Blog

Letter from Congressman Frank Pallone on the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Program Associate

Letter from Congressman Frank Pallone to NJPIRG, announcing that he will become a cosponsor of H.R. 2669, the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act. This bill will close a tax loophole that costs the American public more than $100 billion every single year. For more on NJPIRG's work on fair tax policy, see our tax issue page here: http://njpirg.org/topics/tax

Disempowered Bankers Start Super PAC, Reveal Plans for World Domination

Friday, April 6, 2012

While I am highly skeptical of the sentiment that "Congress is not afraid of bankers", given that banking lobbyists outnumber banking reform advocates 25-1 and that the Chairman of the Senate Financial Services Subcommittee seems to believe that "the banks own the place," the most ridiculous thing about members of the American Bankers Association's announcement of the industry's new Super PAC may be their willingness to reveal its strategy for skirting the non-coordination rules. This speaks volumes about how the industry thinks about its involvement in politics.

Democracy

Making Super PACs Illegal

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

By | Gideon Weissman

Program Associate

Polling shows that almost 7 out of 10 voters believe that super PACs, the independent expenditure only committees created in the wake of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision, should be illegal. Unfortunately, due to the Court’s backwards interpretation of the first amendment, we cannot legislate away super PACs today. However, there are some very important steps that every level of government – from your city council to the White House - should take right now to mitigate the impact of super PACs before the 2012 election.

Democracy

Today, CFPB to announce overdraft fee investigation, unveil "penalty box" disclosure, possibly end $39 lattes.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

By Ed Mierzwinski Gideon Weissman

At a news conference in NYC today, Director Richard Cordray of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will announce a major investigation of bank overdraft fee practices and propose a model "penalty box" disclosure to appear on bank statements. The investigation could end the $39 latte-- $4 bucks for the coffee, $35 for the debit card overdraft fee.