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The US Congress: what a joke

rootabaga

Android Expert
Aug 11, 2014
2,971
8,177
Crazyville, CA
For those who really think we still have a representative government, or at least one that represents "the people," I ask you...who do you know that thinks allowing debt collectors the freedom to robocall mobile phones is a good idea? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

This provision was one of the "last minute additions" that were tacked onto the bipartisan budget bill passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama on Monday. (And don't get me started on this add-on tit-for-tat nonsense, either.)

Here's a few salient points from the article linked below:

Prior to last week's budget deal, automated calls to cellphones were banned under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), which restricted the use of automated dialing. But the measure has proved difficult to enforce. Last year, the FCC received more than 215,000 complaints from people who had received unwanted calls, despite the creation of a Do-Not-Call Registry for consumers who did not want to be called.

The debt-collection industry argues that allowing automated calling will be good for consumers by using "modern dialing technology" to reach them "the way they want to be contacted," according to a statement by ACA International, a trade group representing third-party collection agencies.

This BS is despite the fact that
A CNBC.com analysis of complaints logged in the last two years by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that roughly two-thirds of those that were related to debt collections were from people who didn't owe anyone anything.


I don't know about the rest of you, but I get about two calls a week from debt collectors alleging I owe a debt. Typically it's asserted by a company I have never heard of nor done business with. It's just outright fraud, an attempt to get some money for nothing.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/con...lectors-authority-robocall-cellphones-n458101
 
What about Harry Reid, when he was majority leader, refusing to vote on a bill already passed by the House, saying (in his wimpy voice) "it is dead on arrival" to the Senate. Don't we have 3 branches of govt. (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial), with "checks and balances", so one branch doesn't get too powerful? I guess the Emperor didn't study that either as he passes his own bills when Congress doesn't agree with him.
 
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