On march 4, 2010, the Sarasota Herald Tribune published Steve Pociask’s op-ed “State’s Insurer of Last Resort Calls To Mind A House of Cards.”   To read the article, click here.
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WASHINGTON – The American Consumer Institute (ACI) announced today that it is placing a strong focus on statewide issues in Florida for 2010.  The organization’s announcement comes after substantial review of a variety of state issues that affect the majority of Florida’s consumers, including property insurance and telecommunications.

 
ACI’s Center for Citizen Research has established a Florida-focused [...]

By STEVE POCIASK
Special To The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 3, 2010
If an insurance company sold you a homeowner’s policy knowing that, if disaster was to strike, it probably couldn’t pay your claim, you would call that “consumer fraud” - plain and simple. If private insurance companies were to instigate such a scam, the insurance commissioner would [...]

Consumers oppose the current Healthcare legislation by a two-to-one margin.  In a nationwide survey conducted by the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (ACI), 48% of Americans oppose the bill, while 24% support it. 
 
The survey results also find that 90% of consumers believe that they should make their own decisions about healthcare coverage, [...]

The Public Option is Here for Property Insurance
 
When someone knowingly sells property insurance, but has no financial backing to pay insurance claims, it is fraud.  But when state insurance commissioners, like those in Florida and most recently in Texas, encourage insolvent insurance operations, it is just politics, and taxpayers and consumers are left to pay the difference. 
 
A couple of [...]

Our Houston Chronicle essay discussed the negative effects of the Texas FAIR and TWIA programs on consumers

Businessweek published our article on how to speed the buildout of broadband services.  The article written by Dr. Larry Darby and Dr. Josephy Fuhr points out that the current broadband stimulus funding will not be enough.  Instead, if  you want to stimulate broadband investment and use, then reduce taxes and regulations.  To see a copy of the article visit Businessweek [...]

Groups Calling for Increased Price Controls of Telecommunications Services Would Like Government Subsidies
 
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is looking into allegations of market failure and claims of high special access prices, even though no party or government agency has yet to produce any empirical evidence that demonstrates that a market failure actually exists.  Without any data [...]

Six Months ago, I commented about the problems with the Economic Stimulus Package and how it would not provide any immediate benefit, be largely ineffective and create more long term costs than benefits.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its latest employment situation report and showed that the economy lost nearly one-half million jobs [...]

 Addressing the Risks of Climate Change:
The Environmental Effectiveness and Economic Efficiency of Emissions Caps and Tradable Permits, Compared to Carbon Taxes
 
 
An ACI study sponsored in February 2007 and authored by esteemed national economist and former Undersecretary of Commerce Dr. Robert Shapiro found that carbon taxes are a better alternative to emissions caps and tradable permits (commonly referred [...]