…is the title of this NYT article, which puts stark numbers on the problem of income inequality in the U.S. over the last ten years. Not surprisingly, the housing crisis has played a central role.
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Seriously. The Transportation Security Agency wants to know whether consumers have solutions to long airport security lines. TSA is offering cash rewards for the best ideas about how to speed security checks. The total payout will be $15,000. Top prize is no less than $5,000, and no award will be less than $2500. TSA explains […]
Read this recent report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Loss of life and injuries from vehicle crashes go way beyond measurement in purely economic terms, but the economic losses (including the lost of quality life measured in economic terms) associated with crashes are very large: about $870 billion in the most recent year […]
USA Discounters, reports the Washington Post in conjunction with ProPublica, is a retailer that takes advantage of service members' transience and locks them into cycle of debt using a venue-selection clause in their contracts that permits the business to litigate against customers in southeastern Virginia, no matter where in the world those customers are stationed. […]
In 2009, Congress for the first time gave the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco. In April 2014, the agency proposed to regulate e-cigarettes and similar products. In a short paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association entitled E-Cigarettes, Vaping, and Youth, Larry Gostin and Aliza Glasner have provided their views on […]
by Brian Wolfman Take a close look at this story about a new CNN poll. The first thing you see is this: So, it looks like 59% oppose the ACA and only 40% support it. If you are an ACA supporter that doesn't sound very good, though it's up from December 2013, when the numbers […]
Remember the 80-20 rule (also known as the medical loss ratio rule)? That's the Affordable Care Act rule that generally requires health insurers to spend 80% or more on hospitals, docs, prescription drugs, and the like (that is, actual health care) — and not administrative expenses and advertising. The idea is to encourage insurers to […]
According to The Hill, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced Wednesday they are taking action against dozens of companies that they allege falsely promised to help distressed homeowners prevent foreclosure and lower their monthly payments. Several state regulators joined the two federal agencies in suing more than 40 law […]
We’ve covered on the blog several examples of troubling non-disparagement clauses preventing consumers from speaking out about their bad experiences with businesses (for instance, see here and here). From our experience, these seem to be cropping up more and more. I’m pleased to report on a counterexample. The company Madwire Media, a marketing firm, used […]
From Food Safety News: Oregon, Washington and Vermont have filed lawsuits against the makers of the energy drink 5-Hour Energy for making “deceptive” marketing claims. More states are expected to follow. …. The suits take issue with claims about what 5-Hour Energy actually does, whether consumers experience a “crash,” whether it’s recommended by doctors and […]