In the Public Interest

Last fall, the lobbyists for the insurance industry were swarming across Capitol Hill warning of dire consequences if Congress failed to enact federal assistance and guarantees to protect insurance companies from future losses from terrorist attacks. In a transparent effort to stampede the legislators, the companies’ warned that credit for new construction would dry up…

The Federal Reserve wields enormous power over the national economy. Its decisions have a major impact on every citizen. Jobs, shelter and the quality of life are greatly affected by what the Federal Reserve decides on monetary policy. Yet, the Federal Reserve is allowed to make its decisions in secret. The transcripts and minutes of…

It is a long distance from college and university campus stores in the U.S. and the wretched overseas factories indenturing sweatshop labor who produce products that find their way to student consumers. But the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) has built a network of students across our country to bridge that distance with organized consumer…

Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union has been following the telephone industry for many years before and after the notorious de-regulatory Telecommunications Act of 1996. This Act was supposed to increase quality competition, benefitting consumers, between local, long distance and cable operators. Here is Kimmelman’s short-hand evaluation of the result of the Act on your pocketbook…

Payday loans, refinancing schemes and other forms of predatory lending have left many low and moderate income neighborhoods as financial wastelands. Sleazy lenders and the fast-buck merchants seem able to carry out their rip-offs with little or no effective opposition from authorities. It may be infrequent, but every now and then there are thin slivers…

Good law enforcement officials know that their success depends heavily on retaining the confidence of their communities. Blunderbuss police methods which ignore citizen rights and single out racial, ethnic and religious minorities for unfair and discriminatory treatment risk losing the public support so critical to law enforcement and public safety in a democratic system. They…

Why is the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) mounting an attack on pastas, cereals and salad dressings, among other products? Instead of spending taxpayer money on more pressing and worthy issues, on October 9, 2001, the DEA issued rulings which effectively ban hemp foods. Industrial hemp is the non-drug cousin of marijuana. Food is currently the…

President Bush is putting a big stake in the newly-formed office of Homeland Security under the leadership of former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge. The rationale behind the formation of the office is a belief that the coordination of the disparate agencies with responsibility for security will provide the nation with a more effective and focused…

Members of Congress are continuing to play hide and seek with their legislative records. Only two Congressmen–Republican Representatives Christopher Shays of Connecticut and Frank Wolf of Virginia–have placed their voting records on the Internet in a searchable format easily accessible to citizens. Not a single U. S. Senator has been willing to use the Internet…

U.S. corporations aren’t even subtle about it. Waving a flag and carrying a big shovel, corporate interests are scooping up government benefits and taxpayer money in an unprecedented fashion while the public is preoccupied with the September 11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan. Shamelessly, the Bush Administration and Congress have taken advantage of the…