…is the title of this illuminating Fresh Air interview, about the evolution of retirement savings in this country and the perils awaiting the unwary individual retirement investor.
Author Archives: Scott Michelman
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California this week reinstated a $203 million judgment against Wells Fargo for slapping hefty overdraft fees on consumers by manipulating the order in which their charges posted to their accounts in order to maximize the number of transactions that would be subject to overdraft penalties. The […]
As the Blog of the Legal Times reported, the FTC sent letters to almost 100 companies letting them know about revisions to the regulations implementing the Childen's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a statute that regulates the collection of information from minors under 13 online. The new rules include an expansion of the types of […]
Good news: this morning the Supreme Court denied a debt collector's cert. petition in Convergent Outsourcing v. Zinni, a case Greg reviewed in detail last week here.
As Pro Publica explains, "In April 2010, the Department of Labor released a six-point test to help determine whether an internship in the for-profit sector qualifies to be unpaid under federal law. One of the key criteria is that the position must be of more benefit to the intern than of benefit to the company. Companies […]
Check out this article about some revealing data released this week comparing hospital pricing. For the first time, the federal government [released] the prices that hospitals charge for the 100 most common inpatient procedures. Until now, these charges have been closely held by facilities that see a competitive advantage in shielding their fees from competitors. […]
The main point of this Washington Post column is to describe the looming danger facing retirees with insufficient savings, and to suggest one possible answer (a supplement to Social Security). But I found the column most interesting for its discussion of savings rates among even Americans living above the median income (spoiler alert: they're alarmingly […]
Today Public Citizen filed objections to the proposed class action settlement in Fraley v. Facebook, which concerns Facebook's practice of using the images of their millions of users, without their knowledge or consent, to sell advertising. Specifically, through Facebook's "Sponsored Stories" program, whenever a user clicks the “Like” button, Facebook may use that interaction to […]
Brian argues, based on Justice Kagan's excellent dissent (which is quite good and worth a read), that Genesis won't have much effect. My view is different. Justice Kagan effectively skewers the majority opinion for its failure to address the crucial threshold premise that underlies its decision: i.e., that an unaccepted Rule 68 offer moots an […]

