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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Ancient English football club Man U to launch "ugly" IPO under new US law for "emerging" companies | Ed Mierzwinski

The venerable English football club Manchester United, founded in 1878, is expected to file an IPO today under a new U.S. law, the JOBS Act, that passed overwhelmingly because it was intended to help newer, smaller companies go public. Over at The Motley Fool, they say: "Thank the JOBS Act for the Ugliest IPO of the Year."

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

FDIC Orders Higher One to Repay Students $11 million in Campus Debit Card Settlement 

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today announced an $11 million civil penalty and restitution settlement with the largest campus financial aid disbursement and debit card company Higher One and its bank affiliate for alleged “unfair” and “unsafe” practices involving overdraft fees imposed on college students. 

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Emergency-room debt collector pays penalty but says no patient had "problematic interaction"? | Ed Mierzwinski

Last week, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson settled her case with Accretive Health, the debt collector that allegedly acts as a gatekeeper to obtaining emergency-room treatment. The AG's legal filing has  affidavits from 60 victims but in a press release, the debt collector says "the Attorney General did not and could not identify a single patient in Minnesota who experienced a problematic interaction with an Accretive Health employee." Hunh?

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Blog Post | Financial Reform

Wall St. Computers Run Amok and More Friday Financial Follies | Ed Mierzwinski

Will the blowback from Wednesday's Wall Street high-speed trading crash caused by computers running amok revitalize efforts to enact a small tax on stock transactions? Meanwhile, here are the rest of the week's financial follies, finishing with a Funk #49.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Tax

Senate Finance Votes to Extend Offshore Tax Loopholes

Americans will pick up the $13 billion tab for multinational tax avoidance if two "tax extenders" approved by the Senate Finance Committee become law.

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Media Hit | Financial Reform

LA Times: Richard Cordray Appointment 'Turns Lights On' at Consumer Bureau

"Congress wanted the bureau to protect consumers no matter where they shopped for financial products," said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "With a director, the public can now have confidence the consumer bureau is ready, willing and able to investigate their financial problems."

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

New Report Highlights Reasons for New Consumer Protections

The report outlines predatory financial practices that hurt consumers and led to the collapse the economy, costing us eight million jobs, millions of foreclosed homes and trillions of dollars in lost home and retirement values.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Democracy

U.S.PIRG Hails DOJ Rejection of Anti-Democratic S.C. Voter ID Laws

The Department of Justice issued a letter objecting to South Carolina’s new voter ID law (section 5 of Act R54) on the grounds that non-white voters are 20% more likely to be disenfranchised by the act. We applaud the Department of Justice for taking an aggressive stance against this anti-democratic piece of legislation.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Democracy

U.S. PIRG Calls on Candidates to Denounce Super PACs

The current coordination rules are an insult to American democracy, yet candidates continue to test their luck in weakening them further. If the presidential contenders, all of whom have sympathetic Super PACs, are serious about their objections, then they should publicly denounce their affiliated independent expenditure committees.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

143,000 Students to Lose Their Pell Grant Next Year

On Friday, Congress passed the FY2012 appropriations bill, changing eligibility requirements for Pell grants eliminating about 143,000 Pell Grant recipients from the program next year.

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Report | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Trouble In Toyland 2003

The 2003 Trouble in Toyland report is the 18th annual Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) survey of toy safety. This report provides safety guidelines for parents when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards. PIRG’s research focused on four categories of toys: toys that pose choking hazards, toys that are dangerously loud, toys that pose strangulation hazards or could form sharp projectiles, and toys that contain toxic chemicals.

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Report | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

The Failure Of Cable Deregulation

The cable industry has used public rights of ways to access those homes and in turn made huge profits. This report makes clear that the cable industry has not lived up to its public and civic responsibilities as holders of valuable public franchises and licenses. Congress, the FCC, and state and local governments must examine the recommendations made in this report and take appropriate action to restore competition to the multichannel video market.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Paying the Price 2003

In the spring of 2003, the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) conducted a survey of more than 500 pharmacies in 18 states across the country and Washington, D.C. to determine how much uninsured consumers are paying for 10 common prescription drugs. We then compared these prices with the prices the pharmaceutical companies charge one of their “most favored” customers, the federal government.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Democracy

The Role of Money in the 2002 Congressional Elections

This report provides a summary of the role of money in the 2002 congressional elections. While most analysts have focused on soft money in recent years, our findings indicate that hard money plays a more critical role in the political process.

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Report | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

Private Loans: Who's Borrowing and Why?

In recent years, increases in private education loan borrowing, in which students borrow outside of the federal loan programs, have sparked concerns within the higher education community.

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Tools & Resources

  • FIGHT HIGH Rx COSTS
    Prescription drugs cost too much. Brand-name drug companies have been paying off generic drug makers to delay competition and keep prices high, and it's costing us billions. Together, we can stop them.
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  • YOUR TAX DOLLARS BECOME CORN SYRUP
    At a time when one-in-three kids is overweight or obese, over a billion taxpayer dollars go to high-fructose corn syrup and junk food ingredients.
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  • STOP TAX DODGERS
    Corporate tax avoidance cost taxpayers $100 billion last year. We're working to close the loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying the taxes they owe.
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  • Reclaim Democracy
    The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision ushered in an era of unprecedented spending by big money in our elections, but we're working to return our democracy back to the principle of "one person, one vote."
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