NH INSIDER

Provisions in Law Take Effect This Week 

WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter released the following statement regarding provisions of the Credit Card Holders’ Bill of Rights taking effect this week:

“I was an original cosponsor of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, and I am pleased that its provisions are taking effect this week.  This law provides new protections that will help guard consumers from unfair credit card agreements, abusive practices, and deceptive gimmicks. New Hampshire families have been getting hit with exorbitant fees caused by tricky lending practices for far too long.  This is a powerful step that Congress took to protect consumers.”

The new law bans most interest rate increases on existing balances.  Consumers will get an increased notice of interest rate hikes. The new law requires that bills be sent 21 days before the due date. It also prohibits charging fees just to pay a bill by phone, bans over-the-limit fees unless a consumer opts-in in advance, bans due-date tricks, and requires payments to be applied fairly to the highest interest rate balance first.  It also protects young people under the age of 21 from getting into debt by preventing companies from giving them credit cards unless someone co-signs or they can prove steady income.  

Consumer Financial Protection Agency Misses the Mark
The House is attempting to create yet more labyrinthine regulations, treating the symptoms of very loose money by punishing the private sector for the policies that the government is completely responsible for creating.

When you Shake Hands with the Devil, Healthcare Style
When they cut their deal with the Administration the insurance companies rolled the dice and came up snake eyes.

ALG Research Appointment Watch
In this week's edition of Appointment Watch, ALG Research takes a look at the Associate Administrator for Policy at the EPA and Administrator at the Small Business Administration.

Too Hot Not To Note: Congressman Steve King (R-IA) on Kevin Jennings
The latest Washington News Observer video highlights what many find wrong with the Safe School Czar.

>>[Video] CEI's John Berlau On C-Span Discusses the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency 

On Monday, October 12th, John Berlau was invited to C-Span's "Washington Journal" to talk about the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Berlau hits on several points of concern with the new agency, such as its broad jurisdiction over anything labeled a "financial product." Berlau was also featured in the National Journal arguing against the new agency and proposed removing regulation as a way to improve the economy.

>>Shaping the Debate 

Scientists Return Fire at Climate Skeptics in 'Destroyed Data' Dispute

Sam Kazman's Quotation in the New York Times, Greenwire

Rationalizing Rationing

Marlo Lewis, Jr's Op-ed in the Washington Times

Our Nobel Prize Winning Immigrants

Alex Nowrasteh's Op-ed in Real Clear Markets

>>Best of the Blogs

Senate Finance Passes Health Reform Bill

by Greg Conko

Snowe may be getting more (or less) than she bargained for.  Once a bill is reported out of committee, it gets to be amended after debate by the entire Senate, and again when the final Senate compromise goes to conference and has to be reconciled with the House bill.  You may think you’re playing nice with your Senate Finance Committee colleagues and getting as good a deal as can be expected from that nice old Max Baucus.  But, trust me, Henry Waxman is ruthless.

Regulation of the Day 61: Big Screen TVs - Mankind's Doom!

by Ryan Young

On November 4, California regulators may vote to ban big-screen televisions. The large sets use more energy than they would prefer. Commissioner Julia Levin claims the ban “will actually save consumers money and help the California economy grow and create new clean, sustainable jobs.” It is easy to imagine the ban costing TV manufacturing jobs; less so the jobs that would take their place.

How Much Harm Do Teacher Unions Do?

by Ivan Osorio

Plenty, according to the new film, The Cartel. The film purports to show “educational system like we’ve never seen it before. Behind every dropout factory, we discover, lurks a powerful, entrenched, and self-serving cartel.” In fact, the power of teachers unions is part of an even greater problem: the growing ranks of unionized government workers, a phenomenon that creates a permanent constituency favoring the growth of government — one that is well organized, motivated, and well funded.

 >>Liberty Week Podcast

Episode 64: Regulators Gone Wild!

We start with the big vote on health care legislation, squeezing more energy from the ground and the warming that wasn’t there. We continue with the British expense scandal, and the Obama administration’s love for new rules and regulations.

>>Support CEI

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National Coalition of Mental Health ConsumerSurvivor Organizations

The FDA Wants to Declare Electroshock Machines Safe Without a Safety  Investigation.
TELL THEM NO! 

The Food and Drug Administration is in charge of regulating medical devices just as it does drugs, including the machines used to give Electroshock. But it's not doing its job.  It has allowed these machines to be used on millions of patients over the past generation without requiring any evidence whatsoever that shock treatment is safe or effective! This is so even though shock machines are Class III---high risk---devices, which by law are supposed to be investigated by clinical trials as thoroughly as new drugs and devices just coming onto the market. But because of intense lobbying by the American Psychiatric Association---which claims the devices are safe but opposes an investigation---the FDA has disregarded its own law.  (For the full story of how shock survivors have  fought for a scientific safety investigation of  Electroshock for the past 25 years, see Linda Andre's terrific new book, Doctors of Deception: What They Don't Want You to Know About Shock Treatment.)  

      In April 2009---20 years after it first ruled the devices high-risk and named brain damage and memory loss as risks of the treatment---the FDA belatedly announced it would call on the manufacturers of the devices to provide evidence of safety and efficacy. The deadline for submissions has passed, but the manufacturers have not conducted any clinical trials, claiming they cannot afford them. They simply point to the opinions of shock doctors (including those who  have financial interests in companies making Electroshock machines) as evidence that shock is safe.

      The FDA is now supposed to require Electroshock machines to undergo the rigorous PreMarket Approval process (PMA) that is required of new devices, including clinical safety trials.  These machines, technically known as "devices," are referred to as  Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT), but I don't like to use this euphemistic term for running electricity through people's brains.  The FDA  could have called for this investigation any time in the past 30 years but has previously failed to do so.  There is great risk the FDA will downclassify it to the low-risk Class II, without  scientific evidence of  its safety. As a Class II  device, Electroshock machines would never have to go through the PMA process.  The amount of damage that electroshock has been allowed to inflict is an outrage.  We now finally have a chance to at least register our opposition because the FDA has opened  up a new docket for public comment on electroshock machines.  It is important for as many people as possible to write in with their opposition.  Comments will be accepted up through January 2010.  

    If you have personal knowledge or expertise about Electroshock, writing about that can be good.  Or you can pull information from various sources.  Linda Andre's book, Doctors of Deception is a gold mine of information.  Leonard Roy Frank issued the Electroshock Quotationary, in June 2006, which is a good source of material, and there is also a brand new web page of historical materials from Leonard at http://psychiatrized.org/LeonardRoyFrank/FromTheFilesOfLeonardRoyFrank.htm   Also, PsychRights has quite a large collection of materials at http://psychrights.org/Research/Digest/Electroshock/electroshock.htm from which comments can be drawn. 

If you are not in a position to write something up, then please send in the below coupon. 
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To: Food and Drug Administration, Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305), 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville, MD 20852

Re: Electroconvulsive Therapy Device (882.5940), Docket #FDA-2009-N0392

The undersigned opposes the reclassification of the ECT device to Class II by the FDA in the absence of adequate scientific evidence of its safety, and asks the agency to call for PreMarket Approval Applications for the device.

Name:     ___________________________
Address: _________________________          
                 _________________________
Signature: _________________________

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Shea-Porter today voted in favor of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. The legislation, which the Congresswoman cosponsored, will now go to the President’s desk for signature.

“The days of double billing cycles and deceptive gimmicks are about to be over,” declared Congresswoman Shea-Porter. “This landmark legislation will protect consumers from unfair credit card agreements and will provide them with the information they need to make sound financial decisions.”

The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights bans most interest rate increases on existing balances and increases notice of interest rate hikes going forward on new purchases. It requires that bills be sent 21 days before the due date; prohibits charging fees just to pay a bill by phone, mail or web; bans over-the-limit fees unless a consumer opts-in in advance; bans due-date tricks; requires payments to be applied fairly to the highest interest rate balance first; and strengthens credit card protections for young people.