harryh

72 ms·

721.
by harryh 7y ago
I definitely agree that path dependency issues are deeply connected to this problem.
722.
by harryh 7y ago
And even for people who have most of their net worth tied up in appreciated housing have high incomes when you count imputed rent. Which, if you are not counting, you are just being silly.
723.
by harryh 7y ago
And those people now have high incomes due to the return on capital they can get from their net worth.
724.
by harryh 7y ago
If you have a high income you can more easily solve this problem with insurance than accumulating a huge amount of capital.
725.
by harryh 7y ago
This tool is important because it makes clear one of the biggest problems in America: the rich refuse to believe they are rich. In Europe, top income tax rates kick in at far lower incomes often just 2-3X the median income. The additional t
726.
by harryh 7y ago
Wealth and income are very highly correlated especially when you also take into account age.
727.
by harryh 7y ago
~1.6 million employees + their families for CalPERS
728.
by harryh 7y ago
Some points of comparison. - CalPERS[1] has about $360 billion in assets under management. - The US Social Security Trust fund (which, depending on your POV you might count as an accounting fiction) is about $2.9 trillion. - Vanguard has ab
729.
by harryh 7y ago
This is an oft passed around urban legend, but it's not true. You can try for yourself by opening up a free CreditKarma account and seeing what happens if you zero out all your balances.
730.
by harryh 7y ago
Maybe just go upthread to patrick's comment on the topic. He's a much better writer than me. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20580478
731.
by harryh 7y ago
You wouldn't expect to be able to redline the part of a loan contract where you have to pay the money back. This is similar to that. Just because you don't have options to cut essential parts of the contract out doesn't mean
732.
by harryh 7y ago
it's an industry cartel and we need to look at regulating There are ALL KINDS of regulations around banking and credit reporting. All of the wacky things you mention are already not allowed.
733.
by harryh 7y ago
Indeed, that would be a 2nd incorrect thing about the title.
734.
by harryh 7y ago
Yes, if you want to borrow money, the person loaning you money is generally going to insist that you opt into the system that helps them understand if you are a good credit risk or not. That's not an unfair request on their part. Don&#
735.
by harryh 7y ago
I am glad that my offer to take you up on your bet has lead you to clarify your position into something less hyperbolic. Precision is important.
736.
by harryh 7y ago
On the contrary, the modern credit scoring system has been a huge success when it comes to fighting discrimination. Previously banks left underwriting decisions to the whims of individual bankers. Unsurprisingly, many of these whims were ba
737.
by harryh 7y ago
Given that it's extremely likely that the number of people who opt out will be quite small, it's hard to imagine such an undertaking getting off the ground.
738.
by harryh 7y ago
Banks and credit card issuers all pay hefty sums of money to the reporting agencies to use in underwriting their loans. They wouldn't do this if they weren't helpful in modeling risk.
739.
by harryh 7y ago
I would like to bet $1,000 that the payment ends up being $1 or more per claimant. You in?
740.
by harryh 7y ago
Your anecdote is interesting but does not constitute data on the overall predictive powers of credit scores.
741.
by harryh 7y ago
My understanding was that the equifax settlement was for 6-700 million, yet this page indicates that there is only 31 million set aside to cover cash payouts to class members. I'm curious about where the rest of the money went. Does an
742.
by harryh 7y ago
The math behind credit scores is quite good. They're very effective at predicting credit risk.
743.
by harryh 7y ago
Yes, of you opt out of a class action settlement you reserve the right to sue in the future. That being said, it would be expensive to go it alone. Some parties have had success in small claims court though (there have been previous HN comm
744.
by harryh 7y ago
I don't believe that the title of this post is correct. The link in that tweet is to ftc.gov not equifax.com. This makes me think that the FTC, not equifax, was the party that removed the option.
745.
by harryh 7y ago
There is no reason at all to believe this. Search engines provide a huge benefit to sites which is why they let search crawlers access them. Even today anyone who wants to opt out of being in the Google (or MSFT, or whoever) search engine c
746.
by harryh 7y ago
OK sure, but that isn't happening to most harvested lumber either.
747.
by harryh 7y ago
Sure it is. Harvested lumber doesn't release its CO2 back into the atmosphere unless you burn it.
748.
by harryh 7y ago
~1.6 billion trees are planted in the US every year and the total area of forested land in the US has been consistently growing since 1990.
749.
by harryh 7y ago
That's definitely not true. There is all kinds of information about me out in the world that does not appear in my equifax credit report. The only thing that's in there outside of financial information is my name and a list of pla
750.
by harryh 7y ago
Tracks what? The fact that you exist? That's public record.

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