Corrupt politician

Killing America One Vote at a Time: Why the CFPB Matters

The Honorable Richard Shelby, Mitch McConnell and -- to quote Spiro Agnew -- "those nattering nabobs of negativism" (by which I mean the 43 senators who always say "never") -- sure had their turkey...

Memo to American Consumers: You Just Got Screwed… Again

The too-big-to-fail boys and their GOP handmaidens -- the Hon. Richard Shelby, the Hon. Mitch McConnell and the other 43 legislative dwarves in the U.S. Senate -- have struck again. Today, they blocked the confirmation...

Chestnuts, Jack Frost and Wall Street’s Spring Bonuses

As we ring out what has been a pretty lousy year for most of us, Wall Streeters are all aglow -- thoughts turning to sugar-plum fairies dancing in their brains, bearing bundles of spring...
Children and data

Playstation Invasion: Child Identity Theft is No Game

By now almost everyone I know (and millions of people I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet) has read or heard about Sony’s announcement last week that its PlayStation network was hacked and...

Debt Collector: I’m From the Government – As Far As You Know

In a monumental act of hubris and deceit, an Erie, PA debt collection firm had employees pose as sheriff’s deputies and staged phony courtroom sessions where they bilked delinquent consumers out of their money. We’ve...

The Next Osama Bin Laden Already Has Your Social Security Number

A massive cyber attack on American infrastructure is the 21st-century equivalent of the neutron bomb. All buildings remain standing but systems inside them are rendered useless. Human beings aren't killed on a large scale,...

What the Death Penalty and Foreclosure Have in Common (You Will Be Surprised)

There is so much news---mostly ugly news from the consumer point of view---about the foreclosure crisis, but it seems one of the most important initiatives taken against the banks that caused the crisis has...

Tea Time for the Occupation

Historically, America's greatness as a country could be measured by the social mobility of its citizens. If you worked hard enough at a well-defined goal, you could get where you're going, no matter who...

I’m a One Percenter Who’s Pre-Occupied with Wall Street

I confess I'm a one percenter. I guess I'm one of the folks that the people down on Wall Street are pointing their fingers at. I don't blame them, I'm upset too. That said, none of...

If You’re Worried About Medical Privacy, Better Take Some Xanax

It was announced recently that nearly 5,000,000 patient records of military personnel were stolen. There was no elaborate hacking, and no technical skill was required on the part of the thieves -- some tapes...