In the 2nd of our 4-part interview series with President Obama’s Senior Economic Adviser, Austan Goolsbee, on credit card reform, we ask, what about the kids? Specifically, what is this bill going to do about those guys giving away shirts on campus in exchange for signing up for credit cards? Because these seems a really great service for college students, who, as we know, frequently go shirtless. Also, how one side of the debate on credit cards is essentially arguing that if you didn’t want to get carjacked you should have taken the bus… because an honest business model and a profitable one needn’t be mutually exclusive.
clips
Goolsbee Video Fixed
By 5.15.09
If you had problems viewing the Goolsbee interview, this here video should work for you now. [Consumerist]
Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee On Credit Card Reform: Part 1 of 4
By 5.15.09
We took your credit card reform questions to DC yesterday and interviewed Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to President Obama. In part 1 of our 4-part series, we ask how are banks getting billions in bailouts and can turn around and cut off millions of credit cards and raise rates? How does it make sense that credit card companies can raise the interest rate on an existing balance? And, most importantly, why don’t we treat credit cards more like Canadians do cigarettes?
Consumerist Interviews Goolsbee About Credit Card Reform: Part 1 of 4
By 5.15.09
We took your credit card reform questions to DC yesterday and interviewed Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to President Obama. In part 1 of our 4-part series, we ask how are banks getting billions in bailouts and can turn around and cut off millions of credit cards and raise rates? How does it make sense that credit card companies can raise the interest rate on an existing balance? And, most importantly, why don’t we treat credit cards more like Canadians do cigarettes?
Colbert's Credit Card Pre-Approved For Its Own Credit Card
By 5.12.09
“Being in a financial hole is as American as borrowing apple pie.” Colbert took on credit card reform last night. Here’s the clip. The best part is where his credit card is approved for its own credit card.
Consumerist Starts Taking It Seriously?
By 5.8.09
Why so serious? Can all these companies really be taking all of these incidents as seriously as they say? Or is “taking it seriously” really just “disaster ketchup,” an all-purpose phrase you can toss on any situation and mask the underlying bad taste it leaves in your mouth? We have no idea, we just know that as long as companies keep messing up, “taking it seriously” will still be with us. However, we have our own policy about “taking it seriously” on Consumerist, which you’ll have to watch this video of me inside the Consumers Union anechoic testing chamber to find out. And if it’s a policy you agree with, shove some bucks in our tipjar at donatetoconsumerist.com.
Great Moments In Commercial History: Domino's Pasta Dude
By 5.6.09
Back in early ’08, to promote their new line of pasta primavera items, Domino’s rolled out a screechy-voiced CGI rigatoni that raps about the joys of oven-baked pasta, reports SoGood. “Pasta Dude” some rhymes, then he busts out some dance moves that look like he’s bending over an imaginary dance partner and slapping them across the rear. This, apparently, was cause for controversy.
Meg & Ben Dance-Fight The Shaky Machine
By 5.5.09
Ain’t no party like a shaky-machine party! Meg and I were cruising through the halls of Consumers Union, sporting our awesome lab coats, and then we came across this thing. It’s a machine whose whole purpose is to shake. Oh, and tap. That’s not a bad way to go through life. We tried to communicate with it through the universal language of dance. Not sure if what we were saying came out right, we were trying to tell it it should visit donatetoconsumerist.com and toss a few bucks in our tipjar, but I think what came out is that we all agreed to go on a bicycle tour of Europe together this summer.
Help Fill Our Tipjar (Or Just Watch Videos of Ben & Meg in Lab Coats)
By 5.4.09
Click the button to the left or visit DonateToConsumerist.com to help support the blog by feeding our tipjar. Thanks!
Macbook Air Stabbed In Face With Kitchen Knife
By 5.1.09
Well here’s one way to say you think the Macbook Air hinge sucks… by stabbing it in the face with a kitchen knife! Ree! Ree! Ree! Ree! I dunno, maybe people who can’t type also can’t open and close their Macbooks properly. Just a thought.
$4,334.86 Raised, Ben Eager To Test Snuggie
By 4.28.09
280 people have donated $4,334.86 to The Consumerist tip jar so far, hootie-hoo. The average donation is $15.48, which surprises me because I ask, “don’t people know you can give as little as two bucks? C’mon, just two bucks to spare at donatetoconsumerist.com.” But I don’t get any response back because I’m still locked inside the Consumer Reports anechoic chamber and there’s no echo. The odd shape of the sound baffling has ceased to baffle me. Instead, it has become my friend. There’s just one thought on my mind. Well, two, really. Firstly, how do I escape. Lastly, I can’t wait to get Consumer Reports to test the Snuggie!
$3,269.84 Raised So Far, Ben Still Stuck In Anechoic Chamber
By 4.27.09
So far 207 people have donated $3,269.84 to The Consumerist Tip Jar. Woo! We’re stoked. We’ve got 3 more weeks of this fund-drive and I bet we can raise a bunch more. Which would be really nice, because, as you can see in this video, I’m still stuck in Consumer Union’s anechoic chamber (a room that has no echo) and having a chair malfunction. See, they’re really serious about keeping us free from commercial influence. That’s why there’s no ads from outside companies on the site that might influence our coverage. But sticking me in an echo-less chamber might be going a little too far. I can hear my own heart beat in my ears. So visit Donatetoconsumerist.com and help us out, and maybe they’ll let me out!
Clip: Consumerist, Domino's, On Nightline
By 4.22.09
Here’s the clip of Consumerist on Nightline last night talking about the nasty Domino’s videos. Check out the Ogilvy & Mather offices to see how the elite spin doctors monitor the internet – with hi-tech tag clouds! And a graph that charts the number of twitter, blog, and media mentions! Fancy. They point to the chart and say that because the spike went down the incident is somehow over and the pizza company won after they started responding. What doesn’t show up on that chart is two friends driving by a Domino’s this weekend and one says to the other, hey dude, how about some booger pizza?
Where Are The Dancing Alien Ads?
By 4.21.09
Here’s our latest donation video installment in which I, sporting a lab-coat and situated inside CU’s anechoic testing chamber, ask the burning question: where are the dancing alien ads on Consumerist? The answer make shock and delight you, and prompt you to visit Donatetoconsumerist.com to stuff some bills in our tip jar of non-profitness. Remember folks, if you do a good job donating, we just might be able to get Consumer Reports to test the Snuggie. No joke.
Oh Noes It's The "Shadow" Banking System
By 4.21.09
It doesn’t involve ninjas, but the “shadow” banking system is an important part of the US economy, it’s the companies that loan money but aren’t themselves banks. The loans they make aren’t kept on the companies books, they’re securitized and resold as bonds. White whiteboard and magic marker, Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch argues this shadow banking system deserves it own bailout.
Video: How An ATM Skimmer Scam Works
By 4.21.09
How do ATM skimmers work? This clip from UK show “The Real Hustle” shows you, from start to finish, how scammers steal your card info and take out money themselves. (Thanks to bonanzaone!)
Video: IDT Energy Reps Won't Leave Until Customer Busts Out Camera, Calls Cops
By 4.21.09
Here’s a video a citizen took of some classy IDT energy resale reps that infested her building and refused to leave. After 25 minutes, she took out the camera. Check out the video to see the kinds of professionally trained individuals IDT Energy uses. Note how at one point of the girls says she’s “from he energy company.” Not so, IDT Energy is not “the energy company.” They’re an ESCO, an energy resale company. According to the notes on the video, the girls only left after the cops showed up and told them to vacate the premises.
New Tip Jar Video! Deep Research Tells Us How To Improve The Site
By 4.17.09
Ben consults the latest high-tech market research tools to find out what we really need to do to make this a better site. Tune in to our latest video, and see what he finds out. Then visit DonateToConsumerist.com for more exciting adventures in fundraising!
