In the Public Interest

The politics of fighting inflation from Washing­ton is increasingly becoming the politics of put- ting it to the weak and subsidizing the powerful. A few days ago, at the height of the struggle over the cotton dust lung disease standard that pitted White House advisers against the Depart­ment of Labor, a White House aide told…

More than 400 years ago, Sir Edward Coke observed that the corporation has no soul. Today, Ford Motor Co. and Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. are embroiled in situations that reflect the soulless attributes of the corporate estate. Herein is a tale of two corporations in brief which raises the question: Would these people do…

The other day the Interstate Commerce Commission mailed out its announcement that the 1977 performance reports on household goods movers were available for consumer inspection. Attached to the release was a listing of the 10 largest movers by name and the statistics they filed concerning their servicing of individual householders. For movers like Allied Van…

For several years Carol Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America and Rod Leonard of the Community Nutrition Institute were on the same side of numerous food policy issues involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). But Foreman, now assistant secretary of agriculture, made a decision a few days ago regarding nitrites in bacon that…

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…