maintaining a grand illusion with his domestic spying program, with no foresight at all, no comprehension of the unintended consequences that must inevitably result. Nothing good can come from gathering, storing and distributing information about the one subset of human beings on earth (American citizens) who are least likely to want to cause the United States harm. Yet, all the personal information gathered WILL end up in documents and databases, and it WILL be analyzed by computer programs, and it WILL cause a lot of citizens a lot of problems. If not today, then perhaps a year, or a decade from now. The information gathered never goes away--is only gets shuffled around, obfuscated, corrupted, and placed even more out of context than it was when it was originally gathered.

Make no mistake about it--the similarity between domestic spying and modern debtors imprisonment are profound. And since the American Debtors Prison is a virtual prison that is built on personal information gathered and analyzed out of context, it is not unreasonable to expect that the U.S. government's gathering and analysis of personal information out of context can only lead to a similar type of virtual prison--the American Political Prison.

The Third Reich kept a lot of files on its own citizens too--probably more so than the intelligence it gathered on foreign enemies. Those files were stored on paper (and to an extent, on primitive computer punchcards supplied by IBM). Today's files on American citizens are stored in a complex network of modern computer databases, linked together in a manner that remains Top Secret. This represents a crucial distinction between domestic spying in Nazi Germany decades ago, and in the United States today. Even so, there is no good reason here to challenge the aphorism that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The problem is that too many people are trying to learn from the wrong history lesson.

Like the Holocaust, the American Debtors Prison is a bona-fide human atrocity that posterity will liken to human slavery in terms of it's barbarism and injustice. So what else can we really expect to come from President Bush's decision to essentially create the infrastructure for a virtual American Political Prison which, for all intents and purposes, is identical to the infrastructure of the American Debtors Prison? After all, the Nazis thought they were doing the right thing for their country, too. The Law of Unintended Consequences means that those who commit atrocities might very well believe they are actually doing good work. To my knowledge, neither Hitler, nor Osama Bin Laden, nor President Bush, nor the credit bureaus, nor Satan himself, has ever confessed to doing evil.

No, if we are to truly comprehend the implications of domestic spying in the United States we must not look to emotional political rhetoric about Nazi Germany for answers. The stakes are simply too high for that kind of intellectual negligence. We must look instead for the most fundamentally similar example from history, and learn from it. But neither Nazi Germany nor Al Quaeda represent good analogies for domestic spying in the U.S., because neither are based on a network computerized information systems that store and analyze personal data about human beings out of context. Only the American Debtors Prison provides a clear example of what must inevitably result from President Bush's decision to spy on the very citizens who elected him to office. All we need to do is recognize the enormous amount of human suffering that the credit bureaus have caused among the very consumers that brought the credit bureaus to power, and the future consequences of domestic spying become clear.

All the best,
Paul

Update on San Diego Terror Tactics

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 17:46:00 -0800

As "they" so often point out, the truth is often stranger than fiction.

Almost four weeks ago to the day, I posted a commentary concerning San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre's decision to use standard terror tactics to collect city debts from "deadbeats" (See November 21 entry below). In that post I mentioned that the majority of the debts being collected are of a dubious nature, and many of them are owed by government agencies--including the city of San Diego itself.

Well, today, the San Diego Tribune reported that Mr. Aguirre himself has been fined $9,000 by the San Diego Ethics Commission, for failing to properly disclose how he spent appromixately $316,000 during his campaign for City Attorney--the position from which he launched his campaign of public humiliation (i.e., terror) against 500,000 San Diego "deadbeats" who have not paid their various fines, fees and such. I can only assume that unlike many of the half million relatively impoverished people he is attempting to collect debts from, Mr. Aguirre can probably handle a $9,000 fine out of pocket. At the very least, we know that if Mr. Aguirre does not have a spare $9,000 laying around, he will be certain to post his own name on his own "deadbeat" website. Right? Because Aguirre is an honorable man.

To be fair, the ethics commission did not find any intent to mislead or misrepresent his management of campaign funds. He simply failed to follow the rules properly, and having run for public office myself I can assure you that the ethics rules for campaign finance run slightly south of comprehensibility.

But then again, that is my point. Most debtors who don't pay are not "deadbeats" or criminals at all. Something--often beyond their control--happens to interfere with their ability to repay debts on the rigid, inflexible schedule demanded by creditors. For example, they might suddenly be hit with an unexpected $9,000 fine when they don't have that much cash laying around.

The question is this: Is Mr. Aguirre a clear enough thinker to make the connection, or will he think that his case is somehow a "special" circumstance, and it is only those 500,000 accounts that did not get fined by the ethics commission who are "deadbeats".

The American Debtors Prison is ultimately founded on hypocrisy, stupidity, absurdity and irony (in addition to pure greed, powerlust and other creditor character flaws). However, it is precisely because of this that sometimes, by random chance, the irony actually turns the tables on the wardens. Like when a bank or financial corporation (that claims by definition to know how to handle finances better than the "masses") goes bankrupt. Or when a man who uses the sheer terror of public humiliation to collect debts himself ends up in the news for committing an ethics violation.

All the best,
Paul

Stanley Tookie Williams To Be Struck Down By Lesser Gods

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 21:26:00 -0800

I am troubled that I possess the knowledge that two hours from now, a man who is now alive will be dead. After all, the man is in good health, is surrounded by security guards, and I am not God. Yet I still know for certain, with no real doubt, that this man will be dead in a few hours.

If I am not God, then how could I possibly know that a man who is now alive will be dead in a few hours? Because the State of California, and it's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, have announced that they will kill Stanley "Tookie" Williams just after midnight tonight. And it has been my observation that, with very rare exceptions, when our government says it is going to kill someone, it does so--and with a vengeance.

Stanley Tookie Williams is an enigma to everyone but himself. To the State of California, he is a ruthless killer, who founded the brutal Crips street gang, senselessly murdered four people in 1979, and never repented. To the State of California, Williams is the epitome of human failure in civilized society.

However, to a large group of supporters, some of whom have have gone so far as to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, Williams represents the epitome of our penal system's potential for success--a truly reformed man who used his time in prison wisely, and through introspection and education, has become an inspiration to other underprivileged children to avoid the mistakes he made, possibly saving thousands or hundreds of thousands of lives in the process.

I'm afraid that I do not have enough personal knowledge of this story to offer an informed opinion on whether or not Williams has sincerely reformed. I cannot say for certain that he has, and I cannot say for certain that he hasn't.

The key point is that neither can you. Even if your name is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Yet Gov. Schwarzenegger has refused clemency in this case, because he believes he is certain that Williams never reformed. That kind of God-like knowledge of what lies in other people's hearts is quite an accomplishment for an Austrian immigrant who fled the destruction wrought by Nazi Germany only to ascend the capitol steps in Sacramento by stepping over countless mutilated bodies that his own characters violently slaughtered in his films. Unlike the Terminator, however, Williams won't be back. In real life, death is final. Perhaps it is time that Gov. Schwarzenegger realized that real life is a little more complicated than works of fiction, and that it requires a little more thought before taking action. For example, if Hitler had put a little more thought into his actions, perhaps Schwarzenegger would never have had to flee the destruction wrought by Nazi Germany.

The American Debtors Prison exhibits a medieval brutality not because those who routinely "execute" inmates are necessarily evil and vicious themselves, but because they are intellectually lazy, and refuse to do exactly what his supporters say that Williams has done: devote oneself to a lifetime of introspection, education, and growth with enough courage to completely change your fundamental beliefs, if necessary. Instead, they merely rely on the same lazy intellectual shortcuts--heuristics that don't require any deep or rational thought at all. Examples in this case include:

Authority figures say Williams has not reformed. Therefore he has not reformed.

Popular social activists say Williams has reformed. Therefore he has reformed.

The victims' families want Williams to be executed. Therefore he should be executed.

William's family does not want him to be executed. Therefore Williams should not be executed.

I believe in capitol punishment. Therefore Williams should be executed.

I do not believe in capitol punishment. Therefore Williams should not be executed.

I'm a good Christian, and I believe in "an eye for an eye", as God did. Therefore Williams should be executed.

I'm a good Christian, and I believe in showing mercy, as Jesus did. Therefore Williams should not be executed.

And here is the heuristic that Gov. Schwarzenegger appears to be using:

I don't see any evidence that Williams feels remorse for his crimes. Therefore Williams doesn't feel any remorse for his crimes, and I should not grant clemency.

The fallacy of this intellectual shortcut, of course, is that Gov. Schwarzenegger is not Stanley Tookie Williams, and therefore he has no earthly business claiming to know how another unique, individual human being like Stanley Tookie Williams would exhibit remorse even if he did feel it--unless, of course, Gov. Schwarzenegger is God, and therefore does know how Williams would exhibit remorse. But in reality, for all Schwarzenegger's accomplishments, he was never an impoverished black youth moving from the utter poverty of New Orleans to the utter poverty of Los Angeles in the early 1970's. He never had the code of the LA ghetto literally burned into his mind as a young man, and never spent 25 years in prison trying to remove that branding influence from his mind, all by himself.

To my knowledge, no one was requesting that Williams be released from prison. They were merely requesting that he not be murdered (euphemism: "executed") by the State of California simply because the State of California has determined that murder is evil, and that murder must therefore must be stopped by every means possible (including murder). That is not an unreasonable request, when you bother to actually think about it. It is merely an appeal against hypocrisy--a form of evil that has been fundamentally responsible for more atrocities and human suffering (including the American Debtors Prison) than even the abhorrent crime of murder has been responsible for.

It is quite possible that Williams committed those crimes and was proud of them at the time, but over the years has transformed into a man who feels deep shame for what he did, and simply doesn't know how to express the monumental degree of shame and regret he feels. How would YOU feel, and how would YOU behave 25 years after senselessly taking four people away from their loved ones forever? The correct answer is, you have no idea how you would feel or behave, because you haven't experienced that.

So we are all left making our own assessment (translation: best guess) of whether Williams was innocent or guilty of the original crimes for which he is about to be executed, and whether or not he has truly reformed since then. And precisely because everyone feels and behaves differently under the same circumstances--because we are all unique individuals--we are witnessing a bitter feud between William's supporters and his critics as the moment of his death draws near.

This phenomenon, which results from sheer intellectual laziness among nearly everyone in society--not just Gov. Schwarzenegger--is one of the primary reasons that Western Civilization is rightfully regarded as hypocritical to the point of utter damnation. It is the reason that Americans tolerate losing more than 2100 American lives (so far) in pointless response to a terrorist act that already killed 3000 Americans. It is the reason that Americans sit back and watch a democratic government that was founded in response to tyranny itself become an even worse tyranny. It is the reason that "proud" Americans say and do nothing at all as their jobs are eliminated and shipped overseas. The list is endless.

And this is also the reason why American citizens, ultimately, are the ones responsible for a resurgence of the medieval brutality that is known as the American Debtors Prison.

Yes, I am certain that Stanley Tookie Williams will die tonight. Not because I am God, but because Gov. Schwarzenegger--and Americans citizens in general--have the audacity to play God even as they "submit" to that same God in church every Sunday, rather than exercising the intellectual stamina necessary to evolve into human beings that think rationally, exhibit real moral courage, and stand up against tyranny of every kind in the great tradition of our American Founders.

Williams will die tonight, just as surely as the American Debtors Prison will continue to fill with formerly free human beings. And both will occur, ultimately, for the exact same reason.

All the best,
Paul

Richard Pryor Dies

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 18:55:00 -0800

Comedian Richard Pryor has died of a heart attack at age 65.

I mention Richard Pryor here because he dared to do what few people in America today have the courage to do: To speak the Truth, even when the Truth is ugly. Pryor's "colorful" rants about racism and other injustices and absurdities in America made people feel uncomfortable, not merely because of his foul language, but because they knew he was speaking the Truth. For that reason, Richard Pryor has always been one of my heroes, and an inspiration.

Rest in peace, Richard, and thank you for opening America's eyes to so many things that needed to be brought out into the open. You will be greatly missed.

All the best,
Paul

Social Security Subject To Seizure For Student Loans

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 8 Dec 2005 07:35:00 -0800

The Supreme Court has ruled that the U.S. Government may seize a portion of social security benefits to pay for defaulted student loans, leaving senior debtors prisoners with even fewer means to survive, let alone enjoy, their "golden years".

In a case brought by 67-year old student loan debtor James Lockhart, who is attempting to survive on an already low social security benefit of $874 per month, the Supreme Court was unanimous in its 9-0 opinion that as much as 15% of the already insufficient benefits supplied by social security may be seized to help pay for some $7 billion in defaulted, but federally-guaranteed student loan debt.

This ruling only confims the core principle of the American Debtors Prison: Debtors who default for any reason are regarded as "deadbeats", and punished in exactly the same manner, as debtors who commit criminal fraud by taking on debts that they never had any intent to repay. The key that makes this principle so brutal is that there is no way for any debtor to look into a crystal ball and know for certain, without any doubt, that they will have the means to repay debts plus interests, fees, and hidden costs, for the duration of the loan. Creditors do not possess a crystal ball either, and that is why they have used their stupendous wealth and political influence to place the consequences of their actions (i.e., lending money) entirely onto the debtor, retaining no share of the responsibility themselves.

In Mr. Lockhart's case, he owes approximately $80,000 in student loans, but over the years has become disabled with diabetes and heart disease, which neither he nor his creditors could have anticipated when he was a younger man seeking to fund an education so that he could enjoy a more satisfying job, higher income, and a better life. The Supreme Court's ruling places the entire responsibility for this situation onto the least powerful person involved, Mr. Lockhart.

Not only does this ruling show--as the recent bankruptcy "reform" bill did--that the U.S. government fully endorses the modern-day atrocity known as the American Debtors Prison, but it exhibits a lack of empathy and foresight that defies all rational explanation. There is no empathy for American citizens who will die a slow, painful, tragic death--perhaps on the streets, because of this ruling, when in many cases their student loan default was entirely beyond their control and, indeed, they may have spent their entire lives desperately trying to repay their loans. And there is no foresight, because the social security system is already insufficient to support retiring Baby Boomers, and there will be hell to pay in one form or another when the rest of the world and posterity witnesses an entire generation of American citizens living out their final years in the kind of misery and suffering on a scale that hasn't been seen since the Middle Ages (which, incidentally, is when the model for today's debtors prison originated)

Nor does this ruling exhibit enough rational thought to even ask the important questions that need to be asked. For example, if it is considered a maxim that the United States must have a well-educated populace to remain competitive in the world, and to ensure the freedom and prosperity of its citizens, then why is a huge portion of the population forced to go into massive debt to finance that education? Why does the government allow young people in particular to accumulate so much student loan debt, by definition, before they have earned the very degree that ostensibly will allow them to obtain a job with a high enough salary to repay that debt? Why doesn't the U.S. government recognize the fact that most citizens are not as wealthy and well-connected as the members of the Supreme Court, Congress, and the Executive Branch, and therefore that it only takes a relatively small personal disaster to completely devastate a debtors ability to repay debts of any size?

The Supreme Court does not consider these and other important questions; it only considers the very specific and carefully-worded argument brought before them as if the case it is reviewing has no relation to any other institution, policy or life experience. This is not the decision of wise judges who carefully consider the broader ramifications of their rulings. This is the decision of an elite class of politicians with mediocre capacity to think. And it is our nation's shame that U.S. citizens do not take a greater role in pressuring Congress to approve only nominations of wise individuals to the Supreme Court.

All the best,
Paul

Paul Interviews Noam Chomsky

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 6 Dec 2005 23:19:00 -0800

I was honored to interview political and social activist Noam Chomsky in Cambridge today, as part of the long-awaited American Debtors Prison documentary film (still in progress, I'm afraid). Look for more details here when I announce the launch of the film-related website and podcast.

For now, a brief transcript excerpt follows:

So people are working hard. I mean we now have some of the lowest wages and highest working hours in the industrial world. You go back twenty five years and it was the reverse, as you'd expect in the richest country in the world. Well, that means people are working really hard. They're being deluged with propaganda, which is called advertising, and mass media, and cinema and so on, but it's just propaganda, which is designed to make you feel that your worth in life depends on how many useless commodities you pick up. And this starts with infants....

You got a family with a husband and a wife that are working hard to put food on the table. And back at night, you know, your kids want this, that, and the other thing because somebody else has them or they saw it on television. And okay, you get it for them, and it just keeps going. Pretty soon you're in a debt trap. And that's a traditional way to enslave people. They didn't invent it.

I mean, when there were slave revolts back in the early nineteenth century, in Jamaica, the Caribbean and so on. . . you had to figure out a way to keep the slaves under control once they were technically free. And everybody hit on the same technique: get them to want useless commodities. And then they go to the company store, and you tell them you're gonna give them a little credit, and--you know the game. Pretty soon you're back in slavery.

Thank you to Professor Chomsky for consenting to the interview, and to Bev for setting everything up.

All the best,
Paul

San Diego Resorts To Terror To Collect Debts

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 21:30:00 -0800

San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre has announced that the city will post the names of "delinquent" debtors on an internet website, in an effort to pressure them to pay up.

Before I comment on this action, a little background is in order. Since moving to San Diego I have not even been able to keep up with constant reports of financial mismanagement, pension scandals, arrests of public officials for corruption, mayors resigning in shame, accusations of election fraud, and other negative press that plagues "America's Finest City". I gave up trying to figure out San Diego city administration long ago, when my car was broken into the day after I bought it, and my call to the police department that my taxes help pay for was met by an answering machine.

Suffice it to say that San Diego is not a shining example of how to run a city. It's more like a worst-case scenario in the video game Sim City, where players are forced to rob Peter to pay Paul without ever achieving financial stability. The weather is good, but public officials and administrators here have exhibited a degree of incompetence and corruption that rivals Chicago during the Al Capone era. This is public record. Just do a Google search for "San Diego scandal" to see what I mean.

The city claims that "delinquents" and "deadbeats" owe more than $90 million (or $56 million, depending on the report you read) in unpaid debts, despite abundant examples of incompetent accounting. For example, the San Diego Tribune analyzed account lists provided by the city and quickly identified a $154 overdue library fine that had been misreported at $8372. I don't know about you, but I'd refuse to pay eight thousand dollars for a copy of Curious George Goes To The Hospital no matter how many nasty names they threatened to call me.

Despite the heated name-calling and rhetoric about "deadbeats" being responsible for San Diego's financial problems, there is one debt the city says it really doesn't try that hard to collect--the city owes itself $108,253. Each of the other 550,000 debtors on their 35,000 page list are "deadbeats", but not the city itself. San Diego is an honorable city.

Approximately 81% of the outstanding debts are due to parking tickets, which implies that San Diegans really are deadbeats who refuse to pay fines when they abuse their driving priveleges. But this impressive statistic doesn't tell the whole story. Anyone who drives in San Diego regularly is well aware that the police force in this nearly bankrupt city spends most of it's time measuring the degree of wheel rotation on cars parked on even the slightest inclines, desperate to compensate for the city's mismanagement of public funds by handing out as many parking tickets as possible (which is probably why they don't have time to answer the phone when a real crime occurs). No wonder there are so many outstanding parking tickets, and no wonder so many people refuse to pay this kind of blatant extortion.

In other words, if published numbers are to be trusted at all, 81% of the debt the city is trying to collect only exists because the city effectively imposed an arbitrary tax on its citizens (i.e., a flurry of parking tickets) to raise money to compensate for its own gross mismanagement of the real money it did have available before city officials squandered it. Brilliant.

The story gets even better. In his latest effort to collect these taxes--er, I mean "delinquent debts", City Attorney Aguirre has announced that the city will post the names of debtors on an internet website in an effort to coerce them into paying.

Aguirre explains the new collections tactic this way: "Every dollar counts, every dime counts. We don't want to embarrasss anyone unnecessarily, but our job here at the city is to prudently manage public funds under the law. We have an obligation to do that and that's what we intend to do." Clearly, City Attorney Aguirre is an honorable man. He's just doing his job--you know, "just following orders". Interestingly, that's the same explanation Adolph Eichmann used to explain his significant role in prosecuting the Holocaust, and it's the same explanation that American collection agents use today to explain their role in terrorizing debtors from behind the safe firewall of a telephone or mailroom.

Except for one thing: there can be no conceivable purpose to publishing debtors names in any public forum except to embarass them--or, to state it without rhetoric, to terrorize them with fear of public humiliation in order to manipulate their behavior. So now, an untold number of San Diegans who refused on principle to pay what essentially amounts to extortion in the form of dubious parking tickets are now about to be faced with public humiliation as their reward for exercising their right of protest against unjust and incompetent civil administration.

Make no mistake about it, it is a fact of human nature that fear of public humiliation ranks among our greatest fears, regardless of the nation, culture, or era in which we live. Polls, academic studies, and simple common sense have made it clear that the most common fears shared by humans include fear of death, public humiliation, and financial problems. We are talking more or less about mortal fears here, not the transient fear you experience when a car suddenly pulls out in front of you, which goes away as soon as you realize there is no danger. Mortal fears create physiological symptoms of anxiety, which leads, among other things, to anxious thinking and bad decisions. That is why collection agents generally use every "legal" means at their disposal to inspire not only fear, but mortal fear in their victims when they harass debtors, even while they speak gently about not wanting to cause "unnecessary embarassment". This is standard behavior in the collections industry, and it is one of the most morally reprehensible things I've encountered in all my years of researching the American Debtors Prison.

To put it even more simply, we are talking terror here, not simple fear. Mortal fears are literally terrifying.

Public humiliation is a form of terror just as surely as if you resort to pointing a gun at someone's head and threaten them with death, or force the average person to speak in front of a large audience against their will. In each of these cases, the victim experiences horrible physiological and psychological consequences, and that is why some form of appeal to mortal fear (terror) forms the basis of all effective forms of torture.

And this is how San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre proposes to deal with San Diego's financial problems.

At this point, I must ask an obvious question: are there really 550,000 "deadbeats" in this city of 1.3 million people? Or is it possible--just possible--that the same ineptitude that got San Diego into this financial crisis is resorting to terror tactics against a generally decent population that, as a whole, isn't even attempting to avoid paying their legitimate debts?

If the correct answer is that San Diego really is populated by 550,000 "deadbeats", it kind of makes you wonder why San Diego calls itself "America's Finest City".

Either way, San Diego voters just elected a new mayor to replace the one who resigned, and this time it's a former chief of police.... So if nothing else, we know that local answering machine salesmen should fare well over the next couple of years. Just be careful where, and when, and how you park if you visit San Diego, unless you too want to see your name posted on the city's list of "deadbeats".

All the best,
Paul

Congressional Negligence On Privacy Issues

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 01:07:00 -0800

The U.S. Congress, after half a century of gross negligence in responding to threats against personal privacy brought about by technological and societal change, is suddenly scrambling to do something in response to recent high-profile news reports of "data breach" by irresponsible U.S. corporations.

As one might expect, Congress's response thus far to this incredibly serious threat has been mostly rhetorical, primarily aimed at creating high-profile news reports showing that Congress is on the job (albeit, fifty years late). Several bills have been proposed and discussed, talking heads on both side have begun talking, and individual Congressmen and women are tripping over each other to reach the microphone first and be seen as proactive on this issue, much like middle-class housewives trampling each other at a Wal-Mart to purchase a limited supply of beanie babies the week before Christmas.

But despite all the hullabaloo, no bills have been passed, and the bills proposed thus far are certified, Grade-A political manure that lack not only foresight, but any meaningful comprehension of the problem, let alone any clue how to deal with the problem of personal data loss and identity theft.

What incited all this activity on Capitol Hill was not the efforts of many people like myself to expose the American Debtors Prison, identity theft, and the unparalleled threats to individual liberty and autonomy that credit bureaus and other information brokers have created for their own personal profit at the expense of everyone else. No, what incited this activity was a flury of media reports about "data breach" by, apparently, one irresponsible U.S. corporation after another over the past several months.

"Data Breach" is the benign euphemism that politicians and "experts" use for a phenomenon that has potentially cataclysmic consequences for ordinary people like you and me. It means that someone, or some corporation, somewhere, has been gathering personal information about U.S. citizens, and that information has been lost or stolen. And all the news reports in recent months concern only those instances of data loss and theft that companies have bothered to report--there is no federal law requiring that a company disclose the loss of your social security number, birth date, bank account number, sexual orientation, or any other piece of data on you they have manage to scavenge. It doesn't matter that the third-party who "breached data" might use this information to steal your identity and throw you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt, if they are nice, or use this information to utterly destroy your life forever, if they are mean. The federal government does not require incompetent companies to tell you when they lose your private information.

However, so far twenty one states have passed laws requiring companies to reveal "data breach", and this is probably the only reason it has been in the news so much lately. If the states had not passed these laws, what corporate executive has the courage and character to confess to the world that their negligence has put thousands or millions of their fellow citizens at risk of catastrophic identity theft or worse?

At this point, it appears that the U.S. Congress is primarily seeking to jump on the states' bandwagon and pass a law requiring negligent data brokers to make it public whenever they lose people's personal information. And get this--one of the main arguments against such a law is concern that citizens will become numb to the situation when they receive perhaps dozens of notifications of "data breach" each month.

Yes, you read that correctly--Congress is making no apparent effort to actually prevent wholesale data loss and theft, but instead it fully expects this to happen on a regular basis, and merely wants to ensure that Congress is given credit when data brokers are forced by law to repeatedly disclose their negligence.

I could name names in Congress who have been vocal on this issue, and quote quotes from talking head "experts" who actually believe there is something to debate here. But what's the point? In the half century since the invention of the modern credit card (and hence, modern credit bureaus), Congress still has not developed the slightest comprehension of how serious this problem is. Is it any wonder that Congress remains unaware of, and unconcerned by, the existence of the American Debtors Prison?

Members of Congress are guilty of gross negligence that FAR exceeds any genuine mistakes or errors or judgement that have led so many people into the American Debtors Prison. And the situation will never change until The People take a stand, organize a movement against the American Debtors Prison (and the information systems upon which it is founded), and vow on their sacred honor to vote on the sole basis of candidates' demonstrated position on matters that are crucial to each U.S. citizen's financial security. For in a capitalist society, where net worth is equivalent to opportunity, it is impossible for citizens to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (not to mention freedom and democracy), when they are not in full control of their personal finances.

If you are interested in joining such a movement, please visit my website.

All the best,
Paul

College President's Children Don't Need Student Loans

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:23:00 -0800

Contrast the previous entry ("Miracle in Kalamazoo") with today's news report that five U.S. college presidents now receive more than one million dollars in annual compensation, with many more not far below the one million dollar barrier.

It would be a digression to dwell too much on the sorry state of U.S. higher education today, or to mention my own experience as a graduate teaching assistant at a "major research institution", where at least two students in each class I taught were functionally illiterate. Suffice it to say that the quality of U.S. higher education is generally poor, and there is a reason why high school graduates in a country like Russia are generally regarded as better educated than many U.S. graduates from four year institutions--including the same four year institutions whose presidents are compensated somewhere around one millions dollars each year.

Instead, I'll just note that tuition costs are far outside the reach of most students. Specifically, they are outside the reach of those students who are in the worst financial position to take on massive student loan debt before they have a college degree, and before they even apply for their first responsible job. However, many of the presidents of these same overpriced diploma factories are in a fine position to send every member of the largest family they can spawn to Harvard Medical School for eight years. You would think that only the presidents of colleges and universities that graduate only literate, well-educated, and competent students would earn that much money, for a job well done.

But that is simply not the case in a nation where the American Debtors Prison is fueled in large part by a predatory student loan system. Plato's Academy this ain't.

All the best,
Paul

A Miracle In Kalamazoo

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:55:00 -0800

The American Debtors Prison is a truly dark and dreadful place to live, made even worse by the fact that nearly every established institution in America, in one way or another, helps to tighten the grasp on debtors. Sometimes on purpose, and sometimes quite unintentionally.

One unfortunate consequence of all this is uniquely personal to me: It forces me to focus on "negative" things most of the time when discussing debtors imprisonment, though I don't want to, because the American Debtors Prison is so powerful and pervasive that nobody, anywhere, is winning meaningful battles against it. It just keeps getting worse and worse, year after year, and there is really no organized movement in place to even draw attention to it, let alone to stop it. (If you'd like to help create such a movement, visit my website).

So it is with greater pleasure than you could possibly imagine that I can report here that a group of donors has established a truly amazing program that will detour an entire generation of young people in Kalamazoo, Michigan away from one of the main superhighways to debtors prison: student loans.

Over the past three or four years, this group of anonymous donors has silently created a program that will offer college scholarships to students who graduate in the Kalamazoo school system and enroll at a Michigan college or university. The percentage of college costs paid are proportional to the number of years from Kingergarden through 12th grade that a student spent in the Kalamazoo school system. Students who receive their entire K-12 education in Kalamazoo will enjoy scholarships paying 100% of tuition and fees.

Think for a moment about what this really means. Yesterday, there were children living in Kalamazoo who were destined to one day endure the legal domestic terrorism of Sallie Mae, General Revenue Corporation, Educational Recovery Systems, and so many other student loan "servicers". But today, because of the actions of some people who cared, many of those same children now have a destiny that does NOT include being terrorized by Sallie Mae, General Revenue Corporation, Educational Recovery Systems, and so many other student loan "servicers". That is an amazing victory in the battle against modern debtors imprisonment! Even better, it will help prevent debtors imprisonment from student loans, rather than seeking to free student loan debtors from misery after it is too late.

It sounds so simple--making it possible for young people to earn a higher education and train themselves for a productive career without rendering all that education and training pointless by indebting them tens of thousands of dollars to ruthless student loan collectors before they even apply for their first responsible job.

Almost makes you wonder why the U.S. Department of Education never thought of this....

I find it especially noteworthy that despite the sheer magnitude of generosity, foresight, and good citizenship involved here, the group of donors who established "The Kalamazoo Promise" program wishes to remain anonymous. In other words, they are individuals, not self-interested corporations seeking to do "good work" that primarily benefits themselves through positive public relations.

Almost makes you wonder why Sallie Mae never thought of this....

I was born and raised near Kalamazoo. The last time I visited it, in the early 1990's, it was a mostly impoverished and somber place. Now there is hope that this one program alone will boost the local economy by simply educating the population, which will attract more families and businesses who seek to raise their children in a community that demonstrably values education.

Almost makes you wonder why so many egg-headed economists whose "expert" opinions are constantly sought by the press never thought of this....

In response to the program's announcement, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm said, "What a tremendous act of generosity on the part of the donors who made this possible and what a tremendous opportunity for all these children in Kalamazoo public schools who can now go to college and chase their dreams." I couldn't agree more.

Almost makes you wonder why Governor Granholm never thought of this....

But someone did think of this. And not only do the people of Kalamazoo, Michigan owe these anonymous donors an enormous debt of gratitude (the only kind of debt worth owing, in my opinion), but so does every American citizen--including you and me. Because The Kalamazoo Promise makes it clear, finally, that everything in America does not have to be utterly "negative". All it takes is generosity rather than greed, foresight rather than shortsightedness and blind faith, and good citizenship rather than apathy and politics, to make the world a better place.

All the best,
Paul

Secret CIA Prisons?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 7 Nov 2005 01:12:00 -0800

The Washington Post reported last week that the CIA has been operating secret prisons in various countries around the world since 911, for the purpose of "questioning" suspected terrorists. Since then, the expected round of accusations, denials, and international calls for investigation of these allegations have roughly held equal visibility in the media to stories concerning Hollywood celebrities' love lives. One can easily daydream a fairly accurate response by news media executives: "The U.S. government may be imprisoning and torturing people in other countries? Put it on the very top--of page three."

But even if the United Nations investigated the matter and found that the U.S. government is demonstrably guilty of foreign torture and atrocities not seen since Nazi Germany's operation of concentration camps in Poland and other countries, would anyone really be shocked? I seriouly doubt it, because no one seems genuinely shocked that such an accusation could ever be made against the U.S. government in the first place.

But this is the United States of America--the land of the free, home of the brave, and author of some of the most significant pro-human rights documents in the history of human civilization. How could people not be shocked by even the mere accusation of human rights atrocities committed by the United States government?

The existence of U.S. prisons at Abu Ghirab and Guantanamo are already well-documented, and few people seem to really care, despite evidence that activities within those prisons more closely resemble the Spanish Inquisition than anything prescribed by American law or the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, ongoing debate over the Bush administration's admitted affinity for human torture (of other people--not themselves) has rarely reached the fevered pitch of debate on whether the Star Wars prequels stand up to the original trilogy.

Are American citizens really that barbaric in their apathy toward human suffering? Are they really as bad as those nameless masses who allowed the Spanish Inquisition, or the Crusades, or the Holocaust to occur? Do they really consider arbitrary imprisonment and torture an acceptable form of behavior simply because the United States was attacked on its own soil by Muslim terrorists once, when most other nations have been attacked repeatedly for centuries or millenia?

Are Americans really that stupid?

I don't think that is the case. However, without a clear understanding of just why Americans do allow their government to commit acts that violate human rights which have been cherished since the Magna Carta, we are really left with no alternative explanation.

But where can we find this understanding? Right here in our homeland. With the largest prison industry in the world, and a hidden American Debtors Prison which effectively incarcerates unknown numbers of citizens without bars, Americans have gradually become desensitized to the idea that false imprisonment and torture are human right violations at all, and instead regard them as natural features of the "rule of law". There was a time in America when people were considered innocent until proven guilty. Yet today, "Law" and "Prison" are words that just seem to go together, as if anyone who finds themselves on the business end of our legal system deserves to be imprisoned, and the only injustice occurs when anyone is not incarcerated after being suspected of an offense. No trial, evidence, proof, or conviction is even necessary any more, in a court of public opinion that is openly held in the mass media daily.

The Washington Post story about CIA prisons overseas might be bogus. Those prisons may or may not exist. But we do know one thing for certain: American citizens in general don't seem to care too much about stopping or preventing these kinds of human rights violations by their own government either way.

So why should they care about abolishing the American Debtors Prison either? I'll tell you why. Because the assumption of "guilty until proven innocent under conditions of torture" holds true for CIA terrorist prisons and the American Debtors Prison alike. However, while very few American citizens could conceivably be mistaken for a terrorist, nearly all adult citizens are debtors....

All the best,
Paul

FBI Accused of Abusing USA Patriot Act

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 7 Nov 2005 00:27:00 -0800

The Associated Press reports that members of Congress are (finally) becoming concerned by the FBI's abuse of the USA Patriot Act, in light of revelations that each year the FBI authorizes more than 30,000 investigations of ordinary U.S. citizens' personal records, including financial and telephone records, emails, and even web-surfing habits--under the pretense of investigating terrorism. One can only imagine that while the FBI is busy looking at... perhaps YOUR personal information, the real terrorist elements in the United States are hard at work planning another major attack on American soil, unhindered by FBI agents who are too busy probing into your life and mine.

Keep in mind, one does not become a U.S. citizen by merely flying into JFK Airport in New York, or by jumping over a fence in Tijuana, Mexico. The vast majority of U.S. citizens were born here, and love the country they were born and raised in, while the rest have lived here for years, and demonstrated their affinity for our way of life before being granted citizenship. So why would the FBI suspect 30,000 of these citizens each year of being hell-bent on "destroying democracy"--so much so that they would even embark on suicide missions that will ultimately ruin their entire extended families' lives? The simple answer is, the FBI doesn't suspect anything of the kind. Even the FBI is not that irrational. There are other reasons why they are looking at YOUR personal records....

The USA Patriot Act is a Bush administration initiative that immediately responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by doing exactly what any foreign "enemy of freedom" could only dream of accomplishing in the United States: annihilating the very concept of personal privacy in the United States. Why is this deadly to freedom? Because a democratically-elected representative government MUST first and foremost answer to The People by allowing public monitoring of its activities, and by publicly responding to citizens' grievances that result from that oversight. By allowing the U.S. government to turn the tables on democracy, and instead allow a supposedly representative government to secretly monitor details of citizens private lives, the U.S. Patriot Act officially transformed the United States government from a democracy to a tyranny. The last time the government legally spied on its own citizens in the United States with such impunity, was when the British Empire spied on a group of citizens named George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, among many others. Indeed, the Declaration of Independence lists a number of crimes against humanity, perpetrated by King George, which are not at all irrelevant in post-911 America:

"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance."

"For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury."

"For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments."

"He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."

"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."

"He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power."

Yes, I will admit that rhetoric may be used to convice people to give up their privacy and freedom in the interests of "national security". But rhetoric can also be used to convince people to commit mass suicide in the interests of joining with the UFO mothership that is waiting for them in a nearby comet. Rhetoric can even be used to convince citizens that the American Debtors Prison does not exist.... Rhetoric can be used to convince people of anything--and that is why rhetoric simply is not enough to justify U.S. government actions that subvert the U.S. Constitution, and defy the wisdom of U.S. Founders like Benjamin Franklin, who wrote that "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." In slightly over two centuries we have come full circle to the very form of tyranny that Thomas Paine decried in one of the most significant documents of our nation's founding, appropriately entitled Common Sense.

Americans fearful of terrorism have become so willing to give up essential liberties, that they forget the hell of tyranny that inspired their own ancestors to go to such extraordinary lengths to guarantee that we would possess the essential liberties we need to thwart tyranny in our time. They forget that tyranny IS terrorism.

In fact, I would go even further and suggest that the magnitude of courage exhibited by our founding generation in guaranteeing our essential freedoms is matched only by the magnitude of cowardice our own generation has exhibited in its eagerness to give up those same essential freedoms.

So just what is the FBI doing with all that personal information about U.S. citizens who have nothing to do with terrorism? Nobody knows. But that is precisely the point. If the United States were still a democracy--if we were still free--we would know exactly what they are doing with that information, because it is the right and responsibility of citizens in a democracy to maintain oversight over the activities of government "of The People, by The People, and for The People."

The only thing we know for certain is that the FBI spies on citizens using the same information infrastructure that makes the American Debtors Prison possible. And if debtors prisoners can have their productive lives ended without ever being charged or tried for any crime, we should fear to imagine what the FBI could do to any U.S. citizen "at a time and place of our choosing" (as Mr. Bush would say), using that very same information.

All the best,
Paul

New Passport Rules Create Potential For Abuse

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 04:16:00 -0700

The U.S. State Department has finally approved its final plan to require that even American citizens' passports contain "biometric" data. Biometric passports contain a tiny electronic chip and an antenna, from which personal information may be read. The State Department says that only a digital photo and other "usual" passport information will be contained on the chip. However, as with Wal-Mart and other retailers who already use the chip for tracking purposes, there is really no way for the average person to have any idea what information can be found on these chips.

Looking to other collectors of personal information, including the credit bureaus, one can easily imagine the following information conceivably being found on the chips:

Social Security Number
Address
Previous addresses
Date/City of Birth
Mother's Maiden Name
Employer and employment history
Bank Account information
Net worth
Real Estate holdings
Stock portfolio details
Legal judgements
Credit history
Sexual preference
Hobbies and interests
Military/Veteran status
Medical history
Academic history
Membership in various clubs, organizations, etc.
Political affiliation
Religious affiliation
Products bought
Places traveled
Anything else about the passport holder....

It is important to keep a few things in mind while this program is being implemented:

1. The U.S. Constitution does not guarantee citizens the right to personal privacy. Nor does the Constitution specifically prohibit the use of personal information to harm, control, manipulate, or intimidate U.S. citizens. (Because the U.S. Founders never conceived of a time where personal information alone could or would be used as a weapon, and current elected officials have utterly failed in their responsibility to amend the Constitution to reflect technological and societal changes that have turned personal information into a weapon).

2. Federal laws related to privacy are filled with legal loop-holes that actually make it easier for many government agencies to legal invade your privacy.

3. The Bush administration has repeatedly shown contempt for the very concept of personal privacy, or for any form of protection from having personal information used against citizens. Instead, it has diligently sought to establish autocratic control over personal information with such fascist legislation such as the incomprehensibly misnamed U.S. Patriot Act.

4. There is absolutely no way for any U.S. citizen to know for certain what information is contained in a biometric passport's chip, how or when that information may be updated, or the uses to which that information may be put, or by whom.

5. Biometric passports contain all this information despite the fact that absolutely nothing has changed regarding the supposed function of a passport--to facilitate international travel among citizens of various countries. A citizen stands on U.S. soil, takes one step forward, and is on Canadian soil. The passport tells U.S. and Canadian authorities that the citizen took took this step. So what information is contained on a chip, but not stamped on the passport itself, that has any relevance to this function?

6. Because the American economy is melting down as American jobs are shipped overseas, many debtors prisoners are attempting to travel or move overseas in an attempt to earn money to repay their debts, and to escape collections terrorism in the United States. The American Debtors Prison is a technological system that allows collections terrorists to legally stalk debtors anywhere they travel or move within U.S. borders. By potentially storing any and all personal information about U.S. citizens, biometric passports create the potential for allowing financial institutions to stalk American debtors anywhere in the world, further interfering with their ability to repay their debts.

I am not suggesting a grand conspiracy with respect to biometric passports, despite the Bush administration's clear lust for total control. However, each of us has made "contingency" plans in our lives, just in case we need them later. Corporations store documents that may never have any purpose unless they one day need those documents to support a lawsuit, for example. If no lawsuit occurs, that information is useless and benign, and just sits there. But if a lawsuit is filed, that information immediately becomes a powerful weapon to be "used against you in a court of law". Collection agencies and financial institutions do this all the time. What is to stop the U.S. government from gathering and storing personal information about U.S. citizens on their own passports--as a contingency in case that information can ever be used to serve someone else's purpose? This question becomes relevant when you realize that financial institutions already effectively control the U.S. government through aggressive lobbying, "campaign contributions", and personal/family relationships among the small percentage of Americans who control the vast majority of power and wealth in the United States.

At the very least, biometric passports are an affront to personal dignity, and a step backward for human civilization. The United States was founded because immigrants were free to travel to North America, free to establish a new home wherever and whenever they wished, and free to work hard to earn the money they needed to repay their debts and buy back their independence from creditors. Biometric passports serve no purpose that is not already served by orindary passports, in terms of travel facilitation, yet they introduce the potential for wide range of industries and government agencies to use personal information as a weapon, "at a time and place of our choosing", as President Bush would say.

History has shown that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." History has also shown that people never realize that power exists only as potential until power is exercised--that is, until it is too late. It is time for Americans to begin connecting the dots here....

All the best,
Paul

Ford Demands "Sacrifices" -- From Everyone Else

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 12:44:00 -0700

Ford Motor Company Chairman and CEO Willaim Clay Ford, Jr. has announced that Ford's stategic plan for the future includes "significant plan closings" and job losses.

Says Mr. Ford: "This is not a sacrifice that we will ask only the UAW and its membership to bear.... There will be sacrifices asked of people throughout our company, from top to bottom, in these very difficult circumstances, and we will reduce structure as well as jobs."

Translation: Thousands--possibly tens of thousands--of working people are about to lose their jobs as Ford Motor Company "sacrifices" them to the God of commerce. Those former Ford workers who have debts (mortgages, car loans, student loans, etc.) will be left with no means to repay those debts, and they will have six months to find a way to make regular payments again before being "written off" as uncollectable by their creditors, and their families cast into the American Debtors Prison, through no fault of their own.

In case you are concerned about William Clay Ford, Jr. and his family during this crisis, I can assure you that they will be just fine. According to Executive Paywatch, Mr. Ford received more than $22 million in compensation in 2004 alone (Click here for details). That is more than 350 times the average annual salary of an autoworker.

However, given that his utter mismanagement of the company he inherited is about to throw the very workers who made him rich into unemployment, poverty and debtors imprisonment, I find myself more concerned with those autoworkers who are about to be thrown into the American Debtors Prison.

All the best,
Paul

Nagin's "Bold Leadership" To Further Impoverish The Poor

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 06:44:00 -0700

"Now is the time for us to think out of the box. Now is the time for some bold leadership, some decisive leadership," says New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, regarding efforts to jump-start the New Orleans economy.

And just what is Nagin's proposed "out of the box" solution to help some 500,000 impoverished, jobless, homeless and desperate New Orleans residents?

Casinos.

That's right. Nagin's solution to poverty in New Orleans is to offer what has recently become a half-million strong population of third-world American citizens the opportunity to blow all the aid money they've received at a casino, in a desperate attempt to come up with enough cash to rebuild their lives.

Of course, the only ones who could conceivably benefit from this solution are the casino operators and the New Orleans government, which would enjoy enormous tax revenue from such a plan. That kind of economic recovery would make Mayor Nagin a real hero, according to the way that politicians gauge "success".

For many years now, incompetent politicians have relied on state lotteries and casino gambling to "jump-start" local economies, and the results have always been the same: casino operators grow incredibly rich, increasing the gap between rich and poor even further, while desperate wage-earning human beings lose what little savings they have left.

Casinos are a microcosm of the "Trickle Down Theory", which has consistently proven since World War II to trickle wealth upward, where it becomes concentrated in the hands of a few while the masses generally become poorer and burdened with debt. Like the massive multinational corporations that arose from trickle-down economics, casinos have the appearance of luxury and busy activity, but nothing truly productive is ever accomplished--except for more appearance of luxury and activity, while the rich get richer and poor get poorer.

Wake up, Mayor Nagin. Hurricane Katrina was not a dream or a television show; it was a real live natural disaster. And New Orleans' residents need a mayor who can conceive of a real solution that addresses their real needs.

Update: Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has refused to put New Orleans casino gambling on the legislative agenda for Hurricane Katrina recovery discussions, on the principle that gambling should not be the basis of economic development in New Orleans. Kudos to Gov. Blanco for recognizing the obvious, and for seeking to provide New Orleans residents with an economy that will make them money, rather than take their money.

All the best,
Paul

Capitol One Sinks To A New Low

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 02:04:00 -0700

I didn't think it was possible, but Capitol One has sunk to a new low of human depravity. One of the debtors prisoners I work with has supplied me with undeniable proof in the form of a collection letter.

First, let's get one thing out of the way. The independent and undisputed authority on English usage, Webster's Dictionary, defines the term "sleazy" as follows:

"Sleazy. Adj. marked by low character or quality."

This most certainly describes what you are about to read. In fact, "low character" is undeniably generous in this case.

The debtors prisoner in question has an unpaid debt to a completely different bank, and that debt is several years old. The original lender wrote the debt off as "uncollectable" years ago, then sold it to Capitol One to collect this debt anyway, despite presumably having told the IRS it was "uncollectable" when requesting tax breaks for their supposed loss, so many years ago.

Capitol One, in turn, engaged the services of yet another collection agency, which calls itself "The Westmoreland Agency", to contact the debtor directly. Creating a chain of associations, affiliations, and subsidiaries confounds all attempts to hold Capitol One directly responsible for any unconscionable or illegal collections practices, violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or potentially criminal behavior on the part of collection agents. (Question: Just as a thought experiment, ask yourself why would an honest, law-abiding company need to protect itself like this?).

This "Westmoreland Agency" (if that really is its name), then sent this debtors prisoner the most unconscionable collections letter that I have ever seen: At first glance, the letter appears to be a free credit card--not a credit card offer, but the letter actually has a plastic VISA card attached to it.

Closer examination of the letter reveals that this is actually a $20 "gift card", which of course must be activated by calling a toll-free number and providing verification of the debtor's identity (and presumably, his location, employer, and any other personal information the collection agent can glean from the conversation).

To send a debtors prisoner a plastic card emblazoned with the VISA logo as a "gift" is about as tasteful as sending an Auschwitz survivor a Hallmark card for Hitler's birthday. And yes, the debtor confirmed that the original debt was on a VISA card.

The back side of this "gift offer" contains a full page of confusing, incomprehensible legalese disclaimers which, when translated into English, basically says that debtors "voluntarily" agree to send themselves up a creek without a paddle if they call the telephone number to activate their gift cards. As required by law, the following disclaimer is present--on the back side of this generous offer: "...this communication is from a debt collector, and it and others from us are an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose." Interesting that they didn't make this incredibly important announcement more prominent, and on the front page, considering the enormous relevance this information has to the recipient.

But here is the kicker: This debtor has not repaid the debt yet because he has been homeless for the past decade. And why was he rendered homeless in the first place? Because the original creditor wrote this very same debt off as uncollectable while he struggled to pay it off under adverse conditions years ago, throwing him into the American Debtors Prison. Although he has worked full-time ever since, he can no longer even rent habitable housing because of his credit report, and likewise cannot obtain professional employment with a salary capable of repaying the debt. (This is a defining characteristic of the American Debtors Prison itself). It is interesting to note that the debtor has refused to file for bankruptcy for all these years, however, precisely because he wants to repay his debts.

Okay, I lied. Here is the real kicker: The VISA card attached to this collections letter says "Go Shopping" on it. Happy Birthday, Adolph.

If you dig even deeper into the slime of this letter, you'll find fine print that says, among other things, "But there is no obligation - even if you're unable to set up payment arrangements at this time, the gift card is yours! all you have to do is activate it. Call now."

Make no mistake about it--calling now and making contact with this collection agency would open this debtor up to a world of pain that would make his current homelessness seem like a vacation at Club Med.

But wait, believe it or not, there's even more. This "gift offer" is accompanied by a four-page "Terms and Conditions" document, which is also written in incomprehensible legalese. Not only that, but a quick translation reveals that under several conditions, there is actually a COST to the debtor associated with using this card.

This is the crap this poor debtor found in his mailbox--six pages of manipulative rhetoric, none of which he ever requested to be burdened with, and coming from a company that he had never once borrowed money from or had any association with. Meanwhile, he has struggled for nearly a decade in homelessness to save enough money to repay the creditor he actually borrowed money from in full--the very same company that "wrote him off" as a deadbeat.

The name "Capitol One" has arisen time and time again in my research of unconscionable lending and collections practices. But with this particular collections tactic, they have sunk to depths that make me question whether the employees of Capitol One really qualify as part of the human species.

All the best,
Paul

Hurricane Katrina Benefits Credit Card Companies

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 5 Sep 2005 12:43:00 -0700

Apart from reconstruction, the business sector that will benefit the most from Hurricane Katrina's devastation is the credit card industry. With no home, no job, no cash, no credentials to access banked savings, and bearing the full weight of trauma caused by Katrina, refugees have no choice but to "max out" their credit cards despite having absolutely no means to repay. And credit card companies must be salivating at the thought of it all.

As an example, the two families of refugees I have chosen to sponsor directly (two adult women, and eight children aged 2-13), fled New Orleans in one car with no money, and only one credit card with a $1000 limit. If you had nowhere to stay, no income, your children were starving, and all you had was a credit card, what would you do?

Since "credit" does not even exist (it is actually debt), the massive use of credit cards by Katrina refugees has effectively created millions of dollars that did not previously exist, and the credit card companies get every penny of it plus interest in one form or another--real payment, tax breaks for write-offs, eventual aquisition of refugees' remaining property in bankrupty proceedings, government bailouts, etc.

The Washington Post reports that U.S. corporations are providing record aid to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and notes with some cynacism that this aid represents an unprecedented opportunity for positive public relations for industries with a bad image. For example, Wal-Mart, which is in dire need of an image overhaul, has pledged $15 million dollars to "jump start" Katrina relief efforts.

And what have the financial services corporations done? Here is what the Washington Post reported:

CitiGroup, Inc.: "up to $3 million"
JP Morgan Chase & Co.: "up to $3 million"
Merril Lynch & Co.: $1.5 million
T. Rowe Price Associates Foundation: $250,000

For a total of "up to" $7.75 million dollars from four of the wealthiest corporations in the United States of America, while Wal-Mart alone has promised twice that amount.

Even the nation's oil companies, which suffered their own losses from Hurricane Katrina, have pledged a combined total of more than $15 million dollars in aid. Yet CitiGroup, which stands to benefit enormously from the aftermath of Katrina (see post below), has offered only "up to" a whopping $3 million.

Look at those donation numbers above again, and compare the financial service industry's generosity to Hurricane Katrina victims with the generosity they showed their own executives in 2004:

CitiGroup, Inc. CEO Charles Prince received $19,922,941 in compensation in 2004 alone.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. CEO William B. Harrison recieved $16,084,055 in compensation in 2004 alone.

Merril Lynch CEO E. Stanley O'Neal received $32,134,673 in compensation in 2004 alone.

Which only proves once again what debtors prisoners already knew all along: the wardens of the American Debtors Prison don't care whether you and your family live or die, as long as they can make money from it either way.

All the best,
Paul

Hurricane Katrina Special Report

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 5 Sep 2005 12:35:00 -0700

My heart goes out to the hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina. There are no words to describe a natural disaster of this magnitude.

However, we must all carry on, and in my case I must try to describe the incredible magnitude of the impact Katrina will have on the American Debtors Prison. Among other things, we can expect to see a huge increase in the prison's inmate population. Not from an influx of hardened criminals and fraudsters, for the American Debtors Prison does not incarcerate criminals. Instead, the prison population will increase with untold thousands of poor people who have lost everything they have in the world--except for one thing: their debt.....

Let me repeat that. They have lost their homes, their property, their jobs, their cities and communities, and in many cases have lost friends and family. If they have savings at all that money may not be immediately accessible without their account credentials. But the one thing each and every refugee carried with them out of that devastated area was their debt.

The American Debtors Prison Makes no distinction between those who borry money with no intent to repay (which is criminal fraud), and those who become unable to repay their debts for any reason. Both are treated as criminals in the American Debtors Prison system, and both are punished in exactly the same way.

The refugees from Katrina have approximately one month before the computerized databases of American financial corporations begin flagging their accounts as "delinquent", and the collection agent terrorists begin creating an entirely different form of hell for these refugees. Collections protocol demands that "no excuse is good enough", including a natural disaster that destroyed one of the United States' largest cities.

Collection agents will be required to assume that any debtor who says they lost everything in Hurricane Katrina is lying. They will be required to press those victims--and to press them hard--for payment anyway. If the victims don't, or can't pay, collection agents will begin using time-tested terror tactics in an attempt to get the victims to send in any money they can--meager savings, food money, medicine money, and any financial assistance they might have received after the disaster. And when they still can't pay, they'll begin their descent into the American Debtors Prison. Their credit reports will reflect serious delinquency, and after six months creditors will "write off" their accounts as "uncollectable" to qualify for tax breaks, and they will send those accounts to third-party collection agencies to be collected anyway.

Eventually their credit reports will reflect such a "deadbeat" status that refugees will no longer be able to get a job or rent an apartment, because the U.S. government legally allows non-creditors such as employers and landlords to review credit reports when deciding whether to hire or rent to an individual. Once their credit reports reach this stage, those peoples' productive lives are over, because their is no way to repair it. They owed money, and didn't pay, after all.... That is the only perspective the American Debtors Prison sees.

It is important to note that the news media has never acknowledged the existence of the American Debtors Prison, and the media's coverage of Hurricane Katrina has been no different. I have not heard a single media outlet mention the ultimate fate of so many refugees who fled New Orleans with nothing more than their debt.

Refugees can rebuild their lives if given the chance. The American Debtors Prison is the only thing that really stands in their way, because it creates an enormous obligation that is impossible to fulfill at the very time they need absolute freedom the most.

If you really want to help Katrina victims, find a way to locate individuals and families who were affected, and donate your money directly to them. Better yet, offer to help make their debt payments for a while. Yes, you'll no longer qualify for tax breaks, but mMoney donated to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other charitable organization is eaten away in large part by administration costs, and only a relatively small amount of your contribution will actually reach the people you are trying to help. Do some research, find some refugees, and donate directly to them instead. That is how you can really help them. The trivial tax breaks you'll lose don't even compare to the enormous loss these refugees have suffered.

All the best,
Paul

Did Alan Greenspan Finally Notice That Poverty Exists?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 13:59:00 -0700

In a June 14 Yahoo News article entitled "Rich-Poor Gap Gaining Attention", Christian Science Monitor staff writer Peter Grier reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan finally acknowledged the existence of poverty in United States.

Unfortunately, the article did not feature anything in particular that Mr. Greenspan actually said that might indicate he has a conception of what poverty is, or what it is like to live in poverty. In fact, the only Greenspan quote offered was this rhetorical gem: "As I've often said, this is not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."

I can only assume he was speaking about poverty, because that's what Grier's article said Greenspan was speaking about.

The article also mentioned that Greenspan said the solution to poverty is better education. However, I did not see any mention of public and private universities with multi-billion dollar endowments sending their new graduates packing for debtors prison, armed only with lousy to mediocre educations, tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, and no job.

And this hard-hitting article is supposed to convince us that the rich-poor gap is finally gaining national attention? Shame on Yahoo for ever publishing this kind of crap, and for attempting to convince readers that any politician in Washington, D.C. truly comprehends the reality of poverty or debtors imprisonment.

All the best,
Paul