FTC settlement shows why a car-repair contract may be a bad idea
Car repairs are a dreaded expense for most families. When you see a TV ad – with a celebrity saying […]
Government
Solar energy financing lenders use predatory methods in all states, report shows
And, again, history repeats itself. The nation’s leading residential solar energy financing lenders are using predatory methods including undisclosed profit arrangements with their preferred installers and expensive financing with hidden fees as a standard practice to target consumers for financial exploitation, according to a new report.
Summer salads are refreshing, while keeping the kitchen cool
My daughter Mona is great at making salads. As part of a large farm family, she’s used to cooking for crowds. When she comes to visit, as she did for my July Fourth party, she always asks me to get out the large bowls. Then she peruses her vegetarian cookbooks, which she brings with her, and prepares her latest salad success.
Best Lighting Products is recalling more than 700,000 High Bay LED light Fixtures due to fire risk
Another huge recall deserves your attention. Best Lighting Products is recalling about 710,600 LED High Bay light fixtures and, in addition, about 19,100 were sold in Canada. Plastic pins securing the LED board can degrade, allowing the energized LED board to come loose and contact the lens or combustible materials, posing a fire risk.
Finally, something may be done about corporate price gouging that’s contributing to inflation
Thursday I wrote about how more than 50 percent of inflation is caused by corporate price gouging and wondered why politicians don’t talk about it and news organizations don’t cover it. Friday I was going to write about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suing Acima and its former chief executive officer Aaron Allred for illegal lending activities.
Corporations continue to charge consumers high prices, leading to record profits, which is a major cause of inflation
It’s amazing that corporate price gouging gets such little attention. It’s responsible for more than 50 percent of inflation that’s causing consumers so much stress and hardship. However, it gets little publicity. Accountable.US, a consumer watchdog group, reports lots of information on this, but I seldom see it in the press. Here are a few examples:
FTC taking a look at surveillance pricing, which links the price of an item to a customer’s data
What’s surveillance pricing? It’s when a company looks at information about you and sets the price of an item or service you want to buy based on that information. The FTC issued orders to eight companies offering surveillance pricing. It wants to know about the possible impacts these practices have on privacy, competition, and consumer protection.
Watch out for brominated vegetable oil, now banned, in food and soft drinks
Consumers need to read ingredient labels carefully to avoid brominated vegetable oil or BVO because, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally banned it, products containing BVO may remain for sale on store shelves. BVO has mainly been used to help stabilize citrus flavorings in sodas, sports drinks, and energy drinks.
Slow evacuation of American Airlines flight 2045 shows need for updated evacuation standards and minimum seat sizes, consumer groups say
The evacuation of American Airlines Flight 2045 on July 12 at the San Francisco International Airport took longer to complete than the federal standard of 90 seconds. While only minor injuries were reported, delays in the evacuation created an unacceptable risk of major injuries or death for the passengers and crew.