

Privacy Problems with Planned Financial Services Regulation - grellas
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703871904575216404010055506.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTSecondBucket

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anigbrowl
Er...my bank already records the location of deposits (and spending on my
cards) and my statements for the last three years are online. Additionally,
they are required to notify the government of any cash transactions I make
exceeding $5000, under the Patriot Act. I question the idea that this is some
sort of attempt to create a command economy...the Cato institute strike me as
a somewhat ideological in economic matters.

In any case, executive support for a separate Consumer Financial Protection
Agency, like that for the $50 bn liquidation fund, is weak.

For a little perspective, here's the Cato institute's fairly relaxed review of
the Patriot Act in practice:
<http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10692> Though they've filed a few
_amicus curiae_ briefs over 'enemy combatant' detentions they haven't exactly
been at the forefront of electronic privacy issues.

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loup-vaillant
Two things:

First, what is a financial transaction that the government isn't aware about,
if not black market?

Second, the government wants financial data for regulation purposes. I fail to
see how a "competitive environment for financial data" (IIRC, private
companies close to financial interests) could be trusted with the gathering of
such data. We could easily have conflicts of interests.

