The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Today is International Women's Day

International Women's Day, March 8, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

International Women's Day has occurred for more than a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Prior to this the Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom’s suffragettes, America’s suffragists, and other groups campaigned for women’s equality.

This year’s theme is Balance for Better. The IWD website explains the theme this way:

Top 14 consumer stories of 2018

All in all, it’s been another bad year for consumers. President Trump and his administration’s generate so much chaos that they get all the media attention. Meanwhile in the background, federal agencies are moving forward on the administration’s conservative regulatory priorities, which are harmful to consumers. One bright spot is the Democrats taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives. That will help curb President Trump's excesses.

Here are the top 14 consumer stories for 2018:

1. The Trump administration continues decimated consumer protections.

President Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney, his budget director, as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Under Mulvaney's leadership, the bureau reversed prior actions and programs of the agency. It has delayed rules to protect consumers from payday lenders, dropped lawsuits, stripped enforcements of fair-lending protections, and reduced the number of fines issued.

Will you be going into debt for holiday spending?

The 2018 holiday shopping season, like many before it, will be paid for largely by credit card debt.

After spending more than $1 trillion from November 2017 to January 2018, U.S. consumers began the new year owing more than $1 trillion to credit card companies for the first time. And even though credit card debt levels are going down a little each year, this holiday shopping season could change that.

What are consumers saying about their holiday shopping plans?  Thirty-five percent of people plan to spend more than $500 this year, according to WalletHub’s “2018 Holiday Shopping Survey.” In 2017, 33 percent said they spent that much.

How are your finances as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the holidays approach?

 

Are you in good shape financially? Many Americans don’t think they are, according to WalletHub’s  “2018 Halloween Spending and Financial Fears Survey.” Its results show:

• 75 million Americans say their finances have reached “horror show” status, including 30 percent of millennials and 16 percent of baby boomers.
   
• Two in three people think the economy will get scarier in the next 12 months.
   
• 54 percent of people think credit cards are a trick, not a treat. The worst credit cards charge annual fees as high as $995 and APRs up to 36 percent.
   
• 21 million people think a Halloween costume is worth going into debt for.
   
• 29 percent of people say money leads the list of things that scare/stress them out the most, followed by politics at 25 percent.
   
• 23 percent of people say their biggest financial fear is an unplanned emergency, followed by not having enough retirement savings, 22 percent.

The most expensive time of year is coming, when consumers traditionally rack up billions of dollars in credit card debt, investors shuffle their holdings, and people try to enjoy themselves before making resolutions

Things could turn out well, or not so good.

Trump administration’s deregulation will cost $2.1 trillion, with costs of nearly $840 a year for each household over the next two decades

The Trump administration’s deregulation would deprive American consumers and the economy of more than $2.1 trillion in benefits, according to a Public Citizen report released Wednesday. The report shows that the potential losses to the U.S. economy, consumers, and workers exceed any cost savings for regulated industries, highlighting how President Donald Trump’s unpopular war on regulation is the product of corporate lobbying rather than a serious effort to promote economic growth, said Alan Zibel, research director for Public Citizen’s Corporate Presidency Project and author of the report.

Public Citizen’s examination of 13 public protections repealed, delayed, or targeted by the Trump administration found that, on average, more than $105 billion in benefits to society will be lost every year through 2040 if the rules are erased or replaced with less effective alternatives. These at-risk benefits will cost American households nearly $17,000 over the next two decades, or nearly $840 a year. These benefits far exceed the average annual costs of the rules, estimated at nearly $21 billion.

“Trump’s obsession with deregulation is a yuuuge [the way New Yorkers, including Trump pronounce huge] tax on the same ordinary Americans he claims to represent,” said Alan Zibel. “Trump’s war on regulation will cost American households thousands over the next two decades, and that’s only if we ignore the damages to our well-being and safety that are impossible to quantify.”

Facts and figures for Labor Day 2018

Summer's ending, with Labor Day weekend coming up soon. WalletHub, a personal finance website, offers these facts and figures on Labor Day 2018:

Source: WalletHub

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

29 attorneys general file comments with FTC on role of states in consumer protection

Twenty-nine  attorneys general filed comments with the Federal Trade Commission on the significant role state attorneys general play in consumer protection, and asked the FTC to include states in the discussion as the agency holds public hearings on “Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21^st Century.”

In June, the FTC announced it would offer public hearings “on whether broad-based changes in the economy, evolving business practices, new technologies, or international developments might require adjustments to competition and consumer protection enforcement law, enforcement priorities, and policy.” The FTC asked comments by August 20.

“State Attorneys General are a critical line of defense, protecting consumers against the kinds of unfair and deceptive practices that are far too prevalent,” said  New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood. “At a time when consumers’ privacy, data, and security are often treated as commodities rather than sensitive information, this role is more vital than ever.”

Happy Fourth of July

My spirits are good this July Fourth because my daughter and grandchildren are here visiting from Spain. We have such fun on their summer visits.

However, I'm continuing to be discouraged about President Donald Trump, and how he comes up with bad policy after bad policy that are harmful to consumers and the environment. After about 18 months of terrible decisions, including acting like a fool in North Korea, his administration decides to separate immigrant children from their parents and put them in cages.

As a person who has worked for government, in good government groups, and as a journalist covering consumer issues, it's depressing to have a man like Donald Trump as the president of our great nation. Trump and his cronies are working to dismantle the institutions that have been developed to serve the American public. That the Republicans could give a huge tax cut to corporate America, then propose cutting Medicare and Medicaid to balance the budget is despicable. There’s no end to the harm and corruption that Trump and the Republicans are carrying out daily.

While watching the frightening adoption of traditional conservative Republican policies damaging our government institutions is horrific, Trump’s "white identity" politics spreading hate are beyond belief.

For some reason, I think it’s going to be over soon and our great nation will rise again.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Citibank to pay $100 million in multistate settlement over manipulating interest rates

Photo: TonyTheTiger

Citibank will pay $100 million for manipulating a key interest rate before and during the Great Recession, costing investors millions of dollars.

The investigation of LIBOR, the daily average interest rate that some banks charge each other to borrow money, was conducted by 42 state attorneys general.

“Financial institutions have a basic responsibility to play by the rules – and we will continue to hold those accountable who don’t,” said New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood.

Mulvaney fires members of three CFPB advisory boards

Yet another in a series of moves that signal the destruction from within of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Consumer Advisory Board or CAB members and members of two other advisory boards were fired. Their terms were terminated, and they weren’t permitted to re-apply.

This action took place two days after 11 consumer advocates and academics shared their concern over the cancellation of the only two CAB meetings scheduled for this year, as well as the direction of the bureau away from helping everyday Americans.

“Firing the current CAB members is another move indicating Acting Director Mick Mulvaney is only interested in obtaining views from his inner circle, and has no interest in hearing the perspectives of those who work with struggling American families,” said Ann Baddour, CAB chair.