It’s not the economy, stupid. It’s the unwanted paycheck surprises, argues a new book. Unemployment is low, inflation is historically low, and even wages are perking up, leading many observers to believe the U.S. economy is humming along nicely. So why do many Americans say they are struggling? A new [Keep reading]
When setting up a new online account, we are all confronted with the frustrating exercise of generating a password. Even more frustrating is the “password critic” we often encounter at the point of account creation – the password strength meter. (This story originally ran at Insedia.com. Read it there.) If [Keep reading]
Another all-in-one credit card product has bit the dust, and thousands of consumers are once again getting the shaft. Plastc, said last fall that it had 80,000 pre-orders — many from consumers who put up $155 bucks for the vaporware gadget. The firm announced last night on its website that it [Keep reading]
Spam calls have basically killed cell phones. At least, the “phone” part of cell phones. If you’re like me, you just don’t bother answering calls from unexpected numbers any longer. The FCC says Americans get 2.4 billion fake calls every month. I think I got that many last week on [Keep reading]
The America Online “cancel the account” phone call. The Comcast cable guy sleeping on the couch. The United Breaks Guitars song and viral video. These were all big, public moments that allegedly did millions of dollars in damage to the companies involved. Or, did they? Sure, we all got a [Keep reading]
Mortgage debt is rising fast. Nationwide, the average balance owed on a mortgage is $196,014, up 2.5% from the year prior and 6.4% from nine years ago. You’d expect to hear about soaring mortgage debt in pricey places like New York and San Francisco. But — surprise — the top [Keep reading]
Seems like a good week to help airline employees do right by passengers. Delta Airlines just confirmed to me that it has massively bumped up the compensation its employees can offer when bumping fliers — to as high as $10,000. Meanwhile, a relatively new gadget called SkyPro lets flight attendants dole out free miles [Keep reading]
After 24 hours of public and stock market pummeling, not quite equal to the pummeling the airline doled out on its most famous passenger Sunday, United has finally conceded. A day after blaming that passenger for his bloody removal from the flight, CEO Oscar Munez issued a new mistakes-were-made apology. But [Keep reading]
A Tweetstorm about United Airlines. Please read it. Don’t let this story die. Congressional hearings must be… https://t.co/zazc6JAlxR — Bob Sullivan (@RedTapeChron) April 11, 2017 1/Every day, airlines play game of chicken with fliers. Finally, a passenger took them up on it. United won when it brought in ‘backup.’ pic.twitter.com/Tn3TaPm2qb [Keep reading]
For those who’ve never seen an “involuntary …denied boarding” incident on an airplane, today’s United Airlines incident provided a very graphic, tangible example. Rarely does it ever go this far — ultimately, passengers had to be taken off that flight because a passenger’s blood was literally spilled on seats. But [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan