Consumer Law & Policy Blog

FTC Issues Staff Report on the Use of Mobile Payments

Here.  The report addresses issues of dispute resolution (e.g., for unauthorized charges or fraud), security, and privacy, among others.

CBSNews Report: Lawmakers grill Cordray in duel over consumer watchdog

Here. It's a report on the Senate Banking Committee's hearing on whether he should be confirmed to head the CFPB. 

NPR on the earned income tax credit

One month before federal tax filing day, here's a helpful primer on an important redistributive aspect of our tax system.

 

Mixed signals from the administration today on environmental protection

On one hand, Bloomberg reports, the President is going to require federal agencies to consider their activities' impact on climate change.

On the other, the Post reports, the administration may delay power plant regulations.

Judge Agrees to Vacate Prior Restraint Against Critic of McDonald’s Settlement – For Now

by Paul Alan Levy

At Monday's hearing on the our motion to vacate the preliminary injunction against Majed Moughni to shut down his criticism of the proposed settlement of a lawsuit over McDonald’s sale of haram meat that had been advertised as halal, Judge Kathleen Macdonald agreed to both prongs of the relief we had sought – dissolving the injunction, and reopening the notice period for class members to intervene in, object to or opt out from the settlement. She did it, not because she agreed that Moughni’s First Amendment rights had been violated, but for the reasons offered by McDonald’s and endorsed by the other parties.  Regrettably, both Judge Macdonald’s statements at the hearing, and threats made by the parties inside and outside the courtroom, suggest that the attack on Moughni’s free speech rights is not at an end.

NLRB to appeal "Noel Canning" decision to the Supreme Court without seeking review before the full D.C. Circuit

The NLRB issued this brief statement today:

The National Labor Relations Board has determined not to seek en banc rehearing in Noel Canning v. NLRB, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit held that the January 4, 2012 recess appointments of three members to the Board were invalid.  The Board, in consultation with the Department of Justice, intends to file a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court for review of that decision. The petition for certiorari is due on April 25, 2013.

The legitimacy of Richard Cordray's appointment to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and perhaps the validity of some of that agency's regulatory and enforcement efforts under Cordray, likely will depend on the Supreme Court's decision in Noel Canning.

More on Taxes and Economic Prosperity

We have posted many times (here, for instance) that, despite contrary political rhetoric about high taxes, taxes in the U.S. are at historic lows. Eduardo Porter has now published this essay explaining that the supposed connection between low taxes and economic growth -- a basic premise of conservative U.S. thought for many years now -- is unproved. Here's an excerpt:

The argument [that low taxes equals ecomomic growth] has proved extraordinarily successful [politically]. Under Republican presidents, the top income tax rate fell as low as 28 percent, less than half the 70 percent level it was in 1980. The top corporate income tax rate was 46 percent when President Reagan took office. Today it is 35 percent. Taxes on investment income, which primarily flows to the wealthy, are even lower. In laying out his plan for a balanced budget by 2023, [Rep. Paul] Ryan has trotted out the same three elements of [former congressman Jack] Kemp’s formula: drastic curbs on spending, paring loopholes in unspecified ways and cutting tax rates even further, well below the roughly 40 percent top rate on income that was reintroduced by President Obama’s recent tax increase.... Problem is, there is little evidence that tax cutting has worked as advertised. Thomas L. Hungerford, an economist with the Congressional Research Service, got into trouble with Republicans last year when he published a study suggesting that the sharp drop in top tax rates since 1945 did little to lift economic growth but probably did contribute to soaring income inequality. And there’s no clear evidence that lower tax burdens have helped the United States grow faster than other advanced industrial nations with higher tax rates and much heavier tax burdens. Economic growth per person in the United States was a little faster than in France or Australia over the last 40 years. But it was a little slower than in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a research organization for the world’s richest countries.

The FDA is having a hard time coming up with menu labeling rules required by the 2010 health care law

According to this AP article, the FDA is having trouble finalizing the rules for menu labeling required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Here's an excerpt:

Diners will have to wait a little longer to find calorie counts on most restaurant chain menus, in supermarkets and on vending machines. Writing a new menu labeling law "has gotten extremely thorny," says the head of the Food and Drug Administration, as the agency tries to figure out who the law should cover. The 2010 health care law charged the FDA with requiring restaurants and other establishments that serve food to put calorie counts on menus and in vending machines. The agency issued a proposed rule in 2011, but the final rules have since been delayed. ... While the restaurant industry has signed on to the idea and helped to write the new regulations, supermarkets, convenience stores and other retailers that sell prepared food say they want to no part of it. "There are very, very strong opinions and powerful voices both on the consumer and public health side and on the industry side ..., FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Minnesota Star-Tribune on Whether the CFPB Will Regulate Prepaid Cards

Here.  One concern is that fees are not described uniformly, and apparently that makes it hard to comparison shop for such cards.  Excerpt:

“It’s like the Wild West in terms of the different fees and policies,” said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of CardHub.com. “The card issuers have a million different fees and everyone calls it something else. Consumers are completely confused about them.”

But the article discusses other issues as well.  Such cards, along with mobile payments, may represent the frontier in consumer payments.

American University law school announces student debt project

From the program's website:

The Women and the Law Program’s new Student Debt and Education Justice Project will address the causes and consequences of student debt, particularly for low-income students by engaging in legal and policy advocacy and research.

Promised activities include a clinical program, research, public education, and policy recommendations.

See here for more information on the project and its inaugural event next week.