With Google’s Dominance in Online Search and Advertising, Deal Raises Serious Concerns for Consumers   Washington, DC, October 20, 2008 — As the Department of Justice moves closer to deciding whether to take action to block the partnership between Google and Yahoo, or impose conditions on the deal, the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen [...]

Policymakers frequently propose taxes on businesses, while claiming to spare them on consumers.  While these proposals seem politically more palatable, as an economist, I realize that rising business costs are recouped through higher prices paid for by consumers.   Last month we had an online survey where we asked readers whether an increase in business taxes would or would not affect consumer prices.  The [...]

Our last ConsumerGram analyzed the hidden telephone fees that consumers pay as a result of an outdated system of regulated payments between telephone companies.  We concluded then that these payments represent subsidies that hurt consumers, are inefficient, and are not sustainable in the face of increasing competition.  Moreover, the subsidy scheme works to discourage investment [...]

October 14, 2008   Dear Chairman Martin and Commissioners: On behalf of the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (ACI), I am writing to urge you to place the interests of consumers nationwide ahead of parochial, and too often vague, unidentifiable, or inconsistent local government interests in matters related to timely deployment of wireless [...]

A handful of leading politicians claim that financial deregulation was responsible for the U.S. financial calamity.  But, informed consumers should take pause and look at the facts.  As Dr. Darby pointed out in a recent blog, there has been a lot of meddling going on to promote special interests at the expense of consumers and at the expense [...]