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Have you heard about the Gas Research Institute? Few people have. But if you are a customer of natural gas in your home or business, you will be paying as a group almost $10 million this year and over $90 million a year by the early 80s to this institute. Your payment will be added…
Kachariah D. Blackistone has been taking things easier the past few months. He is entitled to some relaxation at the age of 107. Until last year Mr. Blackistone went to work regularly as the owner of four florist shops in Washington, D.C., where he has become a community legend. At the age of 100, he…
Auto repair fraud, gouges or shoddiness are either number one or very near the top of most consumer complaint surveys in this country. Billions of dollars every year are fleeced from motorists, according to the Department of Transportation. Now comes a lawsuit brought jointly by the San Francisco District Attorney and the California Department of…
The airlines are swooping down on Congress to grab four billion more dollars from airline passengers. Behind this latest chapter of corporate pressure politics is a tale of corporate socialism so bold as to set, if successful, the stage for many similar inflationary congressional raids on consumers. It is a simple story of business greed.…
After 13 months as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, Carol Tucker Foreman is about to make several major decisions affecting consumers who eat meat and poultry. She is under heavy pressure by industry to make anti-consumer rulings. But as former head of the Consumer Federation of America, Ms. Foreman is generating different expectations within consumer groups.…
At first glance it looked like a constructive display of judicial creativity. Within a few days of one another, two federal district court judges imposed a program of compulsory charity on two corporations found guilty of breaking criminal laws. In Oregon, Judge Otto Skopil ordered a sportswear firm, White Stag, to make restitution for customs…
Richard Peach was outraged. He bought a car relying on the fuel economy figures generated by the environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The car did not come close to performing as the Mileage Guide indicated it would. John Pennington was also upset. He realized that the EPA mileage ratings were estimates. But when he received nearly…
Noise, the polls tell us, is increasingly getting on peoples’ nerves in cities and towns. The clamor in downtown Washington needs no exaggeration. People have been known to move away to quieter parts of the city. Recently, the added noise at construction sites has led some sonic victims in office buildings to look for other…
If you are a cash customer, why should you pay the same price for a product or service as a credit card customer? In order to subsidize the credit card industry is one answer. But the astute consumer answer is that you should pay less. All legal obstacles to your paying less for cash purchases…
“It is now possible to mass-produce and market foods with extra flavor, extra nutrients, extra purity, at less cost with less energy, with societal and ecological benefits as well.” These words were written by Gwynn Garnett, a working Virginia farmer with a remarkable background. After growing up on a Wyoming ranch, he worked in agriculture…