Well under Bush it appears to have done just the opposite: The 20 largest banks that received government rescue funds slightly reduced their lending to consumers and businesses in the last three months of 2008, the government said Tuesday. The Treasury Department said the banks reduced their mortgage and business loans by a median of […]
Some troubling numbers from Rasmussen: The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell four more points on Saturday to once again reach an all-time low. At 60.1, the Index is down three points from yesterday, down fourteen points from a month ago and down thirty-nine points from […]
The economic hits keep on coming: Retail sales plunged by the largest amount on record in October as the financial crisis and the slumping economy caused consumers to sharply cut back on their spending. The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales fell by 2.8 percent last month, surpassing the old mark of a 2.65 […]
The FTC has finally done something I can really appreciate: Specifically, the FTC changed its venerable Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to prohibit, as of Sept. 2009, telemarketing calls that deliver prerecorded messages, unless a consumer has agreed to accept such calls from a given caller/seller. Between now and 2009, telemarketers must provide an obvious, easy […]
The FCC is finally doing something I agree with: The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation’s largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet. The potentially precedent-setting move stems from a complaint against Comcast Corp. that the company […]
When will we have laws to impose strict fines for companies that are so careless with consumers personal information? Personal information on about 650,000 customers of J.C. Penney and up to 100 other retailers could be compromised after a computer tape went missing. GE Money, which handles credit card operations for Penney and many other […]