What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.
government
NY Governor On The Mortgage Meltdown: "The Bush Administration Will Not Be Judged Favorably"
By 2.14.08
Valentine's Day Ice Storm 2008? Everybody Panic!
By 2.13.08
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Great Valentine’s Day Air Travel Massacre—a storm that took down JetBlue’s entire operation and ultimately their CEO, too.
House Passes Bill That Would Require Colleges To Practice Network Filtering
By 2.12.08
Last week the House voted 354-58 to approve a college funding bill that requires colleges to “make plans to offer some form of legal alternative to P2P file-swapping” and to implement some form of network filtering. Luckily for sane people everywhere, the White House has already made veto-noises at the bill for other reasons—but still, the MPAA came that much closer to forcing its admittedly false worldview on universities.
Maloney Introduces Credit Card Bill Of Rights; Lending Institutions Smirk
By 2.9.08
The Credit Card Bill Of Rights Act, which was introduced on Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives, would limit interest rate hikes and late fee penalties that credit card companies use to unfairly squeeze profits from customers.
16 Years After The Law Was Passed, The National Auto Database Still Doesn't Exist
By 2.7.08
The Consumer Law & Policy blog says that three consumer advocacy groups, Public Citizen, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) and Consumer Action, have filed a lawsuit in order to force the Department of Justice to enforce a law passed in 1992 that requires a national database of auto information gathered from insurance companies. The database would allow consumers to “instantly check the validity of the car’s title and odometer reading and learn whether it had been stolen or severely damaged in the past.”
FDA Wants To Open A Field Office In China
By 2.6.08
The FDA tells Reuters that it wants permission to open a field office on China so it has some “boots on the ground.” Rather than inspecting food, this proposed FDA expansion team’s main function would be to lobby the Chinese government for more stringent regulations. Be still our beating heart.
City Sues Man For Not Having Any Trash
By 1.31.08
You would think city would be giving a guy a special bonus for not producing any trash, but San Carlos, CA is suing 53-year-old Eddie House for canceling his garbage service. House says he recycles most about everything by driving to the recycling center himself, gives food scraps to his dog, sells larger items or gives them away on craigslist, and burns his backyard clippings. Reports The Examiner: “House says he stopped his service with Allied Waste about a year ago after realizing that his garbage cans were nearly always empty. “It’s just me and my dog, so I don’t have a whole lot of garbage to begin with and I recycle everything,” he said.” Town ordinance requires that everyone contract with Allied Waste for at least once a week pickup. The city says they were alerted to the situation after neighbors complained he was burning garbage (a not-so-very green move). House says he was only burning firewood. “I don’t understand a city ordinance that requires you to fill up a can. That’s downright foolishness,” said Mr. House.
By 1.29.08
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As more states ban smoking indoors, the “smoking shelter” business is booming. [Chicago Tribune via Fark]
By 1.28.08
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President Bush is expected to use his State of the Union address to tell the Senate to STFU and pass the stimulus package already. [Associated Press]
Health Group Asks Congress To Create National Drug Data Resource
By 1.25.08
The U.S. Institute of Medicine called on Congress today to “establish a single national resource of health information.” The resource would collect all available data on every drug in the marketplace, and be available to consumers to educate themselves about any and all possible treatments in order to make better-informed decisions with their doctors.
By 1.21.08
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Some libertarian-flavored analysis of the mortgage crisis, from Credit Slips:
If my lugubrious predictions prove true, there will be a measurable–possibly quite large–impact on the market. Such rules will make mortgage lending less profitable to everyone in the system-so the number of mortgages written will decline and those that are written will be marginally more expensive. It will winnow the number of mortgage brokers and so remove some who have committed fraud in writing mortgages. It will make investors upstream think twice about buying a debt that carries not only a fraud claim but also the possibility of tort liability for too generous lending, and even a lasting stain (for debt liability) that cannot be removed by assignment to another.
Pickled Mouse Foot Is A "Special Additive," Enjoy!
By 1.21.08
A woman in Slovenia who found a preserved mouse foot in her jar of pickles complained to the Health Ministry. A ministry official wrote back with a summary of how mice parts end up in factory-made food products, and then concluded, “A mice-foot therefore could be classified as a special additive to the pickles.”
Social Security Numbers Visible On Envelopes Mailed By Wisconsin… AGAIN
By 1.16.08
Look, Wisconsin. We weren’t kidding around last time. We really did mean it when we said that it wasn’t cool to print people’s Social Security Numbers where anyone can see them. How can people who are smart enough to sell sausage shaped like beer (above) not able to figure out that the SSN is a secret?
By 1.15.08
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Don’t use an f-bomb in the memo section of your check when you pay for a parking ticket, at least not in Doylsetown, Pennsylvania—the man who did was charged with with disorderly conduct for the “obscene” word, but the charges were dropped after he wrote a formal apology to the offended…
By 1.12.08
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Wisconsin-based hunting stand company Ardisam Inc. has agreed to pay a $420,000 civil penalty to settle a government lawsuit. In 2004, the company recalled 78,000 hunting tree stands that “unexpectedly detached from trees,” sending hunters tumbling to the ground.
Mass. Residents Face Monthly Fines For Going Without Health Insurance
By 1.3.08
Residents in Mass., who refuse to get health insurance will soon face monthly fines of up to $76 , says the AP:
The fines are part of an increasingly aggressive approach written into the health care law designed to pressure Massachusetts residents into getting insurance. The law, intended to create near-universal coverage in the state, was approved by lawmakers and signed by former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006.
Federal Agency Kills Lifesaving Hospital Checklist Program
By 1.2.08
The Office for Human Research Protections recently shut down a Johns Hopkins University program that had intensive care units across Michigan following “a simple five-step checklist designed to prevent certain hospital infections.”
January 1st, 1808: Slave Importation Banned In US
By 12.31.07
Considering we spend a good deal of time focusing on legislation that protects consumers and/or (usually or) businesses, we thought it appropriate to point out one of the big historical moments of trade law, not to mention human rights—tomorrow marks the “200th anniversary of Jan. 1, 1808, when the importation of slaves into the United States was prohibited.” Hey, it didn’t stop the madness, but at least it was a start.
