Blog

CFPB May Announce It Has "Guns, Lots of Guns" To Regulate Credit Bureaus

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Consumer Program Director

The CFPB travels to Detroit Monday, July 16th, for a field hearing on credit reporting. It seems like a fine opportunity to announce a final anticipated rule giving it full authority -"guns, lots of guns" - to look inside the black box operations of Trans Union, Equifax and Experian-- the Big Three self-anointed and little-scrutinized gatekeepers to financial and employment opportunity despite their long record of mistakes and failure to give consumers a chance to fix them.

Consumer Protection

New TIFIA Rules Will Hurt the Public

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

By | Phineas Baxandall

Senior Analyst for Tax & Budget Policy

This commentary, cross-posted on the National Journal Transportation Expert blog, explains why the new rules for the greatly expanded federal transportation loan program will encourage private toll roads at the expense of transit and everything else because it ignores the important indirect costs and benefits of transportation investments.

Transportation

Arbitration: it's not just bad for you, it's bad for fair arbitrators, too

Monday, July 9, 2012

By | Ed Mierzwinski

Consumer Program Director

A Bloomberg columnist is reporting that the securities industry's self-regulator FINRA has fired 3 arbitrators who ruled against BofA's Merrill Lynch in favor of a presumably grievously ripped-off investor (they rarely win). It's time for both the SEC, for investors, and the CFPB, for consumers, to step up and use their Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act powers to ban forced arbitration.

Consumer Protection

Happy 106th birthday to two landmark food safety laws!

Monday, July 2, 2012

By | Nasima Hossain

Public Health Advocate

This week marks the 106th anniversary of the passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act, two landmark pieces of consumer based legislation which established the modern food protection system as we know it.