November 18, 2014

Conservatives in Canada have been pushing for pipelines on west coast.

Environmentalists, western First Nations and BC liberals have been fighting, with protests and now with lawsuits.

Here's a link with several articles about Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline plans and protests:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/enbridge-northern-gateway-pipeline/

Here's some info from an article about the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline:

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/former-bc-hydro-ceo-calls-neb-industry-captured-pulls-out-kinder-morgan-hearings

This is a cross border issue:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/10/27/coast-salish-unite-against-tripling-capacity-kinder-morgan-tar-sands-pipeline-157543



I'm in Seattle and the pressure to increase coal trains here is an important issue. I've posted a bit about it before. Here's one from this summer:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3208567

November 9, 2014

"Banks Can’t Get Away With Horrible Mortgage Practices Anymore, So Now They’re Doing It With Car

Loans"

http://consumerist.com/2014/07/21/banks-cant-get-away-with-horrible-mortgage-practices-anymore-so-now-theyre-doing-it-with-car-loans/

Subprime loans: they aren’t just for mortgages anymore. The next big bubble of ill-advised loans to borrowers who can’t pay is coming due. This time, it’s used car dealers reaping the interest and repossessing the cars.
The New York Times reports that subprime auto loans have risen over 130% in the five years since the big financial crisis hit in 2008. Over a quarter of all new auto loans issued in 2013 went to lower-credit borrowers.
The wave of questionable lending is being driven by exactly the same thing that drove the mortgage bubble, according to the NYT: Wall Street firms making a buck on trading packages of bundled loans. These complex bonds then increase the demand (from insurance companies, mutual funds, and financial companies, not from consumers) for more loans, triggering a big cycle.
The subprime loans, meanwhile, come with sky-high interest rates — up to 23%, reports the NYT. They add, “The loans were typically at least twice the size of the value of the used cars purchased, including dozens of battered vehicles with mechanical defects hidden from borrowers.”


Your post is so on point. This is tied to the latest Wall Street plundering. And it's a double hit, since many of the same people who were devastated by the early 2000's Wall Street financial debacle had their credit ratings impacted, so now are being hit by this as well. In the meantime, the same people and their buddies are still cashing on on others' misery.

And similar practices are extending into other arenas- see my post at #216 for more on that.

November 9, 2014

Looks like similar tech use is spreading - $$$ prioritized over privacy, safety and dignity

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/10/16/356693782/your-car-wont-start-did-you-make-the-loan-payment


Other auto repossession technologies have raised data security concerns. In March, The Boston Globe reported that Texas-based company Digital Recognition Network installs automated readers in "spotter cars" around the country that capture images of every license plate they pass. Each picture is sent, along with the time and GPS location at which it was taken, to a database that already contains more than 1.8 billion scans.

Law enforcement has used this technique for decades, but not without its own problems. Boston police suspended their license plate scanning efforts in December 2013 in the wake of news that data on more than 69,000 license plates had been accidentally released.

Subprime borrowers have also been subjected to tracking when purchasing other products with a loan, such as personal computers. In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission charged that several rent-to-own companies had spied on consumers by remotely taking screen shots, tracking computer keystrokes and taking webcam pictures, all without consent. The software, licensed by DesignerWare, also enabled the stores to disable the computer if the renter was late on payment.

Apartments might be another area where technology will begin to play a role when consumers are behind on payments, according to Rotenberg. Electronic lock systems are beginning to be used, and renters could be remotely or automatically locked out of their apartment if they are behind on rent.



Very disturbing!

November 8, 2014

The companies say it doesn't work when car's running. Yet one paid a "confidential settlement" to

Make a case go away.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/miss-a-payment-good-luck-moving-that-car/

Last year, Nevada’s Legislature heard testimony from T. Candice Smith, 31, who said she thought she was going to die when her car suddenly shut down, sending her careening across a three-lane Las Vegas highway.
~~~
“PassTime has no recognition of our devices shutting off a customer while driving,” Ms. Kirkendall of PassTime said.

In her testimony, Ms. Smith, who reached a confidential settlement with C.A.G., said the device made her feel helpless.



All the companies also say they only do this when payments are missed, yet the same article notes that one person had her car turned off four times even though she had met payments each time. In her case, luckily, her car was not on the road, but one of those times was when she needed to take her daughter to the hospital.


Of course, the last thing these companies want is for any of this to be regulated in any meaningful way.