Should Legislation Protect Consumers or Cons and Ticket Scalpers? Everyone knows someone that has gone to a concert or a sporting event, having paid far beyond the ticket’s face value.  Many of us have also heard the horror stories of a fan going to concert only to find someone else sitting in their seat – [...]

SURVEY RESULTS 1. The explosive growth in Internet is raising privacy concerns among consumers who worry about the collection and use of their personal information by some technology companies like Google, Facebook and others.  To what extend do you trust online companies with your personal information? A.    Completely trust (2%) B.     Somewhat trust (33%) C.     [...]

A national consumer survey conducted by the American Consumer Institute finds that the majority of consumers support stronger privacy protections.  Consumers expressed concerns about the collection and use of their personal information by tech companies like Google and Facebook, with 62% not trusting these companies with their information.  Of the 800 consumers surveyed, 33% said [...]

It’s hard to imagine a more transparent epistle than the one Sean Shaw sent to the Tallahassee Democrat. He was attempting to recast an op-ed from Steve Pociask with the American Consumer Institute which pointed to Shaw as being, well…transparent. Pociask alleged that trial lawyers, especially the former state Insurance Consumer Advocate, were manipulating the [...]

Euro Zone members are pointing fingers, lecturing on austerity and mugging for cameras by convening riots in the streets and gatherings of politicians.  U.S. consumers just want to hear the “prepare for the worst” commentary, as did Houseman:   And while the sun and moon endure Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure, I’d face it as [...]

Congress has an urgent need to control Federal Deficit.  Earlier this year, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform identified the containment of government medical program costs as a major priority to controlling the Federal spending.  With the aging US population, the need to address ways to control medical costs is more important than [...]

82% of Consumers Say Post Office Closings Would Be Inconvenient; 76% Say They Would Pay More to Prevent Planned Cuts A national consumer survey conducted by the American Consumer Institute (ACI) finds that the vast majority of consumers do not support the United States Post Office’s planned closing of 4,000 post offices.  According to the [...]

Typically, parents of school-age children think their local school is “pretty good” but feel K-12 nationwide needs to be fixed.   The delusion is amusing but half right.  Since those parents entered kindergarten, global commerce has reached into our communities and taken many low skill jobs offshore, and it’s tugging on our higher skill jobs.  We [...]

The recent debacle involving Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and the sinkhole rates that it charges consumers points out one clear thing — that Citizens is not a true insurance company; it is a socialized mechanism that undercuts the private market and maintains artificially low rates because it has the power to tax all policyholders when [...]

ONLY A TEST.  On November 9, 2011, at 2 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST, which is 11 AM Pacific Time), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will conduct the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS).  At that time, an announcement will come on every TV and [...]