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News Post | Consumer Protection

ID Theft & Privacy Checklists | Mike Litt

Today, we're releasing our revamped Identity Theft and Online Privacy resources.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Tax

U.S. PIRG Applauds Attorneys General for Issuing Call to End Anonymous Shell Companies

 

Twenty-four Attorneys General from states across the country released acalling for an end to anonymous shell companies, a primary vehicle for money laundering and facilitating all manner of crimes. U.S. PIRG applauds this call to action.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Transportation

U.S. PIRG denounces federal proposal to stall Clean Car Standards

Americans stand to breathe more polluted air as a result of a rollback announced today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler proposed to roll back the “Clean Car” fuel economy standards, which, if left in place, would eliminate more than 2 billion metric tons of emissions.

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News Post | Financial Reform

Leading Groups Oppose OCC Proposal To Charter Fintechs | Ed Mierzwinski

We joined leading consumer organizations to criticize the national bank regulator OCC's new proposal to charter non-bank fintech companies. We called it both illegal and a gateway for online predatory lenders to enter states where high-cost payday lending is banned. Leading state bank regulatory officials also opposed the OCC move, which is also one of the recommendations in a controversial Treasury Department report released the same day.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG Responds to AT&T/Time Warner Merger Approval

Today, a federal judge approved AT&T's merger with Time Warner, ruling against the U.S. Justice Department.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

L'Oréal commits to disclose fragrance ingredients

We applaud L'Oréal, the manufacturer behind popular brands like Garnier, Maybelline, and numerous perfumes and colognes, for its commitment today to tell customers the ingredients in its product line. But L'Oréal needs to set a timeline to disclose its ingredients. Customers deserve to know what ingredients we are using, because "we’re worth it."

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

Unlike CFPB’s “Snapshot,” PIRG report reveals which debt collectors Americans file complaints about most

News Release: Our latest report based on the CFPB's public Consumer Complaint database reviews the most-complained about debt collectors. Funny, a new CFPB complaint "snapshot" does not. The report comes as the CFPB's acting director threatens to make the database non-public. If the CFPB both shuts down the public database and continues to issue industry-friendly reports that don’t give out any real information, the public and marketplace harm is even greater.

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

New Report Makes Case To Keep CFPB Complaint Database Public

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) acting director continues to threaten to hide the agency’s public Consumer Complaint Database from consumers and researchers, a new report makes a strong case to keep the database public. The report from U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group was filed as an official public comment in the CFPB’s Request for Information about the database. 

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health, Solid Waste

World Health Organization finds increased cancer risk for chemical found in plastics

After years of debate and evidence collection, the World Health Organization (WHO) has just reclassified styrene from being a “possible carcinogen” to a “probable carcinogen.” Styrene is a chemical building block of polystyrene, the plastic material used to make styrofoam and many other plastic products.

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Report | US PIRG Education Fund | Tax

Settling for a Lack of Accountability?

When large companies harm the public through fraud, financial scams, chemical spills, dangerous products or other misdeeds, they almost never just pay a fine or penalty, as ordinary people would. Instead, these companies negotiate out-of-court settlements that resolve the charges in return for stipulated payments or promised remedies. These agreements, made on behalf of the American people, are not subject to any transparency standards and companies often write them off as tax deductions claimed as necessary and ordinary costs of doing business.

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Report | Transportation

What's at Stake

Imagine two futures for the transportation system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In one, the air is cleaner. It is more convenient to use an improved public transit system ad to drive less, so most households only own one car. There are fewer traffic jams because fewer people travel via automobile. There are more sidewalks and bike lanes, so many people walk or bike to their jobs, schools, and other destinations. People feel a little richer with extra money in their pocket, due to less spending on gasoline, parking, and auto maintenance.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland 2015

For 30 years, U.S. PIRG Education Fund has conducted an annual survey of toy safety, which has led to an estimated 150 recalls and other regulatory actions over the years, and has helped educate the public and policymakers on the need for continued action to protect the health and wellbeing of children.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Boosting the Impact of Small Donors, Q3 2015

Candidates in the 2016 presidential race could see a dramatic shift in fundraising under a small donor empowerment program, according to a new study by U.S. PIRG

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Why You Should Get Security Freezes Before Your Information is Stolen

Here are tips for preventing ID theft and using a security freeze:

How To Use a Security Freeze

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News Post | Financial Reform

Massive Rollback of Dodd-Frank Wall St. Protections Hits Senate Floor, Our Opposition Letter to S2155

We've been working hard to oppose a bill to weaken the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. You remember, that's the law passed in the wake of the second-biggest financial collapse in our history, caused by Wall Street recklessness. The bill has massive support from both Wall Street and community banks. S2155 is on the Senate floor this week. It has enough Democratic votes to pass, but consumer champions are fighting back. Read our opposition letter.

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News Post | Consumer Protection

Breaking The Cycle Of Debt: Why We Need The Payday Lending Rule | Mike Litt

We call them debt traps for a reason: Payday lending has long led to schemes that literally trap consumers in consecutive loans with obscenely high interest rates.

 

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News Post | Transportation

Georgia's $2 billion Truck-Only Lanes: A Lesson in Outdated Transportation Planning | Matt Casale

Like other major highways across the nation, Interstate 75 in the Atlanta metro area is plagued by congestion. And there are good reasons to think that it will get worse, unless there are major changes. Georgia's plan is to expand the highway by building new truck-only lanes. We know from experience that this won’t play out so well. Not only that, other options could solve the problem in a much more environmentally and socially-beneficial way.

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News Post | Public Health

New Jersey joins list of states acting to protect bees: Victory! | Kara Cook-Schultz

In January, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation to protect native bees and honeybees from pesticide exposure. The new bill requires people who spray pesticides to notify keepers of honeybees and native bees when they are applying pesticide within three miles of a registered beehive.

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News Post | Financial Reform

Why The Legal Dispute Over the Leadership of the CFPB Matters | Michael Landis

There’s an important legal fight happening right now over the temporary leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And U.S. PIRG Education Fund, along with nine other consumer advocacy groups, just weighed in with a friend-of-the-court brief against the President and his pick. Find out why the Consumer Bureau needs to be independent in this blog entry about why the legal dispute over the CFPB matters.

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