RSS Feed MenuYou know those annoying calls claiming that your car warranty is about to expire (even if you don’t have a car or just bought a new one)? Which you can get (as I do, often) even if your home or cell phone number is on the National Do Not Call Registry?
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) knows all about them, too, having gotten one last week, and according to this story, he wants to do something about them – specifically, he wants the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the companies allegedly behind these calls to see if they are violating the Do Not Call law.
Does it really take Chuck Schumer to figure this out? Are there no Republicans in Congress who are paying attention to these types of things, who may have gotten a call and stopped to think “this may violate the law and my constituents’ privacy”? Are we so in thrall to those who argue against government regulation of anything that we can’t even try to preserve enforcement of one of the most popular reforms of the Bush Administration? Republicans no longer hold the Congressional gavels, so we cannot hold hearings on our own. But we can pay attention to the kinds of things that happen out there in “real America” (as we’re fond of calling it) every day and try to take even small steps to improve the daily quality of life for millions of Americans and fight fraud, which often targets the poorest and most vulnerable.
Legitimate marketing businesses – including for car warranties – have every incentive to stop things which tarnish the reputation of an entire industry. Republicans ought to be their friend, not be silent.
I just don’t understand why it takes Chuck Schumer to figure all this out.
ottovbvs // May 12, 2009 at 5:51 am
Chuck Schumer is one of the smartest Senators in congress. He also has very sharp political antennae. To be fair I think Senators and congressmen in both parties often bring up these small every day annoyances but it all gets drowned out by the big stuff, or small stuff that is turned into big stuff by partisans.
Bulldoglover100 // May 12, 2009 at 6:31 am
Our “Leaders” in this party are listening to people like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin who only dribble distortions and lies out of their spittle filled ranting pie holes. They are too busy trying to bring down the Obama admin. to concern theirselves with our needs…. and we wonder why we keep losing elections LOL
danbmil99 // May 13, 2009 at 3:15 pm
A more critical version of this is the silence on the GOP side wrt Obama’s re-regulation of credit card practices.I remember when 19% was considered usury. Then, a few years later, I noticed my rate for cash advances was up to 25%. Now I’ve got one card (I never use) with a 29.9% basic rate, and tons of fees for random acts of imperfection. They do fun stuff like set the billing cycle at the 29th of the month so if you pay your bills at the top of the month, you’re likely to be late one month because two payments got squeezed into the previous month.I used to be very libertarian, caveat-emptor about these sorts of things. But as I’ve grown older, and taken on more responsibilities, I’ve come to realize that letting businesses go wild is just another sort of ‘quality of life’ crime, like the squeegee guys in NYC before Giuliani (google it if you don’t know).Regulating business such that they don’t constantly do everything in their power to outfox people in petty, irritating ways is not the end of the world, IMSHO. The GOP needs to think long and hard about this, because the pendulum has swung far to the other side, and we are in for a period of over-regulation. As for many other issues, if our point of view is too far outside the mainstream, we will have no impact on the outcome.