A full day before he’s scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to answer questions about the massive recall of 8.5 million Toyotas, the car giant’s President and CEO Akio Toyoda has released the text of his prepared statement. And amid all the “Sorry about that, but we’re workin’ on it,” stuff you’d expect, comes an interesting bit of tid — Toyoda claims that he does some of the testing himself. [More]
Government Policy
Street Vendor Loses Permit For NOT Urinating In Bottle
By 2.23.10
It’s a problem that’s common to men and women who drive trucks, make deliveries or work outdoors — When do you go to the bathroom? Well, a law recently passed in New York City gives street vendors an easy answer: Never. Just ask Mohammed Shirajul Islam, a 10-year veteran of the business who is now without a permit because he dared to answer nature’s call. [More]
Toyota Boss Akio Toyoda Feels Your Pain
By 2.23.10
As his company continues to circle the drain, Toyota President and CEO Akio Toyoda wants everyone to know that it’s not just Toyota drivers that are getting hurt, it’s a little bit of him too. [More]
Dear Pizza Hut, Thanks For The Racist Receipt
By 2.23.10
An African-American man in Missouri is considering legal action against Pizza Hut after having his name replaced on a receipt with the words “BIGBLACK.” [More]
Transportation Secretary LaHood & Toyota's Lentz Defend Themselves To Congress
By 2.23.10
Both Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Toyota U.S. President James Lentz are scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Energy & Commerce this morning, but in prepared remarks released before the hearing, these two fine chaps attempt to shrug off many of the accusations hurled at both sides of the Toyota recall debacle. [More]
FCC To Unveil National Broadband Plan On March 17
By 2.23.10
While President Obama was busy attempting to get his plan for a national health care system rolling, those folks at the FCC announced they will unveil their National Broadband Plan — which will provide Internet access to 93 million Americans who can’t currently look at home videos of cats — to Congress on March 17. [More]
Congress Rips NHTSA A New One Over Toyota Debacle
By 2.22.10
Following this weekend’s revelation that Toyota bigwigs were bragging to each other about saving $100 million by convincing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to drop an investigation into a recall of the company’s Camry and Lexis vehicles, Congressmen Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce and Bart Stupak, Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, broke out their typewriters to voice their opinions in no uncertain terms to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. [More]
Judge In Bank Of America Case Calls Settlement "Half-Baked Justice"
By 2.22.10
A U.S. District Court Judge signed off on the $150 million settlement between Bank of America Corp. and the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of making misleading statements during BofA’s purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co., but he wasn’t exactly happy about doing it. [More]
Lufthansa Pilots Put Strike On Hold For Now
By 2.22.10
Less than 24 hours after 4,000 pilots for German airline Lufthansa walked off the job, the strike was suspended as talks resumed between the flyboys and girls and the company. [More]
Grand Jury Issues Subpoenas, Opens Criminal Investigation In Toyota Recall
By 2.22.10
Answering all those people who asked, “Shouldn’t the Justice Department be the ones handling the Toyota recall hearings?”, the car company confirmed today that both federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission have already dropped a load of subpoenas on their desks. [More]
Citibank Freaks Out Customers With Weird 7-Day Rule On Withdrawals, But It's Not As Devious As It Looks
By 2.22.10
Some Citibank customers recently received notice that the bank reserved the right to require 7 days written notice before authorizing a withdrawal on checking accounts. (It’s also on page 23 of Citi’s Client Manual [PDF].) As you can imagine, this freaked some people out. A Citibank rep quickly moved to clarify the rule, and he pointed out that it’s actually required by federal law for certain types of accounts, and it’s not unique to Citibank, and they don’t intend to enforce it. [More]
Obama Wants To Expand Coverage To 31 Million Uninsured People In Health Care Plan
By 2.22.10
Using the Health Care bill signed by the Senate on Dec. 24 as a jumping-off point, President Obama unleashed his version of the plan this morning on the White House website. [More]
10 Ways To Provoke An IRS Audit
By 2.22.10
Life can get a little humdrum sometimes, so why not shake things up with an IRS audit? You can’t just check off a box and get an audit, you’ve got to earn it. You’ve got to provoke them. Here’s 10 ways to get some IRS agents knocking on your door: [More]
Is An FDA Conflict Of Interest Keeping Avandia On The Market?
By 2.22.10
A new report from the Senate Finance Committee alleges that drug company GlaxoSmithKline not only knew about a possible link between their diabetes medication Avandia and heart attacks, but also acted to keep the FDA from pulling the drug off shelves. If so, how were they able to do it? [More]
This Is Not A Reason Not To Pirate DVDs
By 2.22.10
There is no excuse for downloading or copying DVDs illegally. It’s wrong and could land you in jail. But, as is illustrated in this BSPCN post, studios could learn a thing or two from their swashbuckling, peg-legged counterparts in terms of streamlining. [More]
What Changes Should You Expect From The CARD Act?
By 2.22.10
After several months of waiting (during which, banks have had plenty of time to jack up your interest rates and cut your credit limits), the Credit CARD Act of 2009 has finally kicked in. If you haven’t been following the news, here’s a quick run-down of what’s changed and what hasn’t. [More]
Toyota Bragged About Saving $100 Million With 2007 Floormat Recall
By 2.22.10
You know those scenes toward the end of James Bond movies where the bad guy goes on and on about his elaborate plan and what a genius he is? That never happens in real life, right? No, in the real world the bragging is done in “confidential” documents that are never meant to see the light of day… but always do. Just ask the folks at Toyota. [More]
Inexperienced Attorney Wins Epic Foreclosure Battle Against Wells Fargo
By 2.20.10
Consumerist’s Hero of the Weekend is attorney and writer Wajahat Ali, who fought an epic battle for a home loan modification against Wells Fargo and won. Eventually. It’s a well-written and terrifying look into the financial crisis, the state of America’s megabanks, and how homeowners in need seemingly stand no chance against the towering indifference, incompetence and confusion of those megabanks. [More]
