…is the message of a Public Citizen post yesterday on Buzzfeed, which points to five reasons that a disaster of the same magnitude could recur. The problems, mainly, are a lack of safeguards and the absence of accountability. Read the whole analysis here.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it will host a workshop "to examine competition, consumer protection, and economic issues raised by the proliferation of online and mobile peer-to peer business platforms in certain sectors of the economy, often referred to as the sharing economy.” The workshop will take place on June 9 in Washington, […]
The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a lengthy opinion—a whopping 138 pages—holding that General Motors is largely immune from claims based on its pre-bankruptcy conduct, including claims involving faulty ignition switches. The bankruptcy proceedings resulted in the creation of a new company, General Motors LLC (“New GM”), which bought […]
The Dodd-Frank law shouldn't be the end of Congress's financial reform efforts, argued Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a speech today at the Levy Economics Institute. Sen. Warren called for specific additional regulatory measures, including the breaking up of big banks, closing regulatory loopholes, imposing tougher punishments for wrongdoing, and limiting the Fed's emergency lending powers […]
Affirming a district court's dismissal, the Seventh Circuit held that Sen. Johnson of Wisconsin did not have standing to challenge federal rules implementing Obamacare coverage for members of Congress and their staffs. Johnson's primary argument was that he suffered electoral/reputational injury by being subject to Obamacare coverage. The court rejected that argument because Johnson was […]
Huffington Post yesterday published a lengthy article about regulation — or lack thereof — of food additives by the Food and Drug Administration. The bottom line: Critics of the system say the biggest concern, however, is that companies regularly introduce new additives without ever informing the FDA. That means people are consuming foods with added […]
We've discussed before how minor infractions, when combined with a person's inability to pay, court fees, and predatory practices of private probation companies, can ruin someone's life. (See, for instance, here and here.) In today's New York Times, read this story about how the loss of a driver's license — one consequence of falling down […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Navajo Nation yesterday filed suit to shut down a tax-refund scam that allegedly preyed on tribe members in New Mexico by prodding them into high-cost tax-refund-anticipation loans. Consumerist has the story.
A joint investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and the Seattle Times reveals troubling practices by Clayton Homes, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Clayton, which operates under various names, is the nation’s biggest homebuilder, according to the report, which describes Clayton's practices thus: “Clayton relies on predatory sales practices, exorbitant fees, and interest […]
Below are recent announcements from the Department of Justice's Consumer Protection Branch. April 13, 2015 Quality Egg, Company Owner and Top Executive Sentenced in Connection with Distribution of Adulterated Eggs April 13, 2015 California Man Sentenced to Prison for Odometer Fraud Scheme April 10, 2015 First Jamaican Man Extradited to the United States in Connection […]