Privacy Invasion

"Here to Help"

Ever heard of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)?  Or the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)?  Probably not.  But if you have a mortgage on your home then chances are these groups have heard of you.  And they want to get to know you better, much better. 

According to a notice posted on April 16, 2014 in the Federal Register, the FHFA will be gathering and maintaining personal information as part of the “National Mortgage Database Project”.  Sounds harmless. Whose data will be collected?  According to the notice, “individuals who have records in… credit bureaus or consumer reporting agencies”, which includes just about anyone with a wallet or a purse. Estimates are that 227 million Americans will be effected.  The justification for compiling this information is to facilitate the FHFA / CFPB’s ability to comply with reporting requirements under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA), legislation brought in response to the sub-prime mess of 2008.  

The database will include mortgage information, such as loan amount, monthly payment, delinquency information.  But that’s not all.  It also includes information of a more personal nature.  What sort of personal information?  Generally speaking, everything.  Info you don’t tell your mama. 

Altogether the Database Project includes about eighty-five fields of information (the entire list is included below).  Here are some of the more troubling items:  “race, ethnicity, language, religion.”  What?  How does being a Presbyterian or an Animist affect a person’s credit?  Further overreach, “household composition (i.e. single female), number of children and their ages, marital status.”  Is this the government or a dating site?  More,  household income, credit score, number of bedrooms and baths.”  And my personal favorite, “latitude and longitude”, which I guess is a big help if someone needs to dial up a drone strike. 

The information will be obtained from "individuals who respond to the National Survey of Mortgage Borrowers" as well as FHFA system records, Federal government systems of records (IRS?), credit repository files and "commercial data aggregators".

Who will have access to all this information?  No worries – all of the information is protected under the Privacy Act.  According to the notice, only the Federal Housing Finance Administration, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and their advisory committees have access.  Oh, and perhaps a contractor, volunteer or intern working for those agencies.  And a Congressional office in response to an inquiry.  Or a court, magistrate or administrative tribunal in the course of an investigation.  And possibly the Department of Justice, which would include the US Attorney, FBI, DEA, etc.  And of course, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or “other Federal agencies”.      

In George Orwell’s “1984”,  Big Brother's fascist regime referred to its propaganda and history revision bureau as the “Ministry of Truth”.  Similarly, in 2010 under Dodd-Frank, the CFBP was created ostensibly to “protect consumers”.  Call me paranoid, but why exactly does the federal government need to know how many bathrooms I have?  Or what the credit limit is on my MasterCard?  The longitude and latitude of my home?  My employment records?  A list of my assets?  Or my religious affiliation?  

The legal definition of invasion of privacy is the intrusion into the personal life of another without cause.  If that's the standard of invasion, then this action against 277 million Americans constitutes a Normandy-style frontal assault.  How does this new database protect the consumer?  Ronald Reagan put it this way, “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”      

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The following is the full list of the data points included in the federal notice for the National Mortgage Database Project:

Borrower/co-borrower information

name

address

zip code

telephone numbers

date of birth

race/ethnicity

gender

language

religion

social security number

education records

military status/records

employment status/records

Financial Information

account number

financial events in the last few years

life events in the last few years

other assets/wealth

Mortgage Information

current balance

current monthly payment

delinquency grid

monthly payment

refinanced amount

bankruptcy information

Credit card/other loan information

account type

credit amount

account balance amount

account past due amount

account minimum payment amount

account actual payment amount

account high balance amount

account charge off amount

second mortgage

Household composition

single male / single female, etc.

presence of children by various age categories

number of wage earners in household

household income

credit score

deceased indicator

marital status

Property Attributes

property type

number of bedrooms and bathrooms

square footage

lot size

year built/age of structure

units in structure

most recent assessed value (per tax roll)

year of most recent assessed value

effective age of structure

assessor's parcel number

neighborhood name

project name

Real Estate Transaction Attributes

sales price

down payment

occupancy status (own, rent)

new versus existing home

county

census tract/block

latitude/longitude

date purchased

Mortgage Characteristics

mortgage product and purpose

origination date

acquisition date

amount of mortgage

refinanced amount

amount of down payment

term of mortgage

interest rate of mortgage

source of mortgage/mortgage channel

mortgage insurance type

loan to value at origination

origination amount/credit limit

originator

current servicer

debt to income ratio at origination

number of borrowers

number of units in mortgage

presence of prepayment penalty

origination points paid by borrower

discount points paid by borrower

balloon payment date/amount

percent of down payment

secondary market indicator

Information collected from consumers as part of

surveys

randomized controlled trials

or through other mechanisms.

Naming Money

When there’s trouble, bust-out nations and their central banks go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pick up some walking around money.  Like a super-national quick-cash store, the IMF is the world’s lender of last resort.  When the IMF issues a loan it isn’t denominated in dollars, euros or yen, but in Special Drawing Rights, aka SDRs, the fiat currency issued by the IMF.  Economists say that the IMF has the cleanest balance sheet of all the world’s central banks.  Meanwhile, the IMF is known to have a longstanding desire to become the source of the world’s monetary supply, under a single, one-world currency.  With the major central banks in the US, the EU and Asia going broke, maybe now is time for the IMF to make its move.  If that happens the SDR would become the new global currency.

Politics and economics aside, does an “SDR” sound like money to you?  Maybe I’m too superficial, but frankly, I don’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling from the term “SDR”.  If it’s going to be the new money, can’t the world come up with a better name for it?  As a good global citizen, I offer some suggestions to name our new cash.  

First, the Global.  Not too imaginative, but it creates a mental image that would dovetail nicely with the IMF’s branding efforts.  Clear.  Concise.  It has a nice, round sound to it.  But it’s bland.

How about the Gaia?  Working from a similar theme, but with more sophistication and international flair.  The Gaia sounds warm and lush, at least to me, as a northern-hemispherer.  Maybe to a Saharan it sounds hot and dry, I don’t know.   It will need to be tested marketed.  But the environmentalists should love it.  Unless they take exception to having "filthy lucre" named after their Mama. 

Speaking of mama, how about the Mother Earth?  Admittedly, this is an Anglicization of Gaia, which may be undesirable.  Empire building has that effect on people.  The Mother Earth does connote nurturing and care, with a planetary ring to it, which is good for the big picture.  But it may prove too unwieldy for day-to-day use.

Then how about this -- the Bling?  How often do you get to create a one-world currency?  Why not make it fun?  Besides, Hollywood glitz and glamor is popular worldwide.  Everybody wants to be a star.  Why not work with that?  Give it some street, yo!  You feelin’ me?  

But how would it sound in use?  For example, “that Rolex costs five thousand Bling.”  Or this, “the US economy posted a one-point-two-billion Bling deficit last quarter.”  I don’t know, kind of works, kind of doesn’t.   Better keep going.

The Kumbayah.  Isn’t this global peace-in-our-time, buy-the-world-a-Coke thing all about  getting along?  Then this name’s a winner.  How could I get ticked off at someone over a few hundred Kumbayah?  The spelling is a little tricky, but it has a friendly sound to it.  For ease in trade it could be shortened to the Yah.  “Yah” has a positive ring to it too.  Let’s try it, “the Big Mac is three Yah.”  Sounds agreeable, yes?

The Shizzle.  This one is fun to say.  It even sounds funny.  There’s a “shh” sound and a “zzz”.  It’s easy to shorten, “that shirt is on sale for fifteen Shizz.”  What’s not to like?  May sound slightly Yiddish, which could be an issue in some quarters, but all and all, a good solid choice.

How about the Illumibuck?  This name will appeal to the skeptics, who look for the story inside the story, or the man behind the curtain.  Could the whole one-world thing be nefarious?  Maybe so.  But give credit, or debt, as the case maybe, where it’s due.  If there are puppeteers leading us along, throw them a bone.  Put a name on it! 

Maybe all this naming stuff is over the top, too complicated, too many syllables.  Instead, I offer a last, simple, straight-forward name, the MF, short for Monetary Fund.  Easy to remember, easy to spell.  What’s the big deal?  Loss of state sovereignty, democratic control, regional accountability.  Why all the fuss?  It’s just currency, right?

Best of all, with a name like the MF, people can dress it up with nicknames on their own.  Names that encapsulate their feelings for the new currency and the people responsible for bringing it about.  

Logocentricity

From the very beginning there was something different. Talking points and a crafted message are politics as usual in America.  But in 2008 candidate Barack Obama brought something more. His campaign had a visual component, consistent use of recognizable images. This branding effort was similar to retail packaging, with less focus on content, and more attention to image and the it feeling conveyed. Although little was known about the man, Barack Obama, his candidacy carried the look and feel of his well-designed cereal box -- crisp, vital, forward-looking.

As the images became familiar their messages were implanted.  Hope and change were the watchwords, although their precise meaning wasn't clearly defined.  Through consistent repetition the impressions were made without the need to articulate specific policies or plans.

"The medium is the message." - Marshall McLuhan 

Transitioning from campaigning to governance, the communication style remained consistent.  Faced with economic crisis a federal stimulus program is put into action with accompanying artwork. This image soon started showing up across the country wherever stimulus dollars were being spent.  

Our ongoing housing crisis, addressed with a bailout initiative developed by the FDIC under the Bush Administration, is now repackaged under the Obama Administration and relabeled.  

One of the major squawks of the Republican opposition to Obama-care was that the proposed legislation was not available for review prior to voting.  A memorable quote from Nancy Pelosi, "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it."  Not to worry, the packaging is ready to go.  In spite of overwhelming popular disfavor for the not yet fully implemented program the image is out there proclaiming it as reality.

  

Recently President Obama took to the road to garner support for his latest stimulus proposal. Maintaining faithful reliance on the medium, the President promotes the program with a fresh logo in hand, admonishing Congress to "pass it and pass it now."  

Is this something altogether new, utilizing images to promote public policy?  Is it simply a natural progression into the digital age of Internet marketing, adjusting to the graphic-based environment of the Web?  Or is it governance by marketing initiative?  

Don't worry about what's inside the box, just read the label.

Consumer beware.

Running Amok

Today a Drudge Report headline caught my eye: “DOJ raids Guitar Factory”.  I followed the story, thinking I was going to read about a crackdown on some store-front operation near the Mexican border.  Nope, not by a long shot.  The first line of the WSJ article made my jaw drop, “Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday…”  Gibson, really?  They’re at the top of the heap of US guitar manufacturers.  What in the world can this be about?  I read on.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service alleges Gibson bought wood illegally harvested from protected forests."  I knew guitar makers regularly used rosewood and ebony in manufacturing instruments.  But heck, I didn’t even know ebony and rosewood grew in this country.

Rreading on.  The Fed’s are talking about wood grown in Africa, South America and Asia.  We’re spending tax dollars chasing down some pieces of wood to enforce a possible violation in another hemisphere?  Geeze, these Fish and Wildlife guys must not have a lot on their plates.

Unfortunately, I continued to read and it got worse.   According to the Feds’ present interpretation of law the burden isn’t only on a manufacturer like Gibson when importing.  It’s on you and me too.  OK, so what. I’m not an importer.  No?  Got a guitar?  What’s the fingerboard made out of?  There’s a good chance it’s ebony or rosewood.  Again, so what?

Here’s what - if you take your guitar with you on a trip out of the country, when you return you will be required to sign paperwork certifying what you’re bringing back into the US.  If you can’t document that your “endangered species” of wood (i.e. fretboard) was obtained from an approved source, or is grand-fathered in due to manufacture prior to regulations currently in force then you are a violator, the same as Gibson, and subject to fine and seizure.

You think government expansion is a good thing? That more services, more "protections", more regulations are good for us?  Do you think as a people we are as free in 2011 as we were 10 years ago?  50 years ago?  This Gibson thing is a small example, but perhaps an instructive one.

More government means less liberty. It really is that simple.

Link: WSJ - Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear

On Wisconsin!

May the Nation turn its eyes to the Badger State.  In response to its budget deficit issues Wisconsin has dared to question the preeminence of union demands over the needs of the public at large. In less than 8 months, since the 2010 elections,  the State has begun reining in burdensome costs and recast its financial position from billion-dollar deficits to million-dollar surplus.

How is this being accomplished?  Draconian cuts?  Ending the social safety net?  Throwing grandma off the cliff?  No.  None of that. 

Small adjustments to large spending programs can reap very significant results.  For example:

• Zero-based budgeting.   Don’t start with the assumption we need 100% of what was spent last year, and add a minimum increase (a la CPI plus).  Start with zero – then ask is the program effective, is the spending appropriate, do we need more, can we make due with less.  Instead of government growth-by-design, as is the case with baseline budgeting, we end up with right-sized government in response to the needs of the day.

• Limit collective bargaining for public employee unions on non-wage issues.  This simple change allowed school districts to place teacher’s health insurance up for bid, rather than be forced to buy coverage from the union-owned health insurance carrier.  The result – school districts around the state are saving hundreds of thousands of dollars for the same coverage, are able to spend more money in the classroom, including hiring more teachers, AND some districts are even considering LOWER TAXES in their next fiscal years.

There is so much hyperbolic rhetoric in our national debate it seems as if there are no answers, no direction we can turn to make changes in this country.  We are left in malaise.  That's not what makes America exceptional.  The reality is WE CAN get our financial house in order.  You and I do it with our personal finances month in, month out.  Government can do it too.  All it takes is desire and commitment.

The founders of our Republic saw the states as civic laboratories, where public policy could be deliberated, enacted, tried and tested.  Today, let our state and federal governments look to Wisconsin and use its experience as a guide.  Forward!

Read more:

Report: Wisconsin Union Changes Saving Schools Millions

School districts seeing savings in union changes

Street Justice

A fire-bombing in Tottenham is a natural result of government not doing enough to assure the bomb-throwers’ inclusion in society.  So I shouldn't be surprised by such things since we all know government is imperfect.  Then when people riot and loot it is nothing more than a reflection of the inequities they have suffered.  No more, no less.  I suppose then it should be tolerated since these disenfranchised are simply exercising their personal initiative to take their due.

Am I getting this right?

And so when in Birmingham hooded youths shatter storefronts and strip shelves in search of booty that is simply an adjunct to the existing redistributive work of government – a sort of mano-e-mano tax levy.  In that sense I suppose the looting is a cost-saver, direct redistribution eliminating the state middle-man, reducing the government's burden.  It's actually a good thing in this age of troubling sovereign debt.

Funny though, how at first blush the images seem out of line. I might have called them criminal or even barbarous if it weren't for my budding enlightenment and ongoing re-education. See, that’s how this mindset thing can screw you up. I get so stuck in my own world, I forget that everything is relative and "my" reality is not the same as the other guy’s. What gives me the right to look at someone’s actions and think they’re wrong?  Have I traveled in their moccasins?  Or in this case Nikes, or maybe Birkenstocks.

You’ve got to be careful out there, otherwise you get the wrong impression of people.

Getting My Mind Right - Part II

In my previous assignment I began the work of realigning my world view.  That lesson made apparent that I am out of step with the media and our society in general.  Today’s lesson continues that realignment focusing on my thinking about our governmental institutions. 

On the Role of Government

	What I thought it was…	What it really is…
The US Constitution:	Our guiding framework defining liberty, limiting government.	An impediment to progress.
The Congress:	The seat of representative government ruled by democratic process.	A secretive, front-group dedicated to socialist ideology.
The Senate:	The world’s greatest deliberative body.	A body of self-directed rulers- for-life.
The Supreme Court:	The arbiter between our laws and the courts, to assure their alignment with the Constitution.	Where laws are made.
The Presidency:	Popularly elected head of the Executive Branch, head of state and commander-in-chief.	Revisionist historian tasked with deconstructing our role as leader of the free world.
The States:	The several political entities empowered by and for the benefit of their respective constituents, invested with all rights of its people, except for those delineated powers given to the federal government.	The local organs of government responsible to fund and implement federal mandates.

This is harder than I thought it would be.  I didn't realize I was this confused.  I can see I have a lot of work to do.  I'm glad I'm getting a jump on it.