In The News
The Beverly Hills Tea Party?
If you think the Tea Party represents real people who are mad as hell about real issues, you might want to know…
Sep 28, 2010Consumer Watchdog
Providing an effective voice for American consumers in an era when special interests dominate public discourse, government and politics. Non-partisan.
Articles by Consumer Watchdog
Insurance
Sebelius throws anti-regulation spin back at her accusers. Good for her.
The level of straight talk in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by HHS chief Kathleen Sebelius is breathtaking. Bottom line: Do…
Sep 28, 2010
Video
California’s Low Income Discount Insurance Program Extended
California's Low-Cost Auto Insurance Program has been extended for five years! We sponsored the 1999 legislation that created the program, and this…
Sep 28, 2010Governor Signs Bill to Extend Low Cost Auto Insurance for Low-Income Californians As Poverty Rates Reach Highest Level In Decades
Program Gives Lifeline In Tough Economy With No Taxpayer Cost Santa Monica, CA -- Governor Schwarzenegger has signed legislation, AB 1597 (authored…
Sep 27, 2010
Privacy
Apple, Google, Intel, Other Tech Firms Admit Secret Agreements To Not Poach Employees
Google critic John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog's Inside Google project, praised the crackdown, saying, "There is entirely too much of…
Sep 27, 2010
Insurance
For Fox National News Viewers
This morning I ventured into the Tea Party's den at Fox National News to talk about our Times Square Superscreen advertisement, which…
Sep 24, 2010
Insurance
Insurers twist arms in states to evade law’s new curbs
The insurance industry is going directly to the White House in its latest attempt to evade a key portion of the health…
Sep 23, 2010
Insurance
Health Insurance Changes Come Too Late For Some
Jamie Court, who heads the California-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, says he's seen much worse. In California, he says, typically insurers would…
Sep 23, 2010
Insurance
Health Plan CEO Breaks From Pack Molina Criticizes Colleagues, Sebelius on Premiums
It’s thedifference between the structure of Molina Healthcare and commercial health plans that has enabled Molina to make such statements about his…
Sep 23, 2010
Energy
Oil Watchdog: Fiorina joins the Koch-heads. Ka-ching!
There’s a name that’s becoming as ubiquitous in dirty oil politics as Coke cans are in greasy spoons. And it’s pronounced like…
Sep 23, 2010
Privacy
Gaga introduces filibuster to the Monster Ball
How many people know about the Senate's procedural breakdown since Lady Gaga tried to weigh in on a gay rights issue, and…
Sep 22, 2010
Privacy
Calif Group Airs Anti-Tea Party Ad In Times Square
NEW YORK — A California consumer-advocacy group is hoping to rally the left before the November election with an ad on a…
Sep 22, 2010
Privacy
As governments tap user data, Google transparency lags
Amidst a surge in governmental requests for private user data, Google’s openness effort is lagging, as the release of Google's second transparency…
Sep 22, 2010
Insurance
Victory Against Hartford Insurance!
In November of 2009, Hartford Insurance submitted an application for a 6.9% rate increase to the California Department of Insurance. Consumer Watchdog…
Sep 22, 2010
Energy
Oil Watchdog: Big Oil behind the Tea
When Californians angry about oil companies' attempt to repeal the state's greenhouse gas emission cap went to confront the oil refiner behind…
Sep 22, 2010
Privacy
Promise of ad industry self-regulation falls flat
I was at Google's DC headquarters yesterday afternoon for the first event of AdWeek 2010 - the advertising industry's annual conference in…
Sep 21, 2010
Insurance
Right wing spins Warren appointment as a win?
The initial apoplectic furor from opponents of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection at President Obama's appointment of Elizabeth Warren as a…
Sep 21, 2010
Privacy
Three reasons to turn off creepy Google Instant (and how to do it)
Google Instant is not for me. When I search, I don’t want Google to know where I am or what I like…
Sep 20, 2010