Consumer Protection is our governments protecting consumers from unfair and unethical trade practices. In addition, this protection extends to corporate policies that hurt the consumer by way of using money, power or the domination of a market by few (i.e. health insurance companies).
Historical types of consumer protectionAnd actions taken
And actions taken
A few examples from old to new:
- Anti-trust and price fixing
- The Sherman Act of 1890
- Pre-existing condition
- The ACA that reversed the policy and requires 80% of income to go for patient care (capping profit)
- Illegal fees extraction
- The Consumer Protection act, capped fees that required credit card companies have the due date on the same day each month. They were jacking around the due date to extract late fees, we made them stop
Summary: There is a long history of needing Consumer Protection against large money interests and corporations. From the 1800s though to the the most recent laws that Biden signed into law.
Those We RegulateWho are protecting ourselves from?
Who are protecting ourselves from?
In nearly every case, the ones being regulated are large corporations or large monied interests as that is where the consumer relationship comes into play.