Within hours of the Trump Administration announcing two new rules that would allow businesses to opt out of offering their employees insurance that covers birth control, the attorney general for the state of California has filed a lawsuit to block the regulations from going into effect. [More]
Government Policy
California Sues To Stop Trump Administration Rollback Of Insurance Birth Control Requirement
By 10.6.17
Trump Administration Undoes Birth Control Requirement For Employer-Sponsored Insurance
By 10.6.17
Under current law, most employer-sponsored health insurance plans have to include birth control coverage, but that will soon change, with the Trump administration announcing today that it is rescinding this requirement, allowing employers to decide whether they want to include this coverage in the policies they offer. [More]
Financial Protection Bureau Finalizes New Rules To Curb Predatory Lending, But Will Congress Let It Happen?
By 10.5.17
In an effort to rein in short-term, high-cost loans that often take advantage of Americans who need the most help with their finances, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized its new rule intended to make these heavily criticized financing operations to be more responsible about the loans they offer. But will bank-backed lawmakers in Congress use their authority to once again try to shut down a pro-consumer regulation? [More]
Company Fined $1.9M For Continued Sale Of Recalled Coffee Carafes
By 10.5.17
A company that made coffee machines for the Black & Decker brand now faces a $1.9 million penalty for allegedly failing to notify safety regulators of a known defect, then continuing to allow the sale of carafes that the company knew was dangerous. [More]
Which Tax Deduction Would You Rather Lose: Your Mortgage Interest Or Your State/Local Taxes?
By 10.4.17
The Trump administration is moving forward with its plan to slash taxes on businesses, which means the government will have to get at least some of that money from elsewhere. Now comes news that taxpayers may have to choose between two common tax deductions that millions of Americans have long benefited from. [More]
Are The Social Security Number’s Days Numbered?
By 10.4.17 — Updated: 10.11.17
Though we may treat our Social Security numbers like confidential information, those nine digits are just about everywhere: Your bank, school, cable company, phone company, and more probably have this information, and may not be storing it securely. In a world where everything from fast food chains to massive global accounting firms are vulnerable to cybercrime, some are wondering if it’s time to say goodbye to the SSN. [More]
IRS Awards $7.25M Fraud-Prevention Contract To Equifax Despite Failure To Secure Consumers’ Data
By 10.4.17
This week, various members of Congress are verbally flogging Equifax over the recently revealed data breach that compromised the personal information of around 145 million people. Meanwhile, the folks down the road at the Internal Revenue Service apparently aren’t concerned about incompetence, awarding Equifax a multimillion-dollar contract for — sigh — fraud-prevention services. [More]
Wells Fargo CEO: We Can Block Customers From Filing Lawsuits Because We Promise To Not Screw Up Again
By 10.3.17
Imagine a teenager who has been repeatedly caught sneaking out with their friends to get drunk and pilfer garden gnomes from the neighborhood. The teen’s parents ask “Why should we trust you anymore?” and the best answer the adolescent nincompoop can provide is, “Because I started cleaning my room and I’m gonna pass that Geometry quiz, I think.” Now, replace that teen with Wells Fargo, and you’ll basically have the scene from this morning’s Senate Banking Committee hearing. [More]
Equifax Says 2.5M More Customers Affected By Breach; Ex-CEO Apologizes To Congress
By 10.3.17
When 143 million people have already been affected by a massive data breach at one of the three major credit reporting agencies, what’s a few million more? That’s apparently the reality for Equifax, which upped its estimate of how many consumers were affected in the hack just hours before company executives were scheduled to discuss the incident with lawmakers. [More]
Wells Fargo CEO “Deeply Sorry” About That Time His Employees Opened Millions Of Fake Accounts In Customers’ Names
By 10.2.17 — Updated: 10.3.17
Tuesday morning, Wells Fargo CEO Tim “Apology Machine” Sloan will appear before the Senate Banking Committee to take some public tongue lashings for his bank’s fake account fiasco, which saw Wells employee opening up millions of bogus accounts in customers’ names in order to game the bank’s sales quota system. Sloan’s prepared remarks for this televised tomato-throwing include all manner of statements about how badly the bank behaved and how it’s darn-tootin’ not gonna let that happen again, but also don’t discuss one issue that will certainly be a hot-button topic among some senators in the room. [More]
States Urge Congress To Make Treatment For Drug Addiction More Affordable
By 10.2.17
Amid a nationwide opioid epidemic, a group of attorneys general is urging Congress to pass a bill that would give more Americans access to affordable drug addiction treatment. [More]
4 Things The Trump Administration Has Done To Ensure Obamacare Enrollment Is More Difficult This Year
By 10.2.17
Tom Price failed to get the Affordable Care Act repealed and replaced during his brief tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary, but the surgeon-turned-congressman did manage to do some real damage to the annual ACA enrollment process before he left — making sure people have less time to sign up, less help getting through the process, and fewer reminders that the process has gotten more difficult this year. [More]
The Equifax Executive Who Oversaw Security Also Approved Last-Minute Stock Sales
By 10.2.17
Right before Equifax revealed that it had failed to secure the information of some 143 million Americans, some company executives sold off nearly $2 million in Equifax stock — a move that is currently under investigation. According to a new report, the Equifax executive who approved those stock sales is also the exec in charge of the company’s cybersecurity. [More]
Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price Resigns Amid Private Jet Scandal
By 9.29.17
Tom Price, the physician-turned-congressman who recently became Donald Trump’s first Health and Human Services Secretary, has officially resigned in the middle of a scandal involving Price’s apparent overuse of private jets for government — and possibly personal — travel. [More]
Chamber Of Commerce Files Lawsuit To Stop American Consumers From Being Able To File Lawsuits
By 9.29.17
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce may sound like a government agency or a quaint organization of helpful business leaders, but it is, in fact, the single largest lobbying organization in the country, spending nearly $104 million last year alone on lobbying, about $40 million more than any other group. The Chamber also thinks the U.S. Constitution is mistaken, that the Sixth and Seventh Amendments don’t apply to consumers; that the mere fact you are a customer should strip you of your constitutional right to sue banks like Wells Fargo or credit bureaus like Equifax when they open millions of bogus accounts in customers’ names or fail to protect sensitive information for more than 100 million people.
And how does the Chamber of Commerce plan to stop the American people from being able to bring lawsuits? By doing the one thing it doesn’t want you to be able to do. [More]
Lawmakers Say Mattel’s Always-On ‘Aristotle’ Kid Monitor Raises “Serious Privacy Concerns” For Families
By 9.29.17
Despite announcing the product in January, toy giant Mattel has still not released the always-on, always-listening Aristotle kid monitor that has already raised red flags among privacy advocates. Now, a bipartisan pair of U.S. legislators are asking Mattel to address what they see as serious concerns about this connected-home device that is intended to track info about your kid from birth through adolescence. [More]
You Can No Longer Fly Your Drone Over The Statue Of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Other Sites
By 9.29.17
When it comes to catching sight of a national landmark, it can get pretty crowded on the ground. But starting next week, you won’t be able to use a drone to get a better view of 10 famous spots in the U.S. [More]
Are The Comments Opposing Payday Loan Rules Legitimate?
Last summer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released proposed rules intended to prevent borrowers from falling into the costly revolving debt trap that can leave people worse off than if they hadn’t borrowed money in the first place. Since then, those in the payday lending industry have ramped up their efforts to ensure the proposal isn’t finalized. [More]