| HSBC Survey: Consumers Slow to Seek Free Credit Reports, Despite ...
(CSRwire) PROSPECT HEIGHTS, Ill. - A new survey by HSBC - North America finds that while 82 percent of consumers fear identity theft, only four in 10 have taken advantage of the recent law - the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) - that gives consumers free access annually to their credit reports to check for errors. Checking credit reports regularly can help consumers detect identity theft, which, according to the Federal Trade Commission, has struck 27.3 million Americans in the past five years. It's also an opportunity for consumers to understand their credit status, see how their financial decisions impact their credit standing and assess their progress toward achieving financial goals. "Knowing your credit history represents the first step toward understanding and managing your financial well-being," says Loretta Abrams, vice president of community development and consumer advocacy at HSBC - North America.
Threat to free banking
On Monday 14 January, the curtain lifts on the long-awaited court battle between the high street banks and consumer champions at the Office of Fair Trading over unauthorised overdraft charges. A victory for the OFT could force banks to cut fees to those customers who pay charges, but might also herald the end of free banking for the millions who pay nothing for their current account services. .
McCain spokesman John King of CNN
The e-mail flood started out we caught you guys, we never did trust you. That kind of thing. I think it is a very interesting dynamic. I saw middle-aged women just throw their arms around Barack Obama, kiss him hard on the cheek and say, you know, I'm with you, good luck. And i think he feels it, too.Dana Milbank, The Washington Post:ABOARD THE STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS, Jan. 7 For the moment, at least, the John McCain of yore has returned. . . . Ladies and gentlemen, John McCain is back. Left for dead when his campaign ran out of cash last summer, he returned to his endless town hall meetings and freewheeling talks on his campaign bus . . . Revived along with McCain's spirits: A level of "straight talk" bordering on the masochistic. . . . Mac is Back . . . . Perhaps as important, McCain has learned a small degree of restraint.
Slap on the Wrist at Columbia?
Nobody forced the racist Gilchrist not to speak. But how about the right of those who disagree with him to voice their opinions? Columbia does not recognize the right of those who protets racists to stand up and display a banner when the racists appear? Well, they should not only permit it — they should encourage it! Instead, of course, Columbia is punishing those who protested the attacks on illegal immigrants. Nothing surprising there — Columbia has a long, dirty history of racism. Up through the WW2 period at least Columbia was infamous for its antisemitism. Jewish professors could not teach English for example! In the ’60s Columbia took away precious Harlem parkland for more buildings, resulting in the SDS-led sit-in of 1968. The students who protested Gilchrist should be applauded.
Marienbad’ Returns, Unsettling as Ever
This flattery was, of course, catnip to a certain stratum of New York film sophisticate, and soon critics were slugging it out. In The New Yorker, Brendan Gill approvingly compared "Marienbad" to "Finnegans Wake," as did Dwight Macdonald in Esquire, while Time magazine warned that "customers who expect to be entertained are going to be painfully disappointed." When Bosley Crowther of The Times said that "beyond any question," "Marienbad" was "the 'furtherest out' film we've ever had," Jonas Mekas took a swing at him in The Village Voice, scoffing that any critic who had been following experimental filmmaking would know that "Marienbad" was merely a "pretentious ornament" and "a stone in the cemeteries of the dead," adding that he knew his position risked "the making of many enemies." While the cultural gatekeepers skirmished, audiences lined up to see for themselves with an enthusiasm that defined what Susan Sontag later called the dawn of "the feverish age of moviegoing." Skipping "Marienbad" meant missing out on a cultural conversation that could persist for a year.
|
