As you begin the online holiday shopping orgy, ask yourself whether Google is manipulating your search for the product of your dreams and driving you to places that it wants you to go (and away from other things that might interest you).That's the topic of this article by Grace Nasri. Here's an excerpt: In a […]
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We have reported here and here about the high level of errors in credit reports. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives consumers the right to have erroneous credit reports corrected. But the consumer needs to prove the error to the credit reporting agency. This article by Kelly Dilworth describes "10 surefire steps" to get errors […]
Nearly a year and a half ago, we covered the topic of drug industry influence on medical journals and research. The lead story in yesterday's Washington Post treats the topic in detail, noting that even the most prestigious medical journals have trouble avoiding bias in favor of the industry. The Post piece focuses on a […]
This three-decade study of the effectiveness of mammography to screen for breast cancer is sure to provoke controversy. Mammography has detected many breast cancers and saved lives, but, the study says, mammography over-diagnoses — that is, in many circumstances, it purports to find problems that never would have progressed to clinical breast cancer. Here is […]
Last June, we told you about a federal-court suit filed by a Texas Bank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the 60 Plus Association challenging various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Here is the complaint. The federal government has now moved […]
Recently, on this blog, Jeff Sovern went after George Will's attack on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, rightly noting that the CFPB's exercise of its regulatory and enforcement powers generally are not terribly different from what regulatory agencies have been doing for decades. Now, Jean Braucher has posted this extensive response to Will's piece. In doing […]
Keeping health care costs down under the Affordable Care Act depends significantly on increasing particiption in private health care plans (which, if the Act works as contemplated, would be spurred in part by subsidies provided under the law). As explained in this article by Sarah Kliff, because many people do not know about the law's […]
Just in time for the holidays, U.S. PIRG warns us about all the toys that will choke, cut, and otherwise harm our kids in its "Trouble in Toyland" report. And read PIRG's tips for avoiding the purchase of hazardous toys in the first place. Here's the report's executive summary: The 2012 Trouble in Toyland report […]
In press releases yesterday, here and here, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that they are teaming up to fight deceptive mortgage advertising. The FTC sent warning letters to 20 real estate agents, home builders, and lead generators, urging them to review their advertisements for compliance with the Mortgage Acts […]
Just in time for the holidays from Consumer Reports, which has surveyed corporate policies on consumer refunds, fees, etc., and described what it thinks are the 10 naughtiest and the 10 nicest.