CONSUMER CREDIT DATA PROPOSAL
(First submitted to Congress and President Obama in Early 2009)
American Consumer Credit Data Security and Outsourced Employment Repatriation Act of 2014
Recent events in India and Pakistan as well as North Africa and the Middle East have, collectively, shown that hostility toward Western civilians, Western Institutions, and Western Nations is on the increase, as demonstrated by a seemingly endless parade of terrorist activities.
In many nations, terrorists have carried out attacks against Western interests through, not only bombings, kidnappings, and other acts of violence, but by internet-based attacks, which often exploit personal information from servers in the United States. One reason for such exploitation is to be found in the increasing access that English-speaking nations have to U.S. banking, finance and collection institutions, which have, increasingly “outsourced” everything from routine account creation and maintenance activities to collection of debts of every kind and character. As such, the same United States corporate entities have served to create opportunities for internet-based terrorism, which now includes running sophisticated embezzlement and other “scam” operations against unsuspecting Americans. The scams, not-unlike dealing drugs or prostitutes, are, in-turn, used to finance any number of nefarious schemes.
While some “outsourcing” of work to markets where labor costs are less may make some business sense, even if this practices reduces American jobs, there seems to be a limit where, exceeding said limit would put profits ahead of National Security, even if one has no regard for privacy or other consumer rights for Americans.
In sum, I submit that the curtailment of these opportunities for Internet-based terrorism is in the highest National Security Interests. In many ways, this objective is completely in line with those very few otherwise Constitutionally-legal ideas expressed within the U.S.A. Patriot Act. It is perhaps most ironic that, while the Patriot Act was passed in the alleged name of National Security, with all its banking limitations on ordinary citizens, that U.S. Banks and other large corporations, engaged in debt collections and other financial services operations have been permitted to EXPORT PRIVATE U.S. CITIZEN BANKING, CREDIT, AND PERSONAL DATA TO COUNTRIES KNOWN TO BE HARBOURING AL QAEDA OPERATIONS.
Accordingly, the solution seems simple enough:
Make it illegal for any U.S. Banking, collection agency, or other financial services company; together with any U.S.-based telecommunications or Internet service company, to use ANY Non-USA person or other entity, whether or not said person or business entity is employed by or under contract to any USA person or other entity.
Enforcement should be easy enough. The FED and the Treasury Department have largely taken control of many of the US banks and should give them 60 days to cease and desist from all foreign operations involving servicing United States citizens, whether for credit, collections, any other financial service or product, telecommunications account(s) or Internet Service Provider (ISP) accounts, together with any other forms of remote technical support.
Suggested penalties for failure to comply might include, but should not be limited to, (1) revocation of the violator’s bank or other institutional charter and (2) imprisonment and fines against any such violator institutions President, CEO, Board Chairman, and all Board members.
There is little doubt that many in the business community will be against this idea, since they will claim it will affect their bottom line. However, the National Security implications of this issue are real enough. Further and finally, businesses that voluntarily take steps to comply with these new measure, if enacted, will be perceived as being both patriotic and as good corporate citizens, since they will almost certainly re-employ some of the many, many thousands of Americans who have been displaced by these “outsourcing” practices over the recent years in the banking, collection, financial services, telecommunications, and ISP service industries, together with firms offering all forms of remote technical support.
One good policy measure to encourage voluntary compliance might be to offer a one-time tax incentive to US businesses who comply with this measure in less than the 60 days I have suggested. I would make them show and certify that ALL foreign operations had been terminated (verified by the US Commercial Services branch of the Embassies of the countries involved) and that they had created, one-for-one a like job in the United States, replacing, one-for-one, the job formerly outsourced in some foreign country. I would offer a one-time corporate tax credit of $14,560.00 (One person, at $7.00 per hour, for one normal year of employment) per person, per job, returned in this manner to the United States from some foreign jurisdiction, if and only if, the foreign jurisdiction operation is closed altogether (certified as mentioned above) and a corresponding new job in the United States is created to replace the former“outsourced” job (to be verified by the U.S. Department of Labor and co-coordinated with the State Department on the foreign side, for one-to-one correspondence verifications).
To review, the job areas targeted for“re-patriation”:
1. All servicing of U.S. citizen (personal and/or corporate) banking and other financial services accounts for U.S. citizens;
2. ALL servicing of U.S. citizen(personal and/or corporate) collection activities carried out by any company or individual, whether or not organized, chartered or situated within the United States;
3. ALL servicing of U.S. citizen (personal and/or corporate) telecommunications accounts;
4. ALL servicing of U.S. citizen (personal and/or corporate) Internet Service Provider (ISP) accounts and/or other forms of remote technical support.
It is my firm belief that these actions will increase the National Security Interests of the United States by denying opportunities for financing terror operations via various forms of internet and other identity fraud.
Further and finally, these measures will re-create U.S. jobs at a maximum cost to the American taxpayers of $14,560.00 per job. Under this plan, the entire 2.5 million new jobs targeted by the incoming Obama Administration could, theoretically, cost the taxpayers $36.4 Billion dollars, assuming there are 2.5 million outsourced service industry jobs that are covered by this proposal.
ADDENDUM:
While the basis for this proposed legislation was the idea that increasing U.S. national data security could become the basis for repatriation of millions of American jobs lost to this type of activity over the past decade, it is worth noting that similar, parallel legislation should be considered for enactment which similarly bars outsourcing of employment in other areas not covered by this proposed legislation.
I speak, specifically, here about the United States automotive industry and any other industry that has come to the U.S. taxpayers for some kind of “bail-out”. Right now, it is just the banks and financial institutions. However, if the Detroit automakers are to receive money or other help of any kind from the American taxpayers, they should berequired to eliminate jobs created in Mexico or Canada, which have displaced U.S. employees, on a similar basis to that proposed for the banks and other outsourced services proposed and covered, by the above proposed legislation.
Such a requirement would not have the effect of altogether negating N.A.F.T.A., but is a permissible activity since the United States does not offer national health insurance like the Canadians do, or pay no regard to environmental protection measures required by international treaties, like the Mexicans do. We only propose tax incentives to create a more “level playing field” for American workers and American Industries.
I would propose that any such legislation use the same target number ($14,560.00 per job) as an appropriate tax credit to repatriate U.S. automotive and other manufacturing jobs back into the United States as part of a general job re-creation program. While it is not necessarily so that any new jobs would be created immediately, it is equally true that any jobs re-patriated under this type of measure are bound to have existed, once-upon-a-time, in the United States. This just brings them home.
