WASHINGTON — Walmart is the latest traditionally Republican-leaning businesses to embrace key portions of President Barack Obama’s bid to overhaul health care. It’s a trend that could complicate opponents’ efforts to build a united front when Congress ramps up its work on the issue.
Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, Tuesday endorsed the idea of requiring large companies to offer health insurance to their workers. The proposal is central to Obama’s hopes of covering the nation’s nearly 50 million uninsured and is disliked by some business groups.
Walmart was joined by a major labor union that sometimes has criticized the company’s relatively stingy employee benefits.
Change of position
The big retailer is not the only one-time opponent of health care revisions to embrace at least some aspects of Obama’s proposals. The major group representing pharmaceutical makers recently said it would reduce senior citizens’ costs for prescription drugs by $80 billion over 10 years. And major groups representing doctors, hospitals and other providers have pledged to reduce health care costs by large amounts.
Nearly all these groups opposed efforts to overhaul the nation’s health care system during the Clinton administration in 1993-94. But with better prospects for a health care bill this time, many businesses and industries want to be part of the plan.
by the associated press
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Consumer agency might police American's credit
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama asked Congress on Tuesday to create an agency to police the fine print on consumer products, such as credit cards and mortgages, and determine what fees, penalties and interest rates are fair.
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency would be in charge of regulating those products in the same way other government agencies regulate the safety of drugs, food and toys.
Obama said Americans are demanding it.
"Those ridiculous contracts with pages of fine print that no one can figure out — those things will be a thing of the past,” the president said in a statement accompanying the 152-page draft bill. "And enforcement will be the rule, not the exception.”
The CFPA is part of Obama’s broader plan to increase oversight of the financial industry and eliminate regulatory gaps believed to have contributed to the economic crisis.
The agency would be dedicated to protecting consumers when buying mortgages, using credit cards and taking out high-rate "payday loans.” It also would monitor terms set on savings, checking and debit card accounts, including overdraft charges.
Warning labels?
Under the plan, lenders would be required to be up front about their products and compare them to less risky, "plain vanilla” options. The agency potentially could require a kind of warning label on such financial products as mortgages with payments that balloon in size.
The agency’s reach would not extend to investment products such as mutual funds and other services already regulated by the federal government. Instead, it would focus on regulating a market that so far mostly has escaped it. Predatory lending is blamed for contributing to the housing crisis that roiled Wall Street and resulted in a $700 billion taxpayer bailout for banks.
Limiting options?
Republicans say setting strict rules on the consumer market will limit options and potentially increase the cost of financial products as banks try to make up for lost revenue.
"The proposed CFPA appears to be premised on the idea that Washington is better at making financial decisions for all Americans than leaving that choice up to individual Americans,” said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee.
Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard University professor who long has advocated creation of a consumer-protection agency, said she envisions a system that would allow products to remain available as long as lenders are up front and concise about their terms.
"Most of the bad products were marketed by trickery,” she said.
Likewise, Treasury Department officials said legislation explicitly requires the CFPA to consider the burden any new rule would place on a financial institution and whether it would restrict consumer access to credit.
by the associated press
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency would be in charge of regulating those products in the same way other government agencies regulate the safety of drugs, food and toys.
Obama said Americans are demanding it.
"Those ridiculous contracts with pages of fine print that no one can figure out — those things will be a thing of the past,” the president said in a statement accompanying the 152-page draft bill. "And enforcement will be the rule, not the exception.”
The CFPA is part of Obama’s broader plan to increase oversight of the financial industry and eliminate regulatory gaps believed to have contributed to the economic crisis.
The agency would be dedicated to protecting consumers when buying mortgages, using credit cards and taking out high-rate "payday loans.” It also would monitor terms set on savings, checking and debit card accounts, including overdraft charges.
Warning labels?
Under the plan, lenders would be required to be up front about their products and compare them to less risky, "plain vanilla” options. The agency potentially could require a kind of warning label on such financial products as mortgages with payments that balloon in size.
The agency’s reach would not extend to investment products such as mutual funds and other services already regulated by the federal government. Instead, it would focus on regulating a market that so far mostly has escaped it. Predatory lending is blamed for contributing to the housing crisis that roiled Wall Street and resulted in a $700 billion taxpayer bailout for banks.
Limiting options?
Republicans say setting strict rules on the consumer market will limit options and potentially increase the cost of financial products as banks try to make up for lost revenue.
"The proposed CFPA appears to be premised on the idea that Washington is better at making financial decisions for all Americans than leaving that choice up to individual Americans,” said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee.
Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard University professor who long has advocated creation of a consumer-protection agency, said she envisions a system that would allow products to remain available as long as lenders are up front and concise about their terms.
"Most of the bad products were marketed by trickery,” she said.
Likewise, Treasury Department officials said legislation explicitly requires the CFPA to consider the burden any new rule would place on a financial institution and whether it would restrict consumer access to credit.
by the associated press
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