During the Republican National Convention this week, we’ve heard the same old themes: smaller government and slashing regulations. The Republican Party, the party of the wealthy, has been waging a war for decades to convince the American public that government is bad. With smaller government and weak regulations, capitalists can... Read more →
Photo: Gage Skidmore When I traveled to Australia in 1966, I was very aware that the “ugly American” had become to be known as a "loud and obnoxious" type of visitor from America to another country. The term came from a novel, published in 1958, about the failure of members... Read more →
A series of improvements that will guide the future of federal student loan practices were announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Education. About 43 million consumers owe money on student loans, and one-in-four of these borrowers are past due or in default. The new loan system will make it... Read more →
Three states are filing lawsuits against Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche for the automakers’ sale of diesel automobiles – including more than 25,000 in New York, 15,000 in Massachusetts and 12,935 in Maryland – which were fitted with illegal “defeat devices” that hid illegal amounts of harmful emissions the cars emitted... Read more →
Photo: Walter Siegmund Tesoro Corp. and Par Hawaii Refining will pay $425 million to resolve air pollution violations and reduce air pollution at six refineries. Under the settlement, the two companies will spend about $403 million on pollution control equipment, and Tesoro will pay about $12 million for environmental projects... Read more →
Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting is the host for this week’s Best of Boomer Blogs #457. Baer writes about how friends and relatives descend on her and her husband’s beach cottage on the Jersey Shore during the summer. They bid visitors farewell and collapse, relax, recover, reenergize, and... Read more →
IKEA is recalling about 8 million MALM chests and dressers and 21 million additional children’s and adult chests and dressers in the United States and 6.6 million in Canada. The recalled chests and dressers are unstable if they aren’t properly anchored to the wall, posing a serious tip-over and entrapment... Read more →
Herbalife Ltd. has agreed to pay $200 million and change its U.S. operations to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it fooled consumers into believing they could earn substantial money selling diet, nutritional supplement, and personal care products. In its lawsuit against Herbalife, the FTC also charged that the multi-level... Read more →
Santander Bank has agreed to pay $10 million for illegal overdraft practices. Santander’s telemarketing vendor deceptively sold an overdraft service and signed some bank customers up for it without their consent, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday. In addition to paying the penalty, Santander is required to go back... Read more →
Warner Bros. has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers during a marketing campaign for the video game Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor by failing to disclose that it paid online “influencers,” including “PewDiePie,” thousands of dollars to post positive gameplay videos on YouTube and social media. During... Read more →