The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Be sure to vote today

It’s Election Day throughout the nation in most places, and states are having important local elections. Be sure to research carefully who to vote for in these races. The people who run your city, county, and schools are important to your life and the lives of your family.

In addition, governors will be elected in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. State legislative elections also will be held in Virginia, Louisiana, and Mississippi as well as for the General Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Special elections are also being held to fill state legislative seats vacated due to retirement, death, resignation, or election to another office.

On ballot measures, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, voters will consider a ballot initiative to change how seats in the legislature are apportioned. In Washington state, voters will decide on Referendum 88, a measure that would allow affirmative action policies in public education, employment, and contracting, and Initiative 976, which would reduce car tabs to $30. In Pennsylvania, voters will consider a constitutional amendment to adopt Marsy’s Law protections for crime victims.

Baby boomers offer practical tips and talk friendship and politics

It’s so cold here in the Seattle area that I’m wearing my winter coat again. And, it’s Election Day Tuesday, another indication that November is here.

As we move toward Thanksgiving, baby boomers are writing about:

• How to reignite your passion for things that you love doing.
• What people can do when they feel overwhelmed.
• The benefits of organic food.
• How to create a blog for business purposes.
• A discussion of politics in a New Jersey.
• A visit from a friend in a dream.

Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles describes these articles on the Best of Boomer Blogs #621. Click here to get the links to the articles. In addition, please join the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

How the meat industry pressures federal regulators for less inspection, which compromises the safety of the food supply – Part 3

This is the third article in a three-part series on meat inspection. Part 1 reports on tours I took of two beef facilities, a slaughterhouse and a meat processing plant. Part 2 includes interviews with those who favor and oppose new USDA inspection procedures and proposals that reduce the amount of inspection from federal meat inspectors. The articles were written when I was a consumer food columnist for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. The articles were rejected by newspaper editors and never published.

It was a huge surprise this spring when I read articles that the Trump administration was proposing rules for pig slaughter that would speed up production lines, giving less time to spot contamination, and permit pork processing plants to operate with fewer federal inspectors, putting more of the responsibility to ensure food safety on the companies themselves.

These were among proposals made under the Reagan administration in 1984 to cut costs that I wrote about.

How the meat industry pressures federal regulators for less inspection, which compromises the safety of the food supply – Part 2

This is the second article in a three-part series on meat inspection. The article was written in 1984 and submitted to The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where I worked as a consumer food columnist, but it was never published. I’m posting the article on my blog to show that the meat industry has been pressuring federal regulators for decades to reduce inspection by government inspectors.

Article 1 in the series, “How the Meat Industry Pressures Federal Regulators for Less Inspection, Which Compromises the Safety of the Food Supply – Part 1,” describes my tours of Washington Beef’s slaughterhouse in Toppenish and processing plant in Union Gap.

Article 2 includes interviews with those who favor and oppose the new USDA inspection procedures.

How the meat industry pressures federal regulators for less inspection, which compromises the safety of the food supply – Part 1

When I was a consumer food columnist for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, I wrote two articles on meat inspection.

At the time, in 1984, the meat industry was proposing speeding up lines and turning over some of the meat inspection duties performed by federal meat inspectors to employees of the meat companies.

I became interested in the topic because In read about it in a newsletter from one of the Public Interest Research groups. I went to a local slaughter house and wrote about what I saw. One of the workers was smoking and spit on the floor when he was trimming a carcass. My editors spiked the article. When I arrived in the newsroom, they told me about rejecting my article. I quickly wrote a substitute article about a government publication for my column that day.

CFPB says it will continue to offer consumer complaint database and enhance it

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB announced Wednesday that it will continue to maintain its consumer complaint database while making “enhancements” to the information available to users. These enhancements include providing financial information and details into the complaint process to better address questions and inform consumers before they issue a complaint and adding materials to help consumers who seek answers to specific questions from financial companies.

“This announcement is a victory for both consumers and the marketplace,” said Ed Mierzwinski, senior director, Federal Consumer Programs for U.S. PIRG. “Over the years, U.S. PIRG, in comments and public statements, has championed the need to maintain a public CFPB consumer complaint database because it’s common sense that markets work better for consumers and companies when both sides have full information.” 
 
Mierzwinski said the series of U.S. PIRG reports using the database have clearly shown that the it serves as a powerful tool to help consumers make choices and also gives watchdog groups, academics, and the private sector a way to analyze and highlight problems.

CFPB and seven states launch ‘innovation network’ that will approve new risky financial products and protect them from enforcement

Under the Trump administration, the federal agency that’s supposed to protect consumers from Wall Street and financial predators has thought of yet another way to strip consumers of their protections. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB announced Tuesday that, working with seven state regulators, it launched the American Consumer Financial Innovation Network or ACFIN, a network that it said would "enhance coordination among federal and state regulators to facilitate financial innovation."

The CFPB invited all state regulators to join ACFIN, and the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah took the offer.

Consumer advocates criticized the CFPB action because it gives banks, fintech companies, and other corporations no-action letters and approvals that will protect companies from enforcement and determine potentially new risky financial products and services to be in compliance with the law.

Facts and figures for Labor Day 2019

Source: WalletHub

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Women's Equality Day 2019 – Celebrating votes for women

From Visually.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

CFPB fails consumers by not carrying out payday lending rule, consumer groups say

Photo: Aliman Senai

Consumer groups urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB in a letter sent Monday to take action to carry out the payment requirements in its payday lending rule, whose compliance date was Aug. 19.

These requirements restrict payday and vehicle-title lenders from attempting to withdraw money from borrowers’ bank accounts after two attempts have failed. The safeguards would help consumers avoid fees for unsuccessful debit attempts and possible account closures.

The CFPB is refusing to take steps to carry out the requirements and protect consumers, according to the consumer groups.