As banks continue to raise their fees for consumer accounts, and free checking appears to be going the way of the dodo, banks have a decidedly spotty record on clearly disclosing these fees to their customers--even though they are required to do so by law.
A survey out this week from the site BankRate.com says virtually every way a bank can charge money is up. Sixty percent more noninterest accounts carry fees and balance requirements than they did last year. ATM fees are at an all-time high for the seventh consecutive year. Maintenance fees for checking accounts have increased ...
Continue readingIsrael, Palestine spend millions on lobbying, PR campaigns
As the United Nations considers the Palestinian referendum for statehood, possibly as early as Friday, both parties are vying for an approval from the UN Security Council and for a U.S. vote. Both Israel and Palestine have a long history of lobbying the U.S. and in the past year alone, the Palestinian Liberation Organization spent over one million on public relations. During the same time, Israel spent over $13 million on lobbying, public relations and related costs. Both interests contacted important policy makers and set up a vast PR campaign.
In the last few months as the issues ...
Continue readingGoogling the audience
Yesterday, senators quizzed Google's former CEO and current board of directors president Eric Schmidt about the company's size, practices, and potential for anti-competitive behavior. Concerned that the government might try to flex its muscle against the search and mobile giant, Schmidt assured the senators that Google was no Microsoft, and that 2011 was no 1995.
The hearing, titled "The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?" provides some insights into the concerns of some members of the the subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. Others with those concerns filled the hearing room. We'd like ...
Continue readingLaw professors push for corporations to disclose political spending
With corporate political spending--some of it secret--expected to explode in the 2012 election cycle, a group of law professors is petitioning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to make a formal policy requiring corporations to disclose such expenditures to shareholders and the public.
“Disclosure of corporate political spending is necessary not only because shareholders are interested in receiving such information, but also because such information is necessary for corporate accountability and oversight mechanisms to work,” reads the petition, which is headed by Lucian A. Bebchuk of Harvard Law School and Robert J. Jackson, Jr of Columbia Law School ...
Continue readingFourth “Supercommittee” Meeting to Review Tax Code
Thursday morning the Super Committee will convene for the fourth time since its creation in response to the debt crisis over the summer. The committee, officially named the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, conducted a breakfast meeting behind closed doors Sept. 15, despite the insistence of transparency by government watchdog groups and fellow legislators. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., released a statement expressing his disappointment regarding the private breakfast.
At the last open meeting, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director, Doug Elmendorf administered a dose of reality to members when answering their questions. Elmendorf stated that in order for the CBO ...
Continue readingConsumer groups protest disappearance of doctor discipline data
[(Photo from the Kansas City Star website.)
[Note: this post has been corrected. Please read the note at the bottom, and comments, for further clarification.]
Reporters' and consumers' groups are protesting the Obama administration's decision to remove from the web a database of disciplinary actions and malpractice suits against physicians. The file, which has been online and publicly available since 2001, hides the names of individual doctors.
But that hasn't stopped reporters over the past decade from doing just that, using ...
Sunlight Live to cover antitrust panel probe into Google
A Senate subcommittee on Wednesday will become the latest group to question search engine powerhouse Google amidst rising concerns that the company is putting its own profits ahead of the best search results, and Sunlight Live will be there to follow the action starting 2 p.m E.T.
Leaders of the committee, which monitors antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights issues, urged former Google CEO and current chairman Eric Schmidt to testify and he agreed to take the stand. Members will examine whether Google misleads users and fends off competition by placing its own businesses higher in search results ...
Super Committee, Boehner speech protests linked to major labor group
Our DC, a SEIU-linked protest group that stopped the first Super Committee meeting, has been regularly delivering a pro-jobs message to congressional Republicans: with some 100 protesters outside House Speaker John Boehner's speech at the Economic Club of Washington yesterday, according to organizers, who said the protest was in support of the American Jobs Act.
Last Tuesday, it organized a protest at the first meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the so-called the Super Committee.
“Jobs! Now!” about 25 unemployed or underemployed protesters shouted outside the room, bringing the meeting to a brief halt. “Jobs! Now ...
Continue readingHow do lobbyists snag front-row seats at hearings?
As the 12 members of the “super committee” scour the nation’s budget searching for at least $1.2 trillion in federal cuts, Washington lobbyists are watching their every move, hoping to protect the interests of their clients.
Some attend fundraisers, ponying up as much as $1,000, $2,000 or $5,000 for face time with a member. Some seek private meetings with members or their staff in Capitol Hill offices. And for some, attending the hearings — being seen while watching the proceedings — is the way to go.
But how do lobbyists get in — much less into front-row seats ...
Who’s watching the Super Committee?
A big audience turned out yesterday for the second meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or the "super committee," as its 12 members asked questions of the first witness, CBO director Doug Elmendorf. The meeting was open to the public and there was live video on the committee's new website.
While all the other cameras were focused on the committee members and witness, we turned ours 180 degrees to check out the crowd — and we want your help to identify the people keeping a close eye on this committee. Check out the photos below and the ...
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