Cardozo Concepcion Conference . . .

. . . on April 26.  More information here.  It looks like a terrific list of speakers, including CL&P blogger Paul Bland, once and future CL&P blogger Deepak Gupta, a representative from the CFPB, and an impressive list of law professors, including my colleague Adam Zimmerman.

How Environmentally Friendly Are Electric Cars?

It depends. If you live in a part of the country that derives most of its electricity from relatively clean sources, an electric car can be far friendlier to the environment than a gas-powered car. But not so much where electricity is produced from a dirtier source like coal. In all cases, though, electric cars are better for the environment than gas-powered cars, according to a just-released report from the Union of Concerned Scientists:

Electric vehicles burn no gasoline and have no tailpipe emissions, but producing the electricity used to charge them does generate global warming emissions. The amount of these emissions, however, varies significantly based on the mix of energy sources used to power a region's electricity grid. For example, coal-fired power plants produce nearly twice the global warming emissions of natural gas-fired power plants, while renewable sources like wind and solar power produce virtually no emissions at all.

Read the executive summary and the full report.

Judith Fox Study of Debt Collection Practices

Judith L. Fox

 of Notre Dame has written Do We Have a Debt Collection Crisis? Some Cautionary Tales of Debt Collection in Indiana, 24 Loyola Consumer Law Review (2012).  Here's  the abstract:

The Federal Trade Commission, in 2009, raised issues about debt collection practices and called on jurisdictions to investigate local practices that may be abusive to consumers. This article is the beginning of a larger study of debt collection practices in Indiana. It examines debt collection cases filed in Indiana courts in a three month period of 2009 and 2011 While most research on this issues has been in small claims court systems, this article suggests that the same, if not greater, consumer abuses exist in other courts. The research shows a pattern of large, national debt collection firms moving away from small claims courts, despite the size of the debt being collected. The procedural hurdles in these courts make it easier to obtain judgments and may result in greater abuse to consumers.

 

House Financial Services Committee Republicans Propose to Cut CFPB's Budget by More Than Half.

The Hill's On the Money Blog has the story here.  The Committee is scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday.  The bill would also subject the Bureau to the Congressional appropriation process--a proposal which this blog has previously criticized--and which would depart from the arrangement other financial institution regulators have.  The Republicans would also eliminate the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).  At least they're not proposing to get rid of the Bureau in this bill, just disable it.

Income Taxes and Same-Sex Couples

Unless you took an extension, your federal tax return is due today. This article by Tara Bernard explains how same-sex couples face serious tax disadvantages compared to opposite-sex couples. That's because the federal government will not recognize same-sex couples as married (even when they are married under state law).  Bernard's article reviews "Unequal Taxation and Undue Burdens for LGBT Families," a new report from the Movement Advancement Project, Family Equality Council, and the Center for American Progress.

Here's an executive summary of the report:

Unequal Taxation and Undue Burdens for LGBT Families provides a groundbreaking, in-depth look at the income tax inequities faced by LGBT families, illustrating how many tax exemptions, credits and deductions designed to help families ease the financial burdens of raising children are unavailable to families with LGBT parents. The report also documents how, because LGBT families are denied federal recognition of their marriages and denied joint filing status due to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), they face higher taxes on family health insurance benefits and additional gift and estate tax liability—and must misrepresent and “carve up” their families when filing taxes with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Unequal Taxation and Undue Burdens for LGBT Families also outlines recommendations for amending and repealing archaic and discriminatory tax laws that harm children who have LGBT parents.

Click on the chart below for illustrations showing the financial impact of the differential treatment between same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

Romneycare/Obamacare

Perhaps the most devastating piece yet on the parent-child relationship between Romneycare and Obamacare. The video focuses on two advisors to Romney who helped craft Romneycare and then went to Washington to do the same thing for the Obama Administration.

 

Women Still Earn Far Less Than Men

Tomorrow, April 17, is Equal Pay Day. As explained in this Miami Herald op-ed, in the U.S., women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. The cumulative effect of this wage gap is devastating:

The ability of women to retire is affected. The Center for American Progress estimates that a typical woman would lose $434,000 over a 40-year period due to the wage gap. Economist Evelyn Murphy, president of The WAGE Project, estimates that the wage gap costs the average American full-time woman worker between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her lifetime. Lower lifetime earnings mean lower Social Security benefits for women.

President Obama's statement on Equal Pay Day stressed both progress and continuing inequality:

When the Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963, women earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by men. Though women today are more likely than men to attend and graduate from college, women still earn an average of only about 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. Even when accounting for factors such as experience, education, industry, and hours, this wage gap persists. Over the course of her lifetime, this gap will cost a woman and her family lost wages, reduced pensions, and diminished Social Security benefits. Though we have made great strides, wage discrimination is real and women are still more likely to live in poverty. These inequities remind us to work even harder to close the gaps that still exist.

w.miamiherald.com/2012/04/16/2747082/women-still-earn-less-than-men.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy

Big Donations Equal Greater Access to President Obama's White House

As described in this story in Sunday's New York Times, big donors to President Obama have far greater access to the White House than do small donors. Here's a key passage:

More broadly, the review showed that those who donated the most to Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party since he started running for president were far more likely to visit the White House than others. Among donors who gave $30,000 or less, about 20 percent visited the White House, according to a New York Times analysis that matched names in the visitor logs with donor records. But among those who donated $100,000 or more, the figure rises to about 75 percent. Approximately two-thirds of the president’s top fund-raisers in the 2008 campaign visited the White House at least once, some of them numerous times.

Federal Regulator Proposes to Require Vehicle Brake Override Systems

We have blogged several times on the controversy over whether certain Toyotas had a tendency to suddenly accelerate. The relevant government regulator -- the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) -- said the problem wasn't cars that accelerated out of the blue, but drivers who unintentionally accelerated when they meant to hit the brakes. We blogged specifically on lawsuits claiming that cars should be equipped with "brake overrided" technology that shuts down the accelerator when the brakes are applied.

Now, as described in today's Washington Post, NHTSA is proposing that brake override technology be required in all new cars and light trucks. But the required technology would only deal with situations where the brakes and accelerator are "on" at the same time, and that's not very often according to safety advocates:

But safety and industry experts said the proposal doesn’t address the larger issue of drivers who mistakenly press down on the accelerator when they mean to apply the brake. Such “pedal misapplication” is a much larger problem, said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Automotive Safety. Relatively few drivers apply both the brake and accelerator at the same time, and cases of accelerators becoming jammed are not common, he said.

The agency is still studying the pedal misapplication problem: "NHTSA has been working on regulations to address the placement of gas pedals relative to brakes to prevent such mistakes, but there has been no indication when a proposal might be offered."

Car Design Impairs Proper Use of Child Safety Seats

As Jerry Hirsch of the LA Times explains:

Child safety seats are difficult to properly install in cars, according to an insurance industry research group, because of the design of most passenger seats. Joint research conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found that just 21 of 98 top-selling 2010 and 2011 model year vehicles have seat designs that are easy to use with child restraints.

Read the research on this topic on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's website.