Consumer Reports tells you why extended consumer product warranties generally are a waste of your money. Among the reasons: The warranties don't cover as much as you think; they are quite expensive; and sometimes the needed fix is easy and cheap. But the one I like best — and something I reflect on frequently — […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
Student loan debt in this country is now north of $1 trillion. As we have reported many times (go, for instance, here and here), a lot of student loan debtors are behind on their payments. A large percentage of this debt — and over 90% of new loans — is owed to the federal government. […]
In this column, Mike Jacobson, head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, describes the efforts of sugared-soda manufacturers to make their products sound healthy even though they are often a straight shot toward obesity. How does a manufacturer do this? It sells pretty much the same sugar-laden product, but, for example, adds some […]
By Brian Wolfman In 2009, the Supreme Court held 6-3 in Wyeth v. Levine that, in general, FDA approval of a brand-name prescription drug and its labeling does not preempt a state-law damages claim premised on the drug manufacturer's failure to warn of the drug's hazards. I wrote an article on the implications of that […]
As you assess whether some or all of the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire, bear in mind that the popular notion that Americans are suffering under a high and ever-increasing tax burden is nonsense. That's right: It's just not true. To the contrary, taxes are at historical lows. We have covered this […]
Ralph Nader explains in this op-ed that Congress should impose a small tax on trades of stocks and other financial products, such as derivatives. The tax would never exceed 1/2 of 1 percent of the value of the traded product, with the hardest hit on short-term investments. Here's an excerpt: In the debate over the […]
We've covered the issue of the nation's huge student loan debt many times before. Many people are way behind on their payments and nearly all of the loans are made by or guaranteed by the federal government. This Wall Street Journal article explains the current situation. Here's an excerpt that describes differences between student loan debt […]
by Brian Wolfman One of the nice things about the Internet is that it brings down the cost of communicating with the public, potentially democratizing free speech. At fairly low cost, consumers can establish websites that criticize big businesses. Sometimes those big businesses don't like that and sue the owners of the critical websites. Often […]
As explained here, the Environmental Protection Agency has banned BP from future federal contracts in light of the company's "lack of business integrity" evidenced by its misconduct surrounding the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The ban is temporary and will be lifted when BP, according to the EPA, "can provide sufficient evidence […]
This article by Richard Chen provides a bunch of tips about how to protect your privacy on the Internet. Among other things, he suggests forgoing Google for DuckDuckGo, which claims that it doesn't send information about you to other sites (as Google does) and doesn't collect personal information about you (as Google does) — for […]