dagblog - Comments for "Darrell Issa's anti-regulation scam - easier than stealing cars"

Yeah he wants to fill his

Richard Day — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:40:33 +0000

In reply to Darrell Issa's anti-regulation scam - easier than stealing cars

Yeah he wants to fill his coffers with corporate bribes.

I am supposed to give thought to both sides as it were.

The new moderate view of life.

BULLSHITE!

he's nothing but a crook. Except nowadays he aint out stealing cars with his brother!

I just read that Issa is in

Donal — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:31:50 +0000

In reply to Darrell Issa's anti-regulation scam - easier than stealing cars

I just read that Issa is in conflict with the GAO. Seems the GAO sent people pretending to be prospective students to some of these for-profit colleges to see if they would collude on some financial shenanigans. Sounds a bit like the Acorn sting:

To illustrate, he played a series of video clips that showed recruiters encouraging fictional students to falsify their financial-aid forms and providing misleading information about their colleges' costs and graduates' earning potential.

In one clip, a recruiter tells a prospective student that barbers could earn up to $1,000 a day, even though 90 percent of barbers make less than $43,000 a year, according to the Labor Department. In another, a college representative assures an investigator that students loans aren't like car loans, "where if you don't pay, they come after you." In fact, student loans are one of the only forms of consumer debt that can't be discharged in bankruptcy.

In a third clip, a recruiter tells an investigator that he can't speak to a financial-aid adviser until after enrolling. When the fake student hesitates, the recruiter agrees to get a financial-aid adviser, but returns with his supervisor, who badgers the student and eventually rips up his application.

The for-profits are fighting back, and Issa is helping them.

I guess I'm okay with

Michael Maiello — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:17:46 +0000

In reply to Darrell Issa's anti-regulation scam - easier than stealing cars

I guess I'm okay with businesses wanting to reopen some debates that they've previously lost. Nothing should be set in stone, after all. But we should force them to be honest about what it is they really want and how it will effect people. Issa's trick just buries the stuff. It's all about the weight of the document and the number of complaints and not at all about the details. Which is too bad because we could probably have an honest conversation about some regulations. Access to experimental drugs for ailing people, for example, would be a great debate to have between the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry and the public. It's a debate that might even favor business. But Issa's isn't interested in the merits of any one issue. Which is no surprise, of course, but also can't be repeated often enough.