Breaking Consumer Group Alert

Warning: more than a little sarcasm ahead. ;)

So here I was, scanning the headlines of the press releases at PRNewsWire.com (yeah, I was bored :)) ), when my eyes fell upon the breathless headline of a consumer alert - "Does Insurance Regulation Kill?"

Naturally, being a concerned consumer and wanting to learn about this threat to the health and safety of the American public, I clicked on the headline.

The press release, from The American Consumer Institute, talked about a "recent survey" that showed that state insurance regulators "encourage risky behavior and lead to increased property loss" by mandating high-risk pools and other tools to force insurers to cover higher-risk (and lower-profit!) consumers such as "bad drivers" and "homeowners living in coastal areas."

Damn!! This is vital news, and we should do everything we can to spread the word, including to our legislators!

Deepest thanks to the ever-vigilant consumer watchdogs at the American Consumer Institute for shedding light on this grave threat to Americans....


...Of course, my gratitude would be more sincere if the "American Consumer Institute" was actually a *consumer* group; instead, it's actually a corporate front group dedicated to pushing anti-consumer, pro-corporate policies (they oppose net neutrality, regulation of wireless providers, etc. all because such things "hurt consumers").

A .pdf on one of their surveys on "consumer opinions on insurance price regulations" can be found here. Its policy value is minimal, but its comedic value is priceless.

Note: the survey report was picked up by a large number of insurance industry websites and cited as evidence that their practices are 'consumer friendly.'

You know, wingers (both corporate and social) can whine all that they want about MoveOn.org and General "Betray-us", but there's nothing sneaky, nor simply even subtle, about MoveOn and other progressive groups.

If their views are "right", why not stand up and openly take credit for them? Why the front groups? It's not like progressives are forming fake "industry" groups.

...Hmmm...."forming fake industry groups"....hmmmm..... :))

A TampaBay.com article on the trend of industry groups creating faux 'consumer' groups to front for their own agendas is here.

A Common Cause report on "Astroturf" lobbying (fake grassroots groups) is here.

Later!