What pisses me off is -- WHERE exactly is that $5B going to be spent.
We hear about fines and such going into the "general fund" -- I think this is BS - the public should be specifically the ones to benefit _directly_ from such corporate overreach fines and such.
Housing fines should buy houses.
Financial fraud should pay those defrauded - directly.
Cyber [crimes?] should be paid to directly protect users
etc....
We have heard of so many fines in the past, but no real transparency on exactly how they are spent.
And it shouldnt be in some obtuse web/budget location to determine...
There should be a dedicated fines.gov or some such that lists every single company fined, how much and how it was spent.
Apparently most of the fines go straight to the "US Treasury." Basically, congress decides how to spend the money. That makes some sense: at least it is being spent by people who are elected, so that there is a chance at accountability.
However, it also doesn't make sense, because it doesn't seem "fair." The money from fines should be used to compensate victims.
That being said, compare this to the common practice of civil forfeiture: The money often goes back to the very same government entities who took the money. This is very bad because it incentivizes government agencies to be way too aggressive.
On balance, I think it might be better for the money to go back to the general fund. That way the temptation for corruption is severely mitigated. Though, I'm not sure about this, as I haven't spent much time thinking about it. There could, perhaps, be a more nuanced approach, based on each unique agencies needs/situation. That would require a lot of legislation, though.
Earmarking money at a too granular level is a great way to lower the efficiency of government. I also don't see why it should be the case that this money gets spent in the same domain it was levied, the whole point of democratic institutions is to be able to set priorities dynamically.
Many excellent points -- and this is a key part of the discussion when it comes to fine.
The post above has emotion -- and I'm personally ok with that -- but I think it would be better received without the two letter abbreviations for swear words.
We hear about fines and such going into the "general fund" -- I think this is BS - the public should be specifically the ones to benefit _directly_ from such corporate overreach fines and such.
Housing fines should buy houses.
Financial fraud should pay those defrauded - directly.
Cyber [crimes?] should be paid to directly protect users
etc....
We have heard of so many fines in the past, but no real transparency on exactly how they are spent.
And it shouldnt be in some obtuse web/budget location to determine...
There should be a dedicated fines.gov or some such that lists every single company fined, how much and how it was spent.