If receive a debt validation letter, please read the fine print on both the stationary and envelope!

Debt collection tactics in the AE case:

• The top of the letter contains an address, but no company name.
• In small type at the bottom right of the letter are the initials DBAMEXBS….as in, Doing Business as American Express BS!
• The envelope contains no company name or address.
• The date of the letter is different than the official “post office” date on the envelope.  The date on the envelope reveals that it was mailed ten days later. Why the time lag?
• The sender gives the intended victim 30 days to dispute the debt “from the date of this letter” (or else!).  By holding the letter for two weeks, the debt collection group hopes to heighten fear in the heart of the recipient – convincing them to call the phone number listed on the letter.
• Even the amount of the disputed debt is wrong.
• The zip code included on the stationary and envelope are not even close.

If you receive an American Express debt collection letter that appears fraudulent, don’t call the number listed! If the sender failed to include your full credit card number, they don’t have it. Don’t provide it.

Phone American Express directly to validate your debt.  If you owe money but don’t wish to phone American Express, you should: 1) contact an attorney; or 2) respond in a few sentences stating that you dispute the debt. Full stop. No more.  Type your name, but don’t sign the letter. Don’t give your signature to crooks.

How could such a debt collection group get their hands on American Express credit card dispute cases?

The following article by Jeffrey Horowitz of the American Banker provides insight.

Bank of America has sold collections agencies rights to sue over credit card debts that it has privately noted were potentially inaccurate or already repaid.

In a series of 2009 and 2010 transactions, Bank of America sold credit card receivables to an outfit called CACH LLC, based in Denver. Co. Each month CACH bought debts with a face value of as much as $65 million for 1.8 cents on the dollar. At least a portion of the debts were legacy accounts acquired from MBNA, which Bank of America purchased in 2006.

The pricing reflected the accounts’ questionable quality, but what is notable is that the bank could get anything at all for them. B of A was not making “any representations, warranties, promises, covenants, agreements, or guaranties of any kind or character whatsoever” about the accuracy or completeness of the debts’ records, according to a 2010 credit card sales agreement submitted to a California state court in a civil suit involving debt that B of A had sold to CACH.

In the “as is” documents Bank of America has drawn up for such sales, it warned that it would initially provide no records to support the amounts it said are owed and might be unable to produce them. It also stated that some of the claims it sold might already have been extinguished in bankruptcy court. B of A has additionally cautioned that it might be selling loans whose balances are “approximate” or that consumers have already paid back in full. Maryland resident Karen Stevens was the victim of one such sale, which resulted in a three-year legal battle (see related story).

Bank of America declined requests to comment for this story, other than to say through spokeswoman Betty Riess that it works with credit card customers to try to resolve delinquent debt issues. CACH did not respond to several phone and email messages seeking comment on the terms of its purchases.

Some industry observers said that the language in Bank of America’s sales documents should be regarded as standard legalese intended to protect it against a disgruntled buyer’s legal claims. And even though Bank of America refused to stand behind the accuracy of the records it sold, debt buyers are the ones who make the call to sue.

Protecting your rights,

Dr. Joyce Starr

Related Post:

Credit Card Company Beats Wall Street Estimates by Raising Interest Rates

Master Card and Visa have been gouging cardholders for years, while American Express remained consumer and small business-owner friendly. Not any more. American Express raised interest rates about a year ago. Rates were hiked by over 5 percent annually in our low interest economy. The purported reason: Too many cardholders were walking away …

American Express Credit Fraud Alert – Phony Debt Collection on Behalf of American Express originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on May 14, 2012.

Rates were hiked by over 5 percent annually in our low interest economy.

The purported reason: Too many cardholders were walking away from their obligations. Or so American Express said.

Naturally, the company beat recent estimates with a fantastic quarter in October, 2011 by borrowing low and charging high. (What a surprise.)

Small business owners tend to carry a higher monthly balance, with carry-over.  Those who continued to pay their monthly bill on time were penalized, and economic life became even more difficult.  With the increase in rates, hundreds of thousands (or perhaps millions) of cardholders might never catch up to their debt.

American Express made out like a …bank… on the backs of loyal cardholders.

While American Express rates still remain substantially lower than the competition, there is no excuse for a 15 to 22 percent/plus interest rate by any credit card company – especially on customers with excellent payment records.  But who is going to stop them?

American Express told cardholders: If you don’t accept the increase, you can close the card,  but you must pay the remaining balance due – with heavy interest of course.

Perhaps it’s time for closer scrutiny.

Here’s what American Express said in 2010:

“We still face the challenge of high unemployment levels, depressed real estate values, and shrunken household balance sheets, but the overall economy and our company are in stronger shape than they were a year ago,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth I. Chenault.  Shares  were trading at $41.81.

By October, 2011, earnings had risen to over $1.00 per share, the company was worth more than $5.7 billion and their stock prices exceeded $52 at it’s October high – more than a 30% percent increase.  Shareholders were celebrating.  Cardholders….not so much.

Credit Card Company Beats Wall Street Estimates by Raising Interest Rates originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on November 6, 2011.

[Dr. Goldenberg is the author of Creating Condo & Homeowner Association Documents and The Art of War 3: Canons of Commerce.]

Here’s a mutually exclusive and exhaustive list of the broad families of strategies to deal with the current U.S. economic crisis. Which would you prefer? Tell your Congressmen.

I. Dabble and dither: This is our current strategy. Both political parties persist in offering variations of this inferior choice. Why inferior? Because the specific proposals either address only part of the problem or are economically unsound or ineffective. Each political party takes turns proposing treatment(s) which the other adamantly opposes. Relying primarily on an austerity program, a special case of fiscal policy, is one example. A dabbling and dithering strategy enables politicians to avoid doing anything they might later regret personally while allowing them to continue to hope that the problem eventually will evaporate without changing the status quo.

II. Devalue: Previously known as inflation or printing money wherein worthless dollars are used to pay off our debts. This special case of monetary policy simply would make things much worse. (Monetary policy is the exclusive province of the Federal Reserve Bank. But the Fed recently admitted that it has all but exhausted the power of monetary policy except for devaluation. Presumably the Fed hopes that some other policy set [fiscal, human, …] or combination will do the job. Finding that set is up to some other part(s) of the government. Viewed positively, this is an opportunity to earn lots of curses in Mandarin.)

III. Dump on other countries: Boost our economy by exporting more. Exports are such a tiny part of our economy that even tripling exports wouldn’t help much. Besides, the potential target countries are too weak economically to buy so vast a quantity of exports.

IV. Default: renege on the prior commitment to repay the debt and interest on it. Defaulting not only would cause a long and deep global recession but also would ruin the U.S. dollar’s reputation as having the world’s safest currency.

V. Destroy: World War II brought the world out of the Great Depression. But a replay is unaffordable today in both blood and treasure.

VI. Daring: Several generations of ignorant, desperate and apathetic voters allowed short-sighted, self-serving politicians to unintentionally create this mess. A consensus of experts’ recommendations is more likely to get us out of this mess than any proposals by the politicians who caused it or let it happen.

© 2011 David I. Goldenberg, Ph.D. Boynton Beach, FL USA

US Economic Crisis Options: Dabble, dither, dump, default, destroy or be daring originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on September 25, 2011.

The following article was authored and shared with our readers by Florida foreclosure expert, attorney Evan Rosen.  I interviewed Evan on the foreclosure process, specifically: how banks and third-party groups foreclose on homes without proper documents – and ways you can stop them.  Enjoy the audio and Evan Rosen’s insightful article below. ~ Dr. Joyce Starr

Understanding the Foreclosure Process

by Attorney Evan Rosen

We all regularly hear about the “foreclosure crisis” going on in our country but what you may not know is that the situation in Florida is far worse than in any other state. According to the latest statistics released by the Mortgage Banker’s Association, Florida accounts for 23.7% of all foreclosures nationwide; which correlates to 466,454 homes. Not only is this the largest number of any other state, it is larger than the total number of loans in 22 other states combined. The result is our courts are backed up with a caseload of 260,185 cases. Couple that with the termination of special court funding for foreclosure cases which took effect on July 1st and it appears the crisis in Florida is only getting worse.

So how did this backlog swell to such an enormous figure? Why does it take so long for a bank to foreclose?

This was not always the case, right? Well, we know that before Wall Street started selling shares of stocks in pools of mortgages through a process known as securitization, foreclosures could be handled within a few months. Now, in great part due to the banks’ rush to profit and lack of proper simple documentation required in any real estate or mortgage transfer, as well as the lack of complicated documentation required as a result of the securitization process, no one knows how long some cases will take because in many instances no one can properly prove who is entitled to foreclose.

Like every other plaintiff in any civil lawsuit, the plaintiff has the burden to prove all elements of their case by a “preponderance” or greater weight of the evidence. In a foreclosure action, the entity entitled to foreclose must successfully prove by this standard, among other things, that they are the proper party; the entity or person actually entitled to receive payments due under the terms of the note; and/or the party entitled to foreclose under the terms of the mortgage.

This is generally referred to as “legal standing” and often, the banks cannot prove they have it. What follows is a chart illustrating the time periods in the pre-foreclosure and foreclosure process in Florida.

PRE-FORECLOSURE TIMELINE

Day 1 Payment due, no payment made
Day 7-1 Call from Lender/Mortgage Servicer
Day 16 Late charges begin to accrue
Day 20-25 Call and letter from Lender/Mortgage Servicer
Day 30 Default reported to Credit Bureaus; Lender/Mortgage Servicer sends second letter
Day 40 Lender/Mortgage Servicer sends letter with payment options
Day 60 Lender/Mortgage Servicer sends demand letter or “Acceleration Notice,” Credit Bureaus update their reports.
Day 90 Lender/Mortgage Servicer sends file to attorney, Credit Bureaus update their reports
Day 90+ Any time after 90 days the entity claiming their entitlement to foreclose can file suit. In a scenario in which the entity seeking to foreclose is not the same entity as the original mortgagee or lender, and with competent counsel, this process alone can take more than 12 months.

FORECLOSURE TIMELINE

Day 1 Complaint and Lis Pendens are filed and served with a summons on the property owner.
Day 20 A responsive pleading is due. If not filed, plaintiff moves for default judgment. With competent legal counsel, there can be a multitude of legitimate issues raised via motions, hearings, and discovery requests which would extend this time period greatly.
Day 45 – 60 (If not represented by competent counsel) – Court schedules hearing for default judgment and at the hearing enters final judgment of foreclosure. By statute, the court should order the sale of the property on a specified day within 20-35 days of the order. However, sales can still lawfully take place later than 35 days and are sometimes taking many months after the order is entered.
Day 80 – 95 (If not represented by competent counsel) – Notice of Sale published once a week for two consecutive weeks in local publication, with last posting at least 5 days prior to sale; auction sale conducted; winning bidder applies 5% deposit from funds advanced electronically prior to sale and then pays the rest by noon the following day. Dade, Broward and Palm-Beach Counties conduct their auctions online. Certificate of Sale is filed “promptly” after sale and Right of Redemption ends when certificate of sale is filed.
Day 105 (If not represented by competent counsel) – Ten days after filing Certificate of Sale, Certificate of Title is issued – Title vests, no further action necessary unless property is still occupied.
Day 106 -119 (If not represented by competent counsel) – 1 -14 days after Certificate of Title issues, if property still occupied, sheriff issues Notice to Vacate.
Day 119 – 140 (If not represented by competent counsel) – 1 – 21 days after Notice to Vacate, sheriff vacates the property.

If, on the other hand, the entity seeking to foreclose is not the same entity as the original mortgagee or lender, and the owner has retained competent counsel, this process can take years, if the bank is ever able to foreclose.

The above is just an overview to help understand the current state of the foreclosure process. For more details or if you have any questions or comments, you are welcome to call or e-mail the author of this article for more information.

Evan M. Rosen
Rosen & Rosen, P.A.
4000 Hollywood Blvd, #725-S
Hollywood, FL 33021
954-981-1852(Phone)
erosen[at]rosenandrosen.com
www.rosenandrosen.com

RELATED POSTS:

Bankruptcy: Chapter 7 Benefits & Risks – Is Chapter 7 Right for You? 

Credit Report “How to” + Backstory: Explaining Your Negative Credit Score 

Foreclosure & Mortgage Crisis: How to Stop the foreclosure process 

Foreclosure Process Inside Story. Attorney Evan Rosen: Why Banks are Slow to Foreclose. originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on August 29, 2011.

Surely you’ve seen the blog post A Box You Want to Uncheck on LinkedIn by now – I think I saw it Tuesday and it quickly went viral.  In essence, LinkedIn is doing social advertising.  Unbeknownst to most users, they had opted in to have their name, photo, etc. appear in ads that their connections might see.

And the “how-to” from Steve Woodruff on where to find the box!:

Apparently, LinkedIn has recently done us the “favor” of having a default setting whereby our names and photos can be used for third-party advertising. A friend forwarded me this alert (from a friend, from a friend…) this morning.
Devious. And I expect that you, like me, don’t want to participate.

1. Click on your name on your LinkedIn homepage (upper right corner). On the drop-down menu, select “Settings”.
2. From the “Settings” page, select “Account*”.
3. In the column next to “Account”, click “Manage Social Advertising” .
4. De-select the box next to “LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising” .
Nice try, LinkedIn. But, no thanks!
*UPDATE: After you finish with Account, check the new default settings under E-mail Preferences (such as Partner InMails); and Groups, Companies & Applications (such as Data Sharing with 3rd-party applications). It’s a Facebook deja vu!

 

LinkedIn Abused Trust – Said, Oh So Sorry – Uncheck the Box originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on August 12, 2011.

With over 250 million tweets a day and a billion Facebook posts, is it a wonder that many ‘thought-leaders’ can no longer hear themselves think, let alone solve the problems that confront us? How much time do Members of Congress waste tweeting or facebooking – and to what purpose? Perhaps a day or two of relative silence by national leaders would do us all a world of good.

US Library of Congress poet laureate Philip Levine wrote a poem about too many words in 1999: “He Would Never Use One Word Where None Would Do.”

“Fact is, silence is the perfect water:
unlike rain it falls from no clouds
to wash our minds, to ease our tired eyes,
to give heart to the thin blades of grass
fighting through the concrete for even air
dirtied by our endless stream of words.”

I recently participated in a teleseminar about the relationship between social networking and the business bottom line. The speaker owns a company that markets social networking strategies to companies large and small.

He opened the teleseminar by bragging that he personally follows several thousand tweets every day while handling a myriad of tasks for his business. I asked myself, “And he hasn’t yet lost his mind?”

It’s well known that multi-tasking makes us less, not more productive – creating distraction and noise on the brain. Could keeping up with thousands of tweets and Facebook posts daily eventually numb or even destroy our brain cells – something like a “repetitive stress social networking syndrome?”

The fellow went on to state that the average gain for companies that vigorously employ Twitter and Facebook is an 8 percent increase in the bottom line. If true, it could mean a great deal of money for medium size and large companies who can afford to hire staff to keep their social networks humming. (Since he’s trying to sell social networking, his numbers might be suspect.)

He even suggested that business owners encourage their staff to post their thoughts throughout the day and then follow the chatter – like an internal Twitter on steroids. Can you imagine the chairman of a billion dollar company having nothing better to do? Would you invest in that company?

But what about small business owners and entrepreneurs who are already stretched thin? Is keeping up with Twitter and Facebook a plus or a drain on your productivity and income? Can you handle it with current staff or is it necessary to add staff? How do the financial benefits compare to the costs and time output?

We’d love to hear from you!

Social Networking + the Bottom Line: When is Silence the Perfect Water? originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on August 11, 2011.

This took place in Charlotte, North Carolina.

A lawyer purchased a box of 24 very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against, among other things, fire.  Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.  In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost “in a series of small fires…”

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued and WON!

(Stay with me here…)

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous.  The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable “fire,” and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the “fires.”

NOW  FOR THE BEST PART…

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

Best Lawyer/Insurance Story of the Year, Decade & Century originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on August 9, 2011.

The following questions were included in last year’s GED examination. These are genuine answers (from 16 year olds) . . . and they WILL breed.

Q. Name the four seasons
A. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar

Q. Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A. Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists

Q. How is dew formed?
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q. What causes the tides in the oceans?
A. The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins the fight.

Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on?
A. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed.

Q. In a democratic society, how important are elections?
A. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election.

Q. What are steroids?
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs (Shoot yourself now, there is little hope)

Q. What happens to your body as you age?
A. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery. (So true.)

Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes?
A. Premature death.

Q. What is artificial insemination?
A. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow.

Q. How can you delay milk turning sour?
A. Keep it in the cow. (Simple, but brilliant.)

Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorized? (e.g. The abdomen)
A. The body is consisted into 3 parts – the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A, E, I,O,U.

Q. What is the fibula?
A. A small lie.

Q. What does ‘varicose’ mean?
A. Nearby.

Q. What is the most common form of birth control.
A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium. (That would work.)

Q. Give the meaning of the term ‘Caesarean section’?
A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome.

Q. What is a seizure?
A. A Roman Emperor. (Julius Seizure, I came, I saw, I had a fit.)

Q. What is a terminal illness?
A. When you are sick at the airport. (Irrefutable.)

Q. Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?
A. Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and they look like umbrellas.

Q. Use the word ‘judicious’ in a sentence to show you understand its meaning.
A. Hands that judicious can be soft as your face. (OMG)

Q. What does the word ‘benign’ mean?
A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight. (brilliant)

Q. What is a turbine?
A. Something an Arab or Shreik wears on his head.

GED Examination – Mind-boggling Answers – Laugh or Cry originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on August 3, 2011.

At first read, I thought this headline was a joke: “Google – a prominent beneficiary of national home loan and foreclosure crisis of the past two years.”  Every form of media that accepts money in exchange for advertising has been a beneficiary of every scam, sham and shyster campaign ever propagated on the public. The housing crisis is simply the critter de jeur.

Now we need a congressional hearing and investigation by  the New York Times, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and the Monkey’s Eyebrow Weekly Gazette. And we need new laws in place – I mean right now – hey, let’s create a new federal agency and have them police Google’s role in the housing crisis.

Let’s trample this country’s greatest and most utilized of all inalienable rights – people have the right to be just as stupid as they want to be.

The new agency could be called the FSA. Federal Stupidity Agency. I can see it now – unemployment would be totally eliminated since it would take millions (make that billions) to staff the enforcement division. There could even be specialty divisions within the agency – the Redneck division, a special SWAT division for San Francisco, a cyber stupidity division for those that can’t resist Facebook and MySpace. Stupidity deployment teams would be on call, 24/7, for emergency deployment to areas manifesting out of the ordinary stupidity.

They could modify Obamacare to make sure that stupidity was covered under the new national healthcare, leading to even more jobs for rehab workers, social services and crisis management – this would even solve the illegal immigrant problem. Policing stupidity would require insane numbers of enforcers.

The housing crisis could be totally eliminated – every person successfully completing the Stupidity Rehabilitation program ( another federal agency ) would be given a free foreclosed home. And when they run out of foreclosures for the give-away, they could come and take yours and mine.

After all, stupid is as stupid does.

That was fun.

written by:  Anonymous – Just in case someone (stupidly) takes it seriously and enacts the FSA.

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Note to the Vanishing Middle Class: Hang  on to your cash for the coming crash. No one knows for certain if the market will continue spiraling upwards or return to Mother  Earth. But there are certainly ominous signs.

Caution – Second Stimulus Ahead: Spreading Crumbs of Wealth on the Middle Class

Unemployment has reached 10.2 percent, 190,000 jobs were lost in October, and 79 percent of Americans say the economic downturn has forced them to get by with less. Eighty-seven percent are worried about the future of the nation.

Does Social Networking Give Productive/Creative Loners a Bad Rap?

Is social networking giving productive/creative loners a seriously wrong-headed economic disadvantage? The term “loner” once suggested the self-confident, silent type who said little but knew more than he/she let on. A person of few words who got the job done. An achiever, a person with a rich, goal-oriented inner life – …

Right to be Stupid vs New FSA – Federal Stupidity Agency originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on July 20, 2011.

The term “loner” once suggested the self-confident, silent type who said little but knew more than he/she let on. A person of few words who got the job done. An achiever, a person with a rich, goal-oriented inner life – one that you could trust, a “true” friend who wouldn’t blab your secrets.  Today, non-socially networked men/women are readily tagged as socially inept losers – people without a “platform” or “friends.” Non-socially networked loners are viewed as “less than,” when most offer more than social media scores can possibly gauge.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, the most successful songwriter/playwright of our time, declared on Piers Morgan’s CNN show that he doesn’t own a cell phone and only sent one email in his life – which he actually dictated to someone else to send. Andrew Lloyd Webber doesn’t do social media.  

What’s your view? Are you a non-socially-networked (NSN) individual? Are you a productive/creative loner? Do you feel that social networking is giving people like yourself an unwarranted economic disadvantage? We’d love to hear from you.

Life interrupted…

Social Media Messaging - Credit Retrevo

A recent CNET Networks post by by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore caught my eye.

Only a few years ago, I could shock people by divulging that I don’t own a TV. Since Hulu and others let me get my show fix online, I now seem to be part of a growing minority who only have one kind of box at home. But I still shock people. All I have to do is admit I’m not on Facebook. According to most people I talk to, at least, this is truly strange behavior.

So it’s not surprising that so many people rely on social media, for both work and play, every day–a statistic highlighted in the latest Retrevo Gadgetology Report on social-media usage…More than half of social-media users report needing to check Facebook at least once every day, and more than 10 percent say they have to log on every few hours. Of course, iPhone users are even more attached at the hip, with more frequent usage than any other group in the 1,000-person study.

Threat to work/social progress?

Some of my best friends are not socially networked. They’re too busy earning a living and/or being creative/productive. To quote one individual, who – for obvious reasons – wishes to remain anonymous:

My immediate reaction is to repeat the classic line given to Rhett Butler at the end of Gone with the Wind, (“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a ….”)

Seriously, I’m not in favorably predisposed toward computerized social networking. To me, it’s just an annoyance and a threat. It’s an annoyance because dealing with it forces me to waste precious self-depleting time. It’s a threat to my work and to social progress.

As you know, I consult as a (……). That means confidential data is stored on my computer. But, social networks are rife with hackers, snoops, spammers, à who exploit the system to gain access to other people’s computers and data. So I dare not engage in computerized social networking lest some SOB access my computer and read or meddle with the confidential data therein. Moreover, given my lack of interest in social networking, I’m too cheap to have a second separate computer just for social networking.

Social networking is a threat to the economy because it encourages people to waste time gossiping that otherwise could be spend productively. I am, of course, in favor of social discourse on a limited basis with friends and colleagues, preferably in person or, if need be, electronically via the telephone, fax or even the Internet.

Is it harder/easier for non-socially-networked individuals to find work, stand out in their field, have a great life? We’d love to hear from you.

Dr. Joyce Starr

Does Social Networking Give Productive/Creative Loners a Bad Rap? originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on July 3, 2011.