The Drywall Safety Act of 2012 passed Congress on New Year’s Day 2013 and is currently waiting for President Obama’s signature. The purpose of the bill is to keep stinky and hazardous drywall out of American homes. Simple enough. Thanks to the miracle of democracy, the bill has been watered down and gives less power to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and more to the building industry to draw up its own voluntary standards. [More]
Stinky Drywall Legislation Passes Congress––After Construction Industry Watered It Down
By January 9, 2013
Police Bust Tweens For Operating Unlicensed Lemonade Stand
By July 18, 2011
It’s the middle of summer, and we all know what that means: adorable kids learning the basics of capitalism by running lemonade stands. Among those basics: you need to lay down a few hundred bucks at City Hall before you even think about buying lemons and paper cups. Three Georgia girls thought they would earn money for a trip to the water park by selling lemonade in their neighborhood. They were successful…until the police chief happened to drive by, and shut them down for selling lemonade without business and food vendors’ licenses totaling $180. [More]
New Jersey Wants To Balance Budget With Your Gift Cards
By January 5, 2011
What would be even worse than losing the entire stored value of your gift cards after a few years? Having the state seize it as unclaimed property and use your money to pay its bills. [More]
You Can Get Unemployment Payments On A Debit Card That No One Accepts
By September 2, 2010
Many states no longer issue unemployment checks. You can receive your payments through direct deposit, or using a Visa or Mastercard-branded debit card. That’s the state of affairs in Pennsylvania, where reader Sam lives. He tells Consumerist that this method would be less of a racket for banks and more useful for people on unemployment if there were any places other than fee-happy ATMs that actually accepted the darn things. [More]
Congressional Audit Shows That EnergyStar Label May Be Meaningless
By March 26, 2010
Does an EnergyStar label change your perception of a product? Maybe it shouldn’t. Last year, an audit showed that Energy Star gave its rating to products that misrepresented their energy usage. This time, auditors posed as companies and submitted completely absurd appliances for EnergyStar ratings, like a gasoline-powered alarm clock the size of a portable generator, and a space heater with a feather duster on top claiming to be an “air purifier.” Is the study meaningless because no actual products were sold, or a warning that the program is sloppy and susceptible to fraud? [More]
