The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Fewer children’s products recalled in 2018, study shows

The number of children’s products and the total number of those products recalled in 2018 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission declined more than in any year in the last decade, according to a report by Kids In Danger, a children’s safety advocacy organization.

The report reviews 2018 recall data from the commission, which show a reduction of activity at the agency. Fifty-two children’s products were recalled in 2018, down 44 percent from the 93 recalls in 2017.

“It is tricky to say whether low recall numbers are a good thing – pointing to safer products – or a sign of lax enforcement, leaving dangerous products on store shelves and in our homes,” said Nancy Cowles, executive Director of Kids In Danger. “Indicators this year, such as less effective actions in lieu of recalls and fewer findings of design defects in the recalls that were announced, make us worry it is the latter.”

The report, “A KID Report: 2018 Children’s Product Recalls,” shows:

Under Trump, enforcement of consumer financial laws drops sharply, especially in areas with the highest complaints

The number of publicly announced enforcement actions under the Trump administration at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is dropping sharply, according to a report by the Consumer Federation of America.

“Law enforcement activity at the CFPB has dropped precipitously under the Trump Administration’s leadership,” said Christopher Peterson, director of financial services for the federation and author of the report.

The bureau is charged with enforcing federal consumer financial law and bringing legal action against companies that violate that law. The bureau also has the authority to seek restitution for consumers and levy fines when it finds violations. The report finds that activity in both of these areas is on the decline – overall enforcement activity is down by 80 percent from the bureau’s peak in enforcement actions in 2015 and average relief to victims is down by 96 percent per case.

What presidents are celebrated on Presidents’ Day?

What are your plans for Presidents’ Day? Enjoying a day off? Exercising? Reading? Binge watching TV programs? Shopping? Working? Cleaning house?

I bet not many people are thinking about their favorite president today or about citizen participation to help our government work better.

Again this year, I’ve been seeing the Mount Rushmore presidents on a Presidents’ Day articles. In addition to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, many people are adding the two other Mount Rushmore presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, to honor.

Federal agency to slash energy efficiency standards for some light bulbs, costing consumers billions and increasing pollution

The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing a rollback of energy efficiency standards for about 2.7 billion light bulbs, cutting nearly in half the number of bulbs to be covered by its 2020 energy-saving rules.

The proposal, announced Wednesday, would remove three-way bulbs, candle-shaped bulbs used in chandeliers and sconces, reflector bulbs used in recessed lighting, and the round globe bulbs usually found in bathroom lighting fixtures from the energy-saving lighting standards scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

The result will be $12 billion in additional consumer energy bill costs and the need to generate 25 coal-burning plants’ worth of extra electricity every year, said Noah Horowitz, director of Natural Resources Defense Council’s Center for Energy Efficiency Standards.

Federal consumer agency proposes gutting protections on payday loan debt traps

Photo: Aliman Senai

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that it’s proposing to roll back payday lending protections. The bureau is proposing to rescind the requirements that lenders make sure consumers can repay payday loans before issuing them.

While the bureau contends the changes will increase consumer access to credit, consumer groups say it's gutting consumer protections.

The bureau also proposed to push back the date lenders must comply with the rule from this August to November 2020.

The best and worst super bowl ads of 2019

For years, I’ve written about the Super Bowl ads because they get so much attention. Since so many of them have been violent, ageist, and sexist, I think it’s something that consumers need to know about.

However, this year, before I evaluate the ads, I need to comment on the NFL’s attempts to smooth over its botch response to black athletes kneeling when the national anthem is played to protest police brutality and racism.

Dr. Bernice A. King, the youngest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, came out on the field before Super Bowl LIII for the coin toss. Two civil rights leaders, Ambassador Andrew Young and U.S. Representative John Lewis, joined by her.

EPA report for 2018 under Trump brags about saving polluters $2 billion, while falsely claiming to protect children’s health

The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2018 list of accomplishments contains policies that make it easier and cheaper for polluters to pollute, while painting a distorted record of protecting children’s health.

In acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler’s Year in Review, topping the list is pushing through “13 major deregulatory actions, almost one a month.” Since the beginning of the Trump administration, according the report, the EPA “has finalized 33 major deregulatory actions, saving Americans almost $2 billion.”

The report needs explanation, said Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook.

Consumer Reports finds unacceptable levels of heavy metals in fruit juice

Fruit juices are known to be high in sugars, but they could also pose another health risk: potentially harmful levels of heavy metals, according to testing conducted by Consumer Reports, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

In its analysis of 45 popular fruit juices sold across the country, Consumer Reports found that nearly half contained unacceptable levels of inorganic arsenic, lead, or cadmium. 

Children, who are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of heavy metals, drink a lot of fruit juice. More than 80 percent of parents of children three and under give their kids juice at least sometimes, according to a recent national Consumer Reports survey. In 74 percent of those cases, kids drink juice once a day or more. Yet, ingesting heavy metals can put kids at risk for lowered IQ, behavioral problems, type-2 diabetes, and cancer, among other health issues, depending on how long they are exposed to these toxins.

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.

Let’s have responsible gun laws now

Photo: Chuck Schultz

A gunman entered a SunTrust Bank branch in Sebring, Florida, Wednesday and shot and killed all of the five people in the bank.

Every day, 100 people are killed with a gun in America. In 2017, the number of gun deaths climbed to a record high of nearly 40,000.

In 2018, there were 340 mass shootings in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive defines a mass shooting as any in which four or more people are shot, including those who are injured but survive, and not including the shooter.

There already have been 19 mass shootings in 2019.