In the Public Interest

Dr. Roberto J. Gonzalez, an anthropologist who teaches at San Jose State University, recently completed a study entitled “Latino Overweight and Obesity: Marketing Disease to Minorities.” Among his findings are that “Immigrants once came to the U.S. and watched their children grow taller and stronger. Today many come and watch their children grow fatter and…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which dominate the nation’s housing finance market get most of the attention when the subject of Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) comes up in Washington. But, Fannie and Freddie are not alone in this growing world of government sponsored enterprises which operate in a twilight zone somewhere between government and free…

New York Attorney General, Eliot L. Spitzer, called his settlement with Merrill Lynch for defrauding and misleading investors, “a triumph for the investing public.” Pulitzer prizewinning business reporter for the New York Times, Gretchen Morgenson, called the agreement “clearly” “a fine deal” for Merrill Lynch. Who is right? Gretchen Morgenson. First, give Spitzer his due.…

Margaret Dickens in University City, Missouri was having a tough time with mounting bills. She was a perfect target for a finance company which offered to refinance her 7.5 percent home mortgage with a $65,000 loan at 12.5 percent interest plus up front fees of $11,600 including points and a single-premium credit life insurance policy.…

Getting your telephone call returned by a seller these days is like the weather — everyone complains about it, but nobody seems able to do anything about it. The domination of business callees is increasing rapidly over frustrated consumer callers. One would think that with the telecommunications revolution, getting through to a live human being…

On the evening of October 3, 2000, the mis-named Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) ignored my ticket-in-hand to go to an adjoining auditorium on the campus of the University of Massachusetts and watch the Gore-Bush debate on closed-circuit television. With a state trooper by his side, the “security consultant” for the CPD made it very…

Once in a while Congress takes on a powerful corporate lobby that has over-reached and is squeezing the little guys. Remarkably enough, the Senate has already passed a farm bill that prohibits meat packer ownership of livestock. Since four giant companies control 83% of the nation’s cattle slaughter and about 63% of the hog slaughter…

At civic rallies we are holding around the country, the talk is of the need for change, for the pursuit of greater justice as a precondition for the pursuit of greater happiness. Filling large arenas such as the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon or the Sundome in Tampa, Florida, these gatherings, together with tables by…

Once again, General Motors shows how it can go backwards into the future. Its average new motor vehicle fuel inefficiency has been getting worse in recent years. Now it wants to unbundle many of its vehicles by dropping standard equipment side air bags and anti-lock braking systems (ABS) and charging its customers more for these…

One of the hardest decisions for citizen reform groups to make when supporting legislation that is pending for years is how much weakening they will tolerate before they break away in opposition. Campaign finance reform in Congress, after years of struggle by coalition groups such as Common Cause and Public Citizen, passed and was unenthusiastically…