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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

50 Years Ago This Week, JFK Ushered in Modern Consumer Protection Era | Ed Mierzwinski

I've got a new column at Huffington Post, "50 Years Ago This Week, JFK Ushered in Modern Consumer Protection Era." I discuss President Kennedy's visionary "Special Message to the Congress on Protecting the Consumer Interest" announced on March 15, 1962. He declared that consumers have rights and government should protect them. Read the full column after the jump.

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News Release | U.S.PIRG | Tax

WILL BP’S MISDEEDS BE FURTHER SUBSIDIZED BY TAXPAYERS?

U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) Senior Analyst on Tax and Budget Policy explains the hidden tax subsidy likely to be in a B.P. settlement unless it’s prohibited.

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Media Hit | Democracy

Why Republicans Weren't Excited on Super PAC Tuesday

There is a more fundamental problem that explains much of the disconnect between the Republican candidates and the rank-and-file voters: the fact is, voters did not choose these candidates -- donors did.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

FTC Releases Top Complaints for 2011, Identity Theft Tops the List | Jon Fox

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its list of top consumer complaints received by the agency in 2011. Unsurprisingly, identity theft complaints topped the list.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

WH urges privacy rights, industry promises "Do Not Track Sometimes" while states investigate Google | Ed Mierzwinski

As web giants amass more and more information about consumers for behavioral targeting and even "social discrimination" -- which can include differential pricing for the same product or the use of web tracking data and falsely-flagged websites to promote certain brandname drug use -- the White House has called for a privacy bill of rights. Companies and powerful industry lobbies seeking to keep those rights weak simultaneously rolled out their own "Do Not Track Us Sometimes" button.

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News Release | CALPIRG | Consumer Protection, Tax

Less Taxes, Little Relief for Travelers

Expired legislation can mean $25 or more in savings for a typical $300 round-trip air ticket. Yet most consumers will never see those savings.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Principles forPublic Private Partnerships and California’s High-Speed Rail Project

A first-of-its-kind report outlines principles for utilizing public-private partnerships to build high-speed rail in California. The research report released by CALPIRG Education Fund examines the experience with public-private partnerships for high-speed rail in other countries and the U.S.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

As cell phone plans change, consumers should be wary

As cell phone service provders scrap unlimited data plans for mobile phones, CALPIRG warns consumers to check their data usage in order to avoid overcharge fees.

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Media Hit | Budget

The Los Angeles Times: Citigroup hacker attack affected more customers than first thought

The breach in Citigroup Inc.'s online security, affecting more customers than originally thought, shows that financial institutions still are struggling to block hackers and still are loath to explain to customers and the public what thieves took.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Business Credit Cards: Liability without protection

CALPIRG Education Fund warns Californians to think twice before responding to one of the millions of business credit card offers that are mailed out to California households each year.

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Report | The Failure of Food Companies to Disclose Risks of Genetically Engineered Crops to Shareholders

Duty to Disclose

Genetically engineered foods may pose financial risks to the food companies buying and selling genetically engineered crops, but most food companies have failed to alert their shareholders to these potential liabilities.

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Report | CALPIRG | Democracy

Tying the Hands of States

States have long been the laboratories for innovative public policy, particularly in the realm of environmental and consumer protection. State and local legislatures, smaller and often more nimble than the federal government, can develop and test novel policies to address problems identified by local constituents. If a certain policy works, other states can try it. If the policy fails, the state or local government can quickly modify the policy without having affected residents in all 50 states. Success at the state level then often gives rise to federal policy.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Mistakes Do Happen:

The most common reflection of our reputation as a trustworthy consumer is our credit report. Unfortunately, the information contained in our credit reports, which are bought and sold daily to nearly anyone who requests and pays for them, does not always tell a true story.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Policing Privacy:

This report summarizes interviews CALPIRG Education Fund held with law enforcement officers from California and other cities with high identity theft rates.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Contribution Limits And Competitiveness

For years, academics, political theorists, and campaign finance reformers have debated the causal relationship between campaign contribution limits and the outcome of elections. Some argue that limiting campaign contributions amounts to "incumbent protection;" others contend that limits make challengers more competitive. This study is the first of its kind to comprehensively examine the states with contribution limits and empirically measure changes in competitiveness.

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  • GET THE BEST DEAL ON HEALTH INSURANCE
    Covered California, the new health insurance marketplace, could save you time and money.
    Learn More
  • PROTECT YOURSELF
    We've created consumer tips to help protect you from unfair bank fees, indentity tehft, loan rip-offs and more.
    Get The Tips
  • Apples To Twinkies
    Find out how government subsidies disproportionately benefit junk food over fresh fruit and vegetables.
    Get the report
  • Bigger Banks, Bigger Fees
    Our survey found that more than half of banks are not entirely upfront about their fees. Some even broke the law.
    Get the report

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