Biden DOJ takes aim at Apple even though consumers love it
LPL Financial’s chief technical strategist breaks down this week’s market trends and which sectors are worth investing in right now. Apparently, nothing irritates the Biden administration more than business success. Apple is the latest target in the Justice Department’s continuing crackdown on what it calls tech monopolies. The Department of Justice has already filed lawsuits […]
Consumers spend more than $1 trillion on interest payments, largely due to increasing credit card debt
Credit card debt will account for half of all interest paid in the final quarter of 2023. (iStock) Interest payments for U.S. consumers are orders of magnitude higher. Last quarter, consumers spent a record $1.1 trillion on interest payments alone. reported quartzusing data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). More than half of […]
Why is Congress slashing funding for antitrust enforcement that protects consumers?
With all eyes on the 2024 election, President Joe Biden used this year’s State of the Union address to lay out his economic vision for America. In his speech, Biden reaffirmed his support for pro-business, pro-consumer, pro-competition policies. greedy inflation and price agreement. To make the administration’s vision a reality, it is critical that Congress […]
Swipe fees cost consumers an estimated $578 million on Valentine’s Day: Study
Swipe fees average 2.24% and are often passed on to consumers. (iStock) If a consumer used a credit card to purchase a gift on Valentine’s Day, they likely paid a high price. Swipe fees (fees charged by credit card issuers and issuing banks to retailers for processing debit and credit card transactions) will cost consumers […]
Retail sales rebounded in February, but consumers may be growing more cautious
Brenda O’Connor Juanas, senior vice president at UBS Wealth Management, and Luke Lloyd, investment strategist at Strategic Wealth Partners, discuss retail earnings, interest rate cuts, Bitcoin’s surge to record highs, February CPI and more . U.S. retail spending rebounded in February, but consumers may be more cautious as they continue to face high interest rates […]
High debt is causing more consumers to live paycheck-to-paycheck
Approximately 60% of consumers live paycheck to paycheck, primarily through debt and inflation. (iStock) Many workers are living paycheck to paycheck, with around one in three citing debt as one of the main reasons. According to a PYMNTS study. As of December, 60% of survey respondents said they were living paycheck to paycheck. This is […]
Consumers can’t tell difference between human vs. AI videos
A survey of U.S. consumers shows that a majority of Americans are comfortable supporting government regulations that require labeling of content generated by artificial intelligence. The same consumers surveyed had difficulty distinguishing between AI-generated videos and human-created video content. Americans responded to a HarrisX survey asking whether they would like “US lawmakers to require labeling […]
Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill Shifts Costs to Small Businesses and Consumers
The following content is electronic payment federation. Supporters of the new bill in Congress like to tout it as being for small businesses and the American people. But in reality, that’s not what they’re benefiting from at all from the new credit card mandates they’re pushing in the name of increased competition. In fact, Sen. […]
New Legislation Leaves Consumers, Small Businesses Footing the Bill
The following content is electronic payment federation. Supporters of the new bill in Congress like to tout it as being for small businesses and the American people. But in reality, that’s not what they’re benefiting from at all from the new credit card mandates they’re pushing in the name of increased competition. In fact, Sen. […]
Google’s $700M Play Store settlement is bad for consumers: judge
A federal judge also joins critics in approving Google’s controversial $700 million settlement with 50 states over anticompetitive practices in the Android app store, with just a small cash payment to consumers. , noted that it could protect the company from future lawsuits. U.S. District Judge James Donato ruled that the deal with Google, which […]