How does President Obama propose to reduce America’s nearly $15 trillion debt? In small part, by letting the government’s debt collectors call our cell phones.
Buried on page 28 of the president’s debt plan is a proposal to allow private contractors collecting money owed the federal government to call debtors’ cell phones in their efforts to collect.
The proposal would require changing the Communications Act of 1934, which has been amended to ban such calls.
“This provision is expected to provide substantial increases in collections, particularly as an increasing share of households no longer have landlines and rely instead on cell phones,” according to the proposal.The idea of letting collectors hound us on our cell phones comes sandwiched at the end including letting states collect delinquent income taxes no matter what state the debtors currently live in, and another that reforms the way coal mine cleanup is funded.
In total, the president’s plan would reduce the federal budget deficit by $3 billion, according to the administration’s estimate.
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Christopher Maag
Credit.com’s Reporter, Chris graduated with honors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and has reported for a number of publications including The New York Times, TIME magazine and Popular Mechanics. Reach Chris via email at chris (@) credit.com.
