Working Class --- No, Wait --- EVERYBODY Watch, Day 382

Those few folks who drop by this site from time to time (Hi Loren! Hi Missy! Hi Bri!) may recall that back in September, I basically made the site into a public service announcement about the Equifax hack that resulted in the personal data (SSNs, addresses, drivers licenses, etc.) of roughly 143 million people getting stolen by hackers.  This opened up roughly half of the adult population of the United States to identity theft, which is a particularly nasty crime to fall victim to.

Perhaps I'm projecting, but I believe there was more or less universal outrage about this hack, and an expectation on the part of many people that the government might intercede and punish Equifax somehow.  I mean, after all, there IS an agency called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for crying out loud.

Of course, those expecting help from the government had obviously forgotten who's running things these days:

Equifax (EFX.N) said in September that hackers stole personal data it had collected on some 143 million Americans. Richard Cordray, then the CFPB director, authorized an investigation that month, said former officials familiar with the probe.

But Cordray resigned in November and was replaced by Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget chief. The CFPB effort against Equifax has sputtered since then, said several government and industry sources, raising questions about how Mulvaney will police a data-warehousing industry that has enormous sway over how much consumers pay to borrow money.

. . .

Three sources say, though, Mulvaney, the new CFPB chief, has not ordered subpoenas against Equifax or sought sworn testimony from executives, routine steps when launching a full-scale probe. Meanwhile the CFPB has shelved plans for on-the-ground tests of how Equifax protects data, an idea backed by Cordray. 

If anyone who voted for Trump stumbles onto this site, I hope they'll start to see that the reason I take the time to write blog posts about Trump being a horrible president has nothing to do with personal hatred of the man, or anti-Republican partisanship.

It's because he's a truly horrible president, and every day brings a new story about how he makes America less great.