4 ms·

Afaik in Belgium, and in most of th EU, there is a credit registry, managed by the governement. If you have too much debt, you get on a blacklist and won't ge

Afaik in Belgium, and in most of th EU, there is a credit registry, managed by the governement. If you have too much debt, you get on a blacklist and won't get off until enough is paid back. While far from perfect, it seems a lot better than the USA system. But it requires a functioning ID system and some trust in the governement.

_23sd 4y ago
The idea of a government run debtor blacklist has been thoroughly demonized in America for the past decade through news stories about “social credit” in China. Maybe it works in Europe but if you wanted something similar in America it’s going take a long time for people to forget that stuff, even if it was sensationalized.
- enlyth 4y ago
  Because private companies such as Experian and Equifax have worked out so well. Surely they have had no instances of massive data breaches or anything that would impact millions of individuals adversely.
Mountain_Skies 4y ago
The government threatened to cut people off from the water and sewage system if they didn't agree to pandemic rules. In the USA it is expected that any power the government achieves will eventually be abused to harm non-compliant citizens. In this case, if you don't agree to the whims of a bureaucrat, you lose access to credit. With the current system, that wasn't an option, but it's been made clear that any power they get their hands on, they will abuse. As long as that's the case, people will prefer the current broken system run by sociopathic corporations over one with the government in control.
- powerhour 4y ago
  > The government threatened to cut people off from the water and sewage system if they didn't agree to pandemic rules. I did some searching and wasn't able to find any information about this. Do you remember where it happened or where you read about it?

4 ms·

Afaik in Belgium, and in most of th EU, there is a credit registry, managed by the governement. If you have too much debt, you get on a blacklist and won't ge

by hyperman1 4y ago

_23sd 4y ago
The idea of a government run debtor blacklist has been thoroughly demonized in America for the past decade through news stories about “social credit” in China. Maybe it works in Europe but if you wanted something similar in America it’s going take a long time for people to forget that stuff, even if it was sensationalized.
- enlyth 4y ago
  Because private companies such as Experian and Equifax have worked out so well. Surely they have had no instances of massive data breaches or anything that would impact millions of individuals adversely.
Mountain_Skies 4y ago
The government threatened to cut people off from the water and sewage system if they didn't agree to pandemic rules. In the USA it is expected that any power the government achieves will eventually be abused to harm non-compliant citizens. In this case, if you don't agree to the whims of a bureaucrat, you lose access to credit. With the current system, that wasn't an option, but it's been made clear that any power they get their hands on, they will abuse. As long as that's the case, people will prefer the current broken system run by sociopathic corporations over one with the government in control.
- powerhour 4y ago
  > The government threatened to cut people off from the water and sewage system if they didn't agree to pandemic rules. I did some searching and wasn't able to find any information about this. Do you remember where it happened or where you read about it?