The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

How government regulations help consumers

Conservatives rail against government regulations, and the Trump administration is doing its best every day to cut government regulations that corporations hate.

However, government regulations help consumers. A report by the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards lists 10 worker, health, safety, and transportation standards that could help consumers this summer.

“Summer is supposed to be when we take time off from work to spend with family and friends, enjoy picnics, barbeques and cookouts, lay out by the pool, head to the beach, take road trips across the country or fly to far-flung places,” the report says. “But what happens if you’ve been deprived of the wages needed to take time off or travel, if road trips, flights and tour boats are potentially dangerous, if it’s way too hot to work or play outside, and there’s a good chance the food and water may be hazardous to your health? Suddenly, summertime looks less like a dreamy vacation and more like a scorching hot nightmare.”

The regulations discussed in the report are:

Jury awards couple $2 billion in lawsuit against Roundup

For the third time in less than a year, a California jury issued a verdict against Bayer-Monsanto, finding that the company’s Roundup weedkiller caused cancer in a California couple and awarding them $2.055 billion in damages.

The jury in Alameda County Superior Court found on Monday that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, was the cause of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in both Alva and Alberta Pilliod of Livermore, who have used the herbicide since the 1970s.

It’s the third trial since August 2018 in which a jury found that glyphosate caused cancer. More than 13,000 similar lawsuits have been filed against the company.

CFPB to become a financial literacy program under Trump rather than an enforcement agency

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should focus on financial literacy – empowering consumers to help themselves by choosing the best products and services to meet their needs, said the new director of the CFPB.

The government can’t be everywhere, said Kathy Kraninger, in a talk she gave Wednesday prior to a panel discussion sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

Kraninger said the CFPB would also use other tools available to the it – regulations, supervision, and enforcement. However, under her predecessor, Mick Mulvaney, the acting director appointed to head the CFPB by President Trump, enforcement action by the agency dropped dramatically.

How is Trump’s tax act affecting you?

On Saturday afternoon, I mailed in my income taxes for 2018. Instead of getting a refund of around $1,000 like I do most years, my refund was $170.

The TurboTax representative I spoke to said deductions that were helpful to me in the past, such as for my small business and charitable donations, have been eliminated.

So while Trump’s tax revisions are helping the rich, they have no benefit for me. That huge corporations pay little or nothing in income taxes and I’m paying more is discouraging. I don’t mind paying my fair share of taxes. I support good schools, roads, and bridges. But Trump’s tax law is making the rich even richer.

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.