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December 27, 2007
A few end-of-the-year odds-and-ends--library books, edgy clamshells, lotteries and Sallie Mae
The New York Times has an editorial Throwing the Book at Them rightly questioning the thinking, if any, behind the Queens (NYC) Library's use of a debt collector to collect overdue library fines. Fail to pay, you're reported to the credit bureau and your credit score takes a hit: Late Library Books Can Take Toll on Credit Scores. Of course, as the editorial correctly notes: We wonder if the officials behind this policy have ever tried to repair a bad credit report -- an experience that rivals Dante's "Inferno." This holiday season, did you run into any of what the Denver Post calls: Confounding gift packaging? You know, the tamper-proof, and probably bullet-proof, clamshell plastic that requires use of knives or scissors but often results in injury to the present-opener?
Dr. Michael Hunt, emergency physician at Swedish Medical Center, said he has seen injuries from clamshell packages. Lacerations from using a knife are most common. "People get frustrated and vigorous," he said. "That's when the mishaps occur. People don't appreciate the integrity of the packaging. You become rushed and not slow and considered in your approach." The blog-o-sphere is filled with complaints, why hasn't anything been done? This blog notes that it isn't only the bleeding, it's the wastefulness that consumers don't like.
We always knew that the Poor Pay More. for one thing, it is well-documented that predatory payday lenders make the bulk of their profit from repeat users. Now comes the New York Times with its latest on state-run lotteries, The $50 Ticket: A Lottery Boon Raises Concern: Whatever the reasons, state lottery officials and the companies they hire to run the games appear to be concentrating on the heaviest players. And from the feeding at the public trough category, I realize the economy is in a slide. But really, how do you lose money in a killing-fish-in-a-barrel business--making government guaranteed student loans? Even worse, what if that profit barrel was handed to you on a silver platter as an instant success after being propped up on the backs of the taxpayers for many years as a subsidized government-sponsored enterprise? Congratulations to the now-for-profit privatized Sallie Mae for finding a way to put a big leak in the barrel. From the Washington post story Sallie Mae Bids to Raise $2.5 Billion In Stock Sale by David Hilzenrath: The planned stock sale is part of an effort to extricate the company from a financial bind -- another link in a chain reaction of trouble set off by the collapse of negotiations to sell the company and the collapse of its stock price. And from the New York Times story Sallie Mae to Sell Stock to Pay Off a Failed Bet by Floyd Norris: Sallie Mae, the troubled student loan giant, said Wednesday that it would raise $2.5 billion by selling stock in the public market and would use most of the money to pay off a disastrous bet that the company made on its common stock price. Credit cards: Finally, expect credit card reform to be a major issue in the 2008 Congress. Here's a commentary Complex pricing of credit cards should be simplified by Georgetown Law Professor Adam Levitin in today's Chicago Tribune.
Posted by Ed Mierzwinski at December 27, 2007 06:01 AM
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