Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 8/23/84; site ucbcad.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!ucbvax!ucbcad!faustus From: faustus@ucbcad.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Re: Collecting debts & Libertarianism Message-ID: <34@ucbcad.UUCP> Date: Sun, 23-Dec-84 14:26:34 EST Article-I.D.: ucbcad.34 Posted: Sun Dec 23 14:26:34 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 25-Dec-84 02:42:28 EST References: <3160@alice.UUCP> <29200175@uiucdcs.UUCP> <168@mhuxr.UUCP> <293@ssc-vax.UUCP> Organization: UC Berkeley CAD Group, Berkeley, CA Lines: 39 > > Suppose I owe you $1,000 and refuse to pay. You decide to use > > force to collect your debt, so you send your police to my house to > > force me to pay up. They are met by a squad of MY police who > > say that they do not recognize the legitimacy of your claim. > > > > Result: gang warfare. > > It might be instructive to see what happens today: I owe you > (you being a local business, like a furniture store) some money and > refuse to pay. After deciding it is a bad debt, you can turn it over > to a collection agency. They will send letters and telephone and > generally pester me until I either pay up or they too decide it is > a bad debt. You now report me to a credit reporting firm, who lists > me as a bad credit risk. I now find it very difficult to borrow money > from anyone. If they are willing to lend to me, it will be at much > higher rates, or they will demand something of value as security > (like pawn shops do). In any case the cost of credit for me goes way > up. > There is no need for force, and no need for government intervention. > In fact, as has happened to many people, you can be turned down for > a loan by having an insufficient credit record. You could be a > perfect angel, but until you prove youself reliable to the lender, > you won't get that loan in the first place. > Now, if you lent me the money without checking my credit > references, and without requireing security for the loan, you took > an awfully big risk. If I turn out to be a bad borrower, hiring > thugs is not an appropriate response. Learning to be more cautious > in lending is. I haven't been involved in any bad debts (on either end), so I may be wrong, but if I had a bad debt I would fully expect to be taken to small claims court and be told that I had to pay off the debt, assuming I hadn't declared bankruptcy. Maybe some people who have experience with the way that collection agencies work can say how well these agencies would work without government help... I suspect that it would be a lot easier to pull off identity changes and create fake backgrounds without government enforcement of fraud laws. Wayne