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Comcast to Raise Rates in Northern California

July 2, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Comcast said Friday that it will raise the price of cable TV and Internet service for most of its 2.3 million customers in Northern California, who will see an average increase of 3.8 percent in their bills next month. Consumer advocates have criticized the company for raising the basic rate by a higher percentage than other plans. "For most people, cable is the way they get their television," said John M. Simpson of the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog. "They ought to have some responsibility to make that basic service as affordable as possible." </p>

Liveblog: Did GS rip off taxpayers?

July 1, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Towards the end of Session 1, a great deal of the questioning focused on why the government paid Goldman 100 cents on the dollar to unwind AIG's Credit Default Swaps. <br/> <br/> Some Commission members were griling GS' Viniar as to why,...

Liveblog: Purpose of commission?

July 1, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

There has been an interesting colloquy of sorts between Commissioners Keith Hennessey and Bob Graham about the purpose of the Commission. <br/> <br/> Hennessey has decried his colleagues' line of questioning as not relevant to the roots of the...

Liveblog: Thomas missing the point

July 1, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Thomas has been questioning GS' David Viniar for a good 5 minutes on whether the Federal Government paid Goldman 100 cents on the dollar for AIG contracts that was worth 48 cents on the dollar. In other words, when the government took over AIG...

Liveblog: How GS prices assets

July 1, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Bill Thomas, Vice Chairman and Former Ways & Means Chairman, is questioning Goldman's David Lehman on the technical aspects of how GS prices assets. GS is maintaining that they price based purely on what the market says and don't try to...

LIveblog: GS Out to Hurt Competitors

July 1, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Andrew Forster, AIG's former CFO, explains why he thinks Goldman's aggressive marking down of AIG's assets was mailicously motivated. Forster explains the rationale that Goldman has put forth, which is that prices were based on "other...

Liveblog: Collateral Call Disputes

July 1, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<br/> A big focus of the hearings today will be on the Collateral Call Disputes between AIG and Goldman in the run-up to the crisis. In other words, why did Goldman mark down (price) AIG's Credit Default Swaps so much lower than other peers,...

Liveblog: Dull Goldman session

June 30, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Unlike the previous session with AIG's Cassano, this session with Gary Cohn, President of Goldman Sachs, and Craig Broderick, head of credit, market and operational risk, has been particularly dull. The Commissioners have wasted a valuable...

Liveblog: Recapping Cassano’s testimony

June 30, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> My wireless had been knocked out for several hours, so apologies for the blackout. We are about an hour and a half into Session 3 with Goldman, but before discussing what is going on now I'll briefly discuss the AIG session.<br/> <br/>...</p>

Google Should Answer Some Searching Questions

June 30, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Google woos people with its “don’t be evil” slogan and assures us that everything it does is meant to enhance our online experience. But a new study by US advocacy group <a href="../../../" target="nsarticle" rel="noopener">Consumer Watchdog</a> – of which I am part – has found evidence that the internet giant’s search results are skewed to its own advantage. <a href="../../../" target="nsarticle" rel="noopener"></a>

Angelides gets glib

June 30, 2010  ·  Carmen Balber

A quick interaction between members of the FCIC as they questioned their first panel of academics on derivatives this morning foreshadows the quagmire commissioners are delving into as they question AIG and Goldman Sachs executives this...

Liveblog: Derivatives seminar

June 30, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

So far, the questioning has been abstract, about the nature of derivatives and their inherent risk in the market. The Commission is trying to get a better understanding of these financial instruments.