Re: ID card from hell

[frissell@panix.com (Duncan Frissell)]

At 12:29 PM 7/15/94 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote:

>Not addressed in Duncan's essay was my chief concern: The "National
>Benefits Card" is required to get license plate tags. (And maybe other
>things, like car and home insurance, etc.)

This can't be required because corporations and other legal entities can own
cars and these entities can, in turn, be owned by non-resident foreigners.
Funny story.  A couple of weeks ago, I rented a car from (a major car rental
agency) in a NE state.  They gave it to me for a week.  It had Florida
plates.  The registration expired at the end of June, three days into my
week-long rental.  I drove an "unregistered" car with the permission (albeit
unknowing) of a major corporation for 4 days. 

Also hard to break the Clean Team/Dirty Team technique where one family
member owns the cars and the others drive.  Same with property ownership.
If demand develops, I expect that some enterprising members of the
"underclass" will be able to rent their identities or rights to conduct
transactions to those who need them.  Government penalties won't faze them. 

>If I fail to pay, I lose my car insurance (which makes me ripe for a
>"deep pockets" lawsuit by anyone who gets into an accident with me).
>Lots of other implications. Very real implications. 

It is *much* easier to protect your assets from a private party than from
the government.  Private parties usually can't afford to sue you in the Cook
Islands to try and break your Foreign Asset Protection Trust.  

>I continue to see great dangers here, in tying a national ID card to
>transactions we are essentially unable to avoid in this society:
>driving, insurance (and let's not argue insurance...I mean it is
>unavoidable in the sense of legal issues, torts, etc.), border
>crossings, etc.

Tim, I sense that you suffer from the great American Insurance Addiction.
The belief that it is possible to eliminate all risk if you pay massive
amounts of money to an insurance company.  This tends not to work.  It leads
to mandatory insurance laws that lead to exploding insurance costs that lead
to system collapse.  Judgment proofing oneself is cheaper.

>Now how will one file taxes without such a card if one is made
>mandatory for interactions with the government? Saying "taxes are not
>collectable" is not an adequate answer. They may not be collectible
>for street punks and others who inhabit the underground economy, but
>they sure are for folks like me.

If you fail to include your SS# on your tax form but it is otherwise
complete and they have their dough, they don't prosecute.  Remember "Have
Spacesuit, Will Travel" in which our hero's father kept his money in several
cookie jars including one labeled "Uncle Sam" and then once a year emptied
that one out and sent it to the government:

IRS Agent:  But you have to fill out a tax form
Taxpayer:   The government can't even require that you be able to read and
write.

In 1993, the IRS referred approximately 350 cases to the Justice Department
for criminal prosecution.  Out of 20 million tax evaders that's a pretty
blunt sword.

Note that the current ID requirements under the 1986 Immigration Act have
had the sole effect of *dropping* the price of an SS Card and a California
Driver's License on the streets of East LA from circa $50 to circa $20 (due
to economies of scale presumably).  More technically advanced ID will merely
encourage people to become self employed (a good thing in any case).
Germany has much tighter ID requirements than we do.  Illegals there work
through contract employment firms that accept the risk for profit.

On the subject of border controls.  The DDR tried machine guns, barbed wire,
and concrete as border controls.  It worked for less than 30 years and "that
was then this is now."  Things move faster these days.  Even with
anti-foreigner hysteria, Germany, France, and the Benelux countries recently
eliminated crossing controls.  The others in the EU "inner 9" should follow
soon.  NAFTA should reduce ours as well.  Note BTW that Mexican vehicles
(including trucks) will get ease of entry in a couple of years.  Good place
to register your car?

As more countries become "developed" and world real income doubles and
doubles again (with shorter doubling times) travel for all purposes will
explode.  It will make current travel rates (the highest in history) look
insignificant.  Swamping is bound to occur.

Since we've established that direct application of force will have to be
increasingly rare (cost factors) that leaves control freaks with only denial
of service to fall back on.  Since DOS leaves unfilled demands (if the
service denied is something people actually want) it will create its own
market opportunity.  Markets have become *much* more efficient at this sort
of arbitrage these days.  Note that those denied credit cards because of bad
credit suddenly have dozens of secured credit cards to choose from.  

Tim has claimed that the government will get markets to reject willing
customers who have money to spend because they lack their 'US Card'.  That
runs counter to the entire history of markets.  People will find a way to
buy what they want.  DOS attacks will just leave people increasingly outside
the government system where some of us want to see them in any case.

DCF

"What is the first thing a 'Rocket Scientist' Derivative Designer says when
he's told that Chairman Gonzales of the House Banking Committee is out to
crush derivatives.  'Gee, you mean to tell me that I'll have to charge
another couple a hundred thou to design a new derivative to eliminate the
new regs?  No rest for the weary.'"