So, Congress finally passed the bailout bill. You know about the Treasury’s newfound $700 billion, and you’ve heard about the snipped golden parachutes, but what does the 451-page week-old shotgun savior of a bill actually mean for you?
news from the swamp
By 10.3.08
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The House is entering its final votes on the bailout bill. [NYT]
Bailout Bill Includes Wooden Arrow Tax Break
By 10.3.08
A repeal of a tax on wooden arrows is but one of the many pork provisions getting tacked onto the bailout bill in order to win support from recalcitrant Congress Critters. So while the world watches and waits for us to rescue the financial system, our elected representatives are holding things up until they can grab their piece of the action. Awesome. This one is even better than the $0.10 Michigan recycling refund. I’ve been trying to crunch the numbers on my wooden arrow business for ages. Finally the margins will work. Full text of the passage, inside. What other fun special-interest pork projects can you find tacked onto this bill? Let us know in the comments.
Congressional Negotiators Strike Bailout Deal
By 9.28.08
Congressional negotiators agreed in principle last night to a $700 billion bailout package. The bill is currently being transformed into draft legislation that can be voted on tonight tomorrow.
Minerals Management Service Take Pay-For-Offshore-Oil-Play Scandal "Extremely Seriously"
By 9.11.08
THE QUOTE: In an interview, MMS Director Randall Luthi said the agency took the report “extremely seriously”
By 9.8.08
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The FAA cited three major airlines for safety violations. None of the breaches put people or passengers at risk, said the FAA. [Washington Post]
Obama's Promises To Consumers
By 8.29.08
Obama just gave his acceptance speech to become the Democratic candidate for the next President of the United States of America. Here’s what was in it for consumers, he promised to:
By 8.27.08
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FDIC chair’s assessment of the banking situation: worse and getting worser. [NYT]
Obama Took Hillary As VP "Very Seriously"
By 8.26.08
I like to keep it pretty apolitical here at The Consumerist, but when Obama uttered the very same PR-double-speak phrase, “taking it seriously,” that we’ve been skewering for eight months, I had to post it.
FCC Commissioner: Regulating Poor Comcast Compels Us To Regulate All Speech On The Internet. Huh?
By 8.15.08
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell (R-Obviously) recently warned conservative bloggers that the Commission’s decision to repudiate Comcast for crippling Bit Torrent could lead the government to start “dictating content policy” by requiring blogs to give equal time to opposing views. Ha! Of course, this can be avoided if we vote for the *ahem* “right” candidate in November.
Credit Score Piggybacking Saved From Death
By 7.30.08
Piggybacking is back in, baby. FICO was all set to terminate the credit-score boosting technique of adding another authorized user to an account held by someone with good credit, but they demurred. Piggbyack away, little money pigs. Here’s how it went down…
Two More Banks Fail, Including The Largest Arizona-Based Bank
By 7.26.08
Yesterday the FDIC shuttered the 28 branches of the First National Bank of Nevada and the First Heritage Bank. Federal regulators will perform a nifty little magic trick over the weekend, and on Monday, the branches will reopen as Mutual of Omaha Bank. Aren’t bank failures fun?!
Minimum Wage Soars To $6.55, Working Poor Still Too Impoverished To Celebrate
By 7.26.08
Great news, minimum wage workers: if you spend the next year working without getting sick or, um, going on vacation, you’ll make $13,624! Uncle Sam’s $0.70 minimum wage hike is the second of three to take effect before next summer, but the meager raise is hardly a godsend for the working poor.
Regulators Seize IndyMac In The Second Largest Bank Failure In U.S. History
By 7.12.08
Ever hear of IndyMac Bancorp? Well, it’s gone! Federal regulators seized the California bank spawned by Countrywide founder Angelo Mozilowhich, which had giddily doled out mortgages to lenders without requiring proof of income. Rather than blame the second largest bank failure in U.S. history on the subprime meltdown, the charmingly politicized regulators at the FDIC blamed the bank’s demise on Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY). Huh?
Spherion Corp. Steals $426,000 From Widow
By 7.6.08
Thomas Amschwand knew he was dying and did everything in his power to make sure his wife would be able to collect his $426,000 life insurance policy. Yet when the 30-year-old succumbed to heart cancer, his employer, Spherion, a temporary staffing company, told his widow Melissa that she would receive nothing.
Risk-Based Pricing Is A Myth
By 6.30.08
Credit card companies need to penalize bad behavior with outrageous fees to keep credit affordable for the rest of us, right? Yeah, not so much. Credit Slips blogger and Georgetown Law Professor Adam Levitin argues that risk-based pricing is a myth that credit card companies exploit to escape well-deserved government regulation.
Energy Companies Win Permission To Steal $3 Billion From Customers
By 6.28.08
Westerners are stuck paying $3 billion to energy companies that colluded to gang-rape the free market. California, Washington, and Nevada were planning to return the money to customers, but the Supreme Court recently ruled that the industry manipulated the market, fair and square.
Sprint Doesn't Charge US Government Early Termination Fees
By 6.12.08
Sprint doesn’t charge Uncle Sam an early termination fee if he decides to get out of his cellphone contract early. Why? USAToday reports:
