Stocks surged today after the Fed said it would buy $300 billion in longterm Treasurys and hundreds of billions of mortgage-backed securities. Effectively, it’s like an interest rate cut, or printing more money. By increasing the amount of money in the system, banks will be able to borrow more cheaply and could prompt lower mortgage rates and more lending. Remember when we told you what “quantitative easing” was? This is it, folks, and it’s big.
TOP
AIG CEO Asks For Half Of The Bonus Money Back
By 3.18.09
AIG CEO Edward Liddy told the House Financial Services subcommittee this afternoon that he has asked the members of the Financial Products division to voluntarily return half of their bonuses.
Whoops: Typo Causes You To Overdraft $546,020
By 3.18.09
Reader Thomas was celebrating the birthday of his 1 year old when a letter arrived from his credit union. It was a notice informing him that he had overdrafted his account. By $546,020. Whoops.
This Is Why You Don't Order From Fad Diet & Wellness Sites
By 3.18.09
Christina decided to give the famed acai berry a try. What the heck, she must have thought, it won’t cost me that much ($10) and the site’s refund policy clearly indicates when I can return the product, cancel the “subscription,” and move on. She knew the cancel-by date and was prepared to follow the rules. AcaiBerryUltimate.com had other plans, which are best summed up by this email they sent to her: “You can get your refund in hell. haahah.”
Where Did The Cars Go? Manufacturers Are Confiscating Cars From Dealerships
By 3.18.09
Here’s a weird symptom of the disease that’s killing the auto industry — empty car dealerships, some of which are still open for business.
Airlines Having A "Worldwide Distress Sale"? Time For A Vacation?
By 3.18.09
You know, we hesitate to use the term “fire sale” to describe airline prices but there are apparently some insane deals to be had right now according to the San Francisco Chronicle
What Do Deal Site Acronyms Like "YMMV" And "AC" Mean?
By 3.18.09
If you’re new to hunting for deals online, you’ll start seeing all these funky acronyms used as shorthand. Here’s some of the most common ones and what they mean:
GM To Taxpayers: Bail Us Out Or We'll Liquidate
By 3.18.09
With two weeks to go before the government deadline to approve GM’s restructuring plan, the AP says that GM’s CEO Rick “The Station” Wagoner told the press that if GM is allowed to go into bankruptcy, it will simply be liquidated.
Best Buy Not Honoring Price Match Guarantee
By 3.18.09
Not to be outdone by all the negative publicity Office Depot is getting over their “not in stock” lies, Best Buy stores in the New York area have been uncovered refusing to price match TV prices in accordance with their official policy. When pressed, the sales associates said that the TVs weren’t covered due to imaginary exclusions that aren’t included in the official policy language. An employee at one of the stores gave in, but then made up a new imaginary policy that said free delivery would cost $100.
NY AG: AIG Paying "Retention" Bonuses To People Who Left The Company
By 3.17.09
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has written a letter to House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, offering some advice on what topics they might discuss at tomorrow’s AIG hearing. Among them: Giving “retention” bonuses to people who have left the company, making 73 millionaires in “the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees” and the fact that without a taxpayer bailout — the “best and brightest” at AIG wouldn’t have jobs from which to collect impressive guaranteed bonuses.
My Home Depot Credit Card Now Has A 25.99% APR
By 3.17.09
Reader Warren says that Home Depot raised his APR to 25.99% — causing him to cancel his account. Yikes.
Capcom Says Your Complaints About Their Game Are "BS"
By 3.17.09
What’s the appropriate response to complaints about your product? One Capcom executive seems to think that calling the complaints “BS” in the company forum is the answer.
Office Depot Employee Claims He Photoshops Price Tags
By 3.17.09
Who needs to lie about inventory when you can inflate the price directly? LAPTOP has uncovered more dirty secrets of Office Depot employees being dishonest to customers, this time by altering price tags on clearance items to incorporate the cost of an extended service plan.
How Do You Solve A Problem Like AIG? Suicide.
By 3.17.09
Another day, another livid politician. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa told a Cedar Rapids radio station that the AIG executives who are taking bonuses should, as an alternative, kill themselves.
Which Drugs Aren't Overpriced And Crappy?
By 3.17.09
Using the power of unbiased science to see which meds are the most cost-effective, Consumer Reports launched a new publication Best Drugs for Less this week. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you’re not in anyone’s pockets except your readers’.
8,000 Comcast Passwords Exposed, Phishing Scam Suspected
By 3.16.09
The New York Times has reported that a list of over 8,000 Comcast user name and passwords were available to the public via Scribd for two months, before a Wilkes University professor discovered it over the weekend after doing a search for his identity online. Comcast is saying it looks like the result of a phishing scam and isn’t an inside job, and that there are so many duplicate entries on the list that it’s closer to 4,000 customers.
Submit Your Nominations For 2009 Worst Company In America Contest
By 3.16.09
It’s that time of year again, folks. Brackets, Brackets, Brackets. Please help us out by emailing your nominations to us a tips@consumerist.com. Put “WCIA” in your subject or your nomination will not count. Please behave yourselves and nominate one company per email address. Nominated companies should provide goods or services to consumers. Thank you, and may God bless the United States of America.
