A handful of leading politicians claim that financial deregulation was responsible for the U.S. financial calamity.  But, informed consumers should take pause and look at the facts.  As Dr. Darby pointed out in a recent blog, there has been a lot of meddling going on to promote special interests at the expense of consumers and at the expense [...]

Read Dr. Darby’s assessment of the recent collapse and how it is tied to legislation that ignores the risks of moral hazard and, instead respresents politically popular causes that impose hidden taxes.  It was published in the Washington Times on September 30, 2008 at  
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/30/the-financial-market-collapse/?page=2
 
 FINANCIAL COLLAPSE?
 
Complex events never have single causes or simple fixes. A [...]

In this season of political fervor and contention, consensus on anything of substance is rare.  Standing out is the virtually unanimous view that we as a nation should be taking all reasonable measures to spur development of broadband telecommunications networks.  The consensus is partially grounded in concerns about US broadband development vis-à-vis other countries, but [...]

While there are some holdout forecasters, the consensus is that the U.S. economy is in or on the threshold of serious recession that promises to halt the long trend of job creation, productivity gains, and per capita income growth Americans have enjoyed in recent years.  The prospect of economic distress has set off discussions of [...]

A recent ConsumerGram concluded that failure to extend the moratorium would allow state and local governments to tax Internet services, which would ultimately lead to higher consumer prices.  In other words, taxing the Internet would be a “bad deal for consumers.”  Last week, Congress introduced a bill to extend the Internet tax moratorium and to [...]

American Consumer Institute Finds Rising Prices for Energy, Transportation, Housing, Medical Care and Cable TV
 
Summary
With Labor Day fast approaching, we analyze the effects of inflation on consumers and find that, since the time when the economic recovery began in November 2001, the average household has lost (cumulatively) $10,500 of their hard-earned money due to rising [...]

Regressive Tax Harms Telecommunications Consumers
 
Summary
Today, the IRS released guidance providing details on refunds owed to consumers who overpaid on telecommunications Federal Excise Taxes (FET).  However, while taxes on most services will no longer be collected, consumers who buy lifeline and standalone local telephone services will continue to pay FET.  As this ConsumerGram will explain, this [...]

“Taxes,” observed Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., “are the price we pay for civilization.”   Some would eagerly add to that observation, but few would deny its fundamental truth.  Taxes provide the wherewithal to buy us goods, services and amenities that we cannot or likely would not purchase individually for ourselves.  Consumers, as taxpayers and beneficiaries of [...]