In the Public Interest

It was a dinner gathering to remember. In a historic Washington, D.C. building there was assembly with such variety of talents dedicated to saving our awfully overburdened oceans that Blue Frontier director David Helvarg remarked “there’s rarely been so much marine talent gathered in one place, since Jacques Cousteau dined alone.” The dinner was the…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the giant housing finance corporations — have been garnering a rash of unwanted headlines as the gangs who can’t add straight. First it was Freddie Mac which had to admit it had understated its income by a mere $4.5 billion. Even in the financial stratosphere of these government-sponsored enterprises,…

Modern societies specialize in a dazzling number of indicators that mark the ups and downs of various activities, especially economic, health and audience ratings. But when it comes to signs of societal decay that cannot easily be reduced to numbers, there is a void. So let’s look at four “decays” that are trending downward. Gluttony…

The past three years have demonstrated a disturbing trend: when tragedy befalls our country, we can count on the Republican leadership to capitalize on another opportunity to push its extremist agenda and reward its big business allies. In the aftermath of the crippling northeastern blackout in August, Congress has been working feverishly to pass an…

Former corporate lawyer, John (Jerry) Hawke, the Comptroller of the Currency, has long laid claim to the title of terminator of state and local consumer protection laws. When national banks-Hawke’s constituency-have gone to court to block consumer protections they have always found the Comptroller’s legal staff eager and ready to join the case on their…

“The Platform is the Party’s contract with the people.” This noble sentiment has been used by both Republicans and Democrats in characterizing their state and national party Platforms over the decades. It can become an embarrassing yardstick for any Party that lives a double life. Consider President Bush and his Texas State Republican Platform of…

This week the American people were given a highly publicized free lesson in how they can become powerful against dominant corporate interests. It was the swirling dynamics around the Do Not Call registry established by the Federal Trade Commission which drew over 50,000,000 people in a matter of weeks who don’t like to be bothered…

Congress has been slow to enact airtight protections for individuals’ privacy. When there is trade off between the demands of corporations versus citizens’ right to privacy, our national legislators almost always come down on the side of financial institutions and their affiliates. Congress putted around the edges of the privacy issues when it passed the…

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg held a news conference on September 9th which was described by the New York Post this way: “Looking more like a pitchman than a politician, the mayor bought an orange-mango juice drink from a Snapple machine, opened it and took a sip.” In so doing, the Mayor’s common sense snapped, as…

The federal government is by far the largest consumer in the land— hundreds of billions of dollars yearly. It buys many of the products regular consumers purchase, including motor vehicles, fuel, drugs, paper, clothing, food, computers, software, appliances, furnishings, and medical devices. It also buys less usual products such as construction equipment, buildings, highways and…