At least according to this fun article by Laura Northrup. She explains in considerable detail that, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the traditional thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, a cranberry-based item, mashed potatoes, etc.) cost considerably more in 1929 than it would today.
The Times today published an editorial,What You Don’t Know About Mortgages, about the CFPB's new mortgage TILA/RESPA disclosures. Though the editorial praised some aspects of the disclosure rules, it also called them disappointing, stating [T]he forms fall short in the crucial task of helping consumers assess and compare the total cost of various loans. Without […]
by Jeff Sovern I've just been listening to the National Associate of Retail Collection Attorneys' (NARCA) symposium on debt collection held at GW on October 15 (the recordings are available here). I was particularly struck by Todd Zywicki's remarks in the third panel; the panel was titled "Legal Collections – The Essential Link to a Successful Credit-Based Economy." […]
Here is the text of the Third Circuit's order: ORDER at the direction of the merits panel, it is hereby ordered that the Appellants are directed to file on or before December 30, 2013 an answer to the petition for panel rehearing submitted by the Appellee and the documents submitted by proposed amici in support […]
As the Times' Dealbook section reports: Nearly seven years since the Military Lending Act came into effect, government authorities say the law has gaps that threaten to leave hundreds of thousands of service members across the country vulnerable to potentially predatory loans — from credit pitched by retailers to pay for electronics or furniture, to […]
Car-rental companies make a ton of money selling you add-ons, such as various types of insurance you may already have and high-priced "deals" for gas. It's easy to nearly double the cost of your rental on stuff that may be worthless. So, just in time for the holidays, Jim Webster has this funny article about […]
Paying a private company to test your DNA so you can learn about your health status? This article by Brady Dennis suggests you may want to think twice. Here's an excerpt: The Food and Drug Administration has ordered the maker of a popular genetic-testing kit to halt sales of its heavily marketed product, saying the […]
Five years ago, John Palmer ordered Christmas gifts online from a web merchant called KlearGear.com. When the gifts didn’t come and John’s attempts to contact KlearGear were unsuccessful, his wife Jen posted a negative review on RipoffReport.com. In 2012, the Palmers received a demand from KlearGear for $3500. According to KlearGear, the Palmers violated a […]
On the Contracts Prof Blog, as part of a symposium on Nancy Kim's Wrap Contracts: Foundations and Ramifications (Oxford UP 2013). An excerpt: Like asbestos in its heyday, manufacturers and service providers use “wrap contracts” everywhere. They have properties that facilitate commerce but that does not mean that they are not toxic and dangerous for those exposed to […]
James C. Cooper of George Mason has written The Perils of Excessive Discretion: The Elusive Meaning of Unfairness in Section 5 of the FTC Act. Here's the abstract: Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act gives the FTC an undefined mandate to prosecute "unfair methods of competition." For nearly 100 years, the Commission […]