What Will A Change In Legislative Leadership Mean For Consumers?

After many years of assaults on the rights of the average consumer, the changes of 2008 gave people a lot of hope. The reversal of years of federal preemption, overseers looking the other way, and simple greed gave way to leaders who believed that the consumer need to be protected.

But, now we have some new groups in charge. Groups that campaigned on the rights of the people and donned revolutionary imagery to symbolize how they stand for the common man, while at the same time taking boat loads of money from big business, insurance companies, and the mega rich.

Have they showed up at the capitol with budget bills, real tax relief, and deficit plans? Nope. It’s been social reform and attacks on the rights of consumers.

– We have Congressman Lamar Smith using his committee to bring tort reform. Doesn’t matter if it’s needed, saves money , or does anything other than shield those responsible from harms.

– Congressman Jack Kingston of Georgia thinking that the days of the peanut butter poisonings were a better way to go than a FDA that does it’s job by protecting people.

– Just across the boarder, the new leaders in Wisconsin are working to roll back all of the great insurance changes that were made the year before and to add the extra kicker of a $200,000 cap on punitive damages. That way BP , auto insurance companies, and the Exxon’s of the world can start calculating how many lives they can take in a cost effective manner.

It’s a sign that consumers better hold on and watch out. The times are a changing and that group that came in, which some of you might have voted for, isn’t interested in doing anything other then protecting their buddies.