Affordable Car & Home Insurance

The Watchdog Blog

Obama On Tonight Show Hints At Tomorrow's Regulatory Agenda

The president talked and joked easily with America from Jay Leno's couch last night, as close to a fire side chat as it gets in these times. Leno is no Jon Stewart but Obama did offer some clues as to where his financial regulatory approach is going. 

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Will the politicians give back their AIG bonuses'?

After Enron's fraud on California during the 2001 electricity crisis became clear, a lot of politicians felt they had to give back their Enron contributions.  Our consumer group was the beneficiary of a few of those returned dollars, since we fought the energy industry's deregulation schemes.  Now Open Secrets reports AIG's contributions, from employees and related political action committees, to federal lawmakers totaled $9.3 million over the last decade, with an exact 50%-50% split between Democrats and Republicans. AIG sure knows how to hedge its bets.

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OTS admits fault in AIG oversight

The Office of Thrift Supervision took responsibility for its failure as AIG's primary regulator to prevent the company's accumulation of extreme risk in the years before its collapse.

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Insurance policyholders not at risk because of the financial crisis

I spent the morning watching a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing into what a ‘systemic risk regulator’ of the financial...

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AIG v. AIG: Lawsuit-hating former chairman files lawsuit

Five years ago, AIG's then-Chairman, Hank Greenberg, compared lawyers who sue corporations on behalf of injured plaintiffs with terrorists.   Now he's suing his former company.

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Commissioner Poizner's cuts will weaken oversight of insurers

As the regulator of a financial services industry that affects so many individuals and businesses directly at the pocketbook level, the public needs more, not less, oversight these days. 

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ISO: Consumers in the know are criminals

I know that the insurance industry likes to operate in the dark. It took a voter revolt at the ballot box and 20 years fighting to implement Proposition 103 to...

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Friends

This organization drew heat from some of our friends over the last year for tangling with then-Speaker of the California Assembly Fabian Nunez -- over his support for Governor Schwarzenegger's mandatory private health insurance plan, his flawed term limits extension initiative and his campaign contributor-financed junkets.  Why, some of our friends asked, are you fighting with Fabian?  He's a friend...  Well, the verdict is in on Mr. Nunez and his real friends.

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Race and income shouldn't be part of auto insurance rates

I was invited to speak on a panel about the financial crisis at the annual meeting of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators this weekend but also had a chance to weigh in on the growing use of education and occupation information by insurance companies...

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Insurers may get a piece of the bailout

Today's report in the Wall Street Journal that the Treasury Department may let insurance companies tap into the $700 billion bailout fund is more proof that the state of insurers' investment portfolios drive a lot of their corporate decisions. 

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Recent Articles:

Consumer Group Calls For FBI Probe Of AIG

By Wire Reports, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL (UPI)
March 18, 2009

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AIG Bonuses Should Be Delivered by FBI, Consumer Watchdog Says

CONTACT: Jamie Court, (310) 392-0522 ext. 327; or Doug Heller, ext. 309
March 16, 2009

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Consumer Lawyers Fighting Against Legal Tide

By Laura Ernde, LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL
March 2, 2009

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Recent Posts in Affordable Car & Home Insurance:

Obama On Tonight Show Hints At Tomorrow's Regulatory Agenda

The president talked and joked easily with America from Jay Leno's couch last night, as close to a fire side chat as it gets in these times. Leno is no Jon Stewart but Obama did offer some clues as to where his financial regulatory approach is going. 

Read More »

Will the politicians give back their AIG bonuses'?

After Enron's fraud on California during the 2001 electricity crisis became clear, a lot of politicians felt they had to give back their Enron contributions.  Our consumer group was the beneficiary of a few of those returned dollars, since we fought the energy industry's deregulation schemes.  Now Open Secrets reports AIG's contributions, from employees and related political action committees, to federal lawmakers totaled $9.3 million over the last decade, with an exact 50%-50% split between Democrats and Republicans. AIG sure knows how to hedge its bets.

Read More »

OTS admits fault in AIG oversight

The Office of Thrift Supervision took responsibility for its failure as AIG's primary regulator to prevent the company's accumulation of extreme risk in the years before its collapse.

Read More »

Insurance policyholders not at risk because of the financial crisis

I spent the morning watching a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing into what a ‘systemic risk regulator’ of the financial...

Read More »

AIG v. AIG: Lawsuit-hating former chairman files lawsuit

Five years ago, AIG's then-Chairman, Hank Greenberg, compared lawyers who sue corporations on behalf of injured plaintiffs with terrorists.   Now he's suing his former company.

Read More »

View All Next »