Oh, for the love of...
Jun. 21st, 2008 03:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpFrom the Wired Blog Network:
I'll wager you won't hear much, either, about the sweetheart deal that Congress is putting together for mortgage lenders, most certainly not in the context of how the Congressional leaders in charge of such dealmaking have been, in the past, recipients of "VIP treatment" and campaign contributions from said lenders. (Being Democrats helps in keeping the noise level down, it would seem, because if the Congresscritters leading this effort involved were Republican, I'm sure this item would lead the news morning, noon, and night.)
To add insult to insult, a provision has been included in the lender bailout, without debate, to require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government. (Sounds logical, right? Bailing out mortgage lenders goes hand in hand with tracking every credit card purchase made in the country.)
This provision is intended to raise over $9 billion in revenue over 10 years. On the other hand, consider just how much more - and more complete - personal information will now be harvested by the government and how it can be used, sold, lost, etc.
Why is there no outcry about stuff like this?
Cheers...
The Motion Picture Association of America said Friday intellectual-property holders should have the right to collect damages, perhaps as much as $150,000 per copyright violation, without having to prove infringement.I bet you don't hear much about this on network news. But frankly, the MPAA and its ilk are pikers.
I'll wager you won't hear much, either, about the sweetheart deal that Congress is putting together for mortgage lenders, most certainly not in the context of how the Congressional leaders in charge of such dealmaking have been, in the past, recipients of "VIP treatment" and campaign contributions from said lenders. (Being Democrats helps in keeping the noise level down, it would seem, because if the Congresscritters leading this effort involved were Republican, I'm sure this item would lead the news morning, noon, and night.)
To add insult to insult, a provision has been included in the lender bailout, without debate, to require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government. (Sounds logical, right? Bailing out mortgage lenders goes hand in hand with tracking every credit card purchase made in the country.)
This provision is intended to raise over $9 billion in revenue over 10 years. On the other hand, consider just how much more - and more complete - personal information will now be harvested by the government and how it can be used, sold, lost, etc.
Why is there no outcry about stuff like this?
Cheers...
