March Madne$$ – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

I was watching the NCAA basketball Final Four this past week and asking myself, what happened to college sports? What about the idea that sports is a part of college life, not the only part; naïve, I know. But March Madness takes the obsession with college sport to a whole new level. How did these games become an enormous media frenzy, especially basketball, generating tens of millions of dollars and commercials every few minutes and huge corporate sponsorships. These players are amateurs and are forbidden from earning a dime from their labor. But someone – who? – is benefitting from huge amounts of money being generated.

I opened the pages of The Nation and found some answers. Dave Zirin, one of the few journalists who is a critic of the sports industry, had written a piece about March Madness. Zirin says that most of the programs don’t make money – but that the NCAA leadership greedily pays itself millions in salaries and coach salaries have soared: average annual pay has ballooned to $1.64 million for football coaches. The president of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, refuses to discuss his seven-figure salary, or offer any perspective on the money juggernaut of the NCAA.

Emmert rejects the notion that student athletes should be paid something – anything – for their labor. “The student athletes are students. They are not employees.” A former college football player, Zirin writes about how much things have changed since he played in the 1960s. “When I played at Syracuse …it wasn’t like that. We had a regular season and 20 days of spring practice. Now it’s year-round. …you get hurt…tough, you’re out. And there’s no workers’ comp for injuries.”

Turns out the 68-team basketball tournament that makes up March Madness generates 90 percent of the NCAA’s operating budget. In that budget is included total compensation for NCAA top execs, nearly $6 million, with the President earning $1.1 million. Revenue also comes from video games, posters, jerseys, and boutique credit cards featuring images of popular athletes.

ESPN is deeply ensconced in this money machine generated by March Madness, acting as the number one broadcaster of college sports, so there’s no critique from ESPN. Meanwhile, the student athletes get no compensation for their spectacular performance. Zirin quotes a coach: “look at the money we make off predominantly poor black kids…” Desmond Howard, who won the Heisman trophy playing for Michigan in 1991, called the system “wicked,” telling USA Today, you “see everyone getting richer and richer. And you walk around and you can’t put gas in your car? You can’t even fly home to see your parents.”

Zirin recommends the following reforms:

  • The athletes should have workers’ compensation protections.
  • Scholarships should be guaranteed for four years so players can’t be dismissed by their coaches.
  • Ceilings should be put on coach salaries, with money savings going toward paying stipends to the athletes.
  • NBA and NFL should fund their own minor leagues, so universities don’t have that responsibility.
  • NCAA should be abolished – Zirin calls it a “corrupt cartel.”

We’ve come so far from the days when college athletes were college students first, and athletes second. These reforms would go a long way toward bringing those old, more sane times back.

Equal Pay Day serves as a harsh reminder of the pay gap between men and women – National Consumers League

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By Michell K. McIntyre, Director of NCL’s Special Project on Wage Theft

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, signed into law by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 when women were averaging 56 cents for every dollar men made. While progress has been made, women now average 77 cents for every dollar men make, the pay gap remains. Today, 99 days into 2013, is Equal Pay Day. This day symbolizes the extra time needed for women to earn the same salary as their male counterparts in 2012.

President Obama highlighted this pay disparity during his 2012 campaign and painted his opponent as out of touch with the issue. The 2012 election also welcomed a record number of female senators providing an ideal landscape for finally passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. This bill would prohibit companies from penalizing employees for sharing salary information, and force companies to demonstrate that pay discrepancies are not related to gender.

The fact that women get less money for equal work is not only a women’s issue but also a family issue. At a time when women increasingly are the breadwinners, 71 percent of mothers are part of the labor force, a pay gap unfairly targets children in households with single mothers or where both parents work. The pay gap, when calculated over the course of a year, means women receive on average $10,784 less than males performing similar work. That figure is increased among African American women and Hispanic women, who make $19,575 and $23,873 less respectively than a white non-Hispanic male performing the same job. Using these figures, the Department of Labor estimates that women make on average $380,000 less over the course of their careers. That is a huge sum of money when trying to put a child through college, buying healthy groceries for the dinner table, or paying the rent.

Despite the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first bill signed into law by President Obama in 2009, more work needs to be done to ensure women have the resources and tools they need to confront discrimination and challenge unfair practices in the courts. Current law forces women to jump through too many hoops in order to make claims of gender discrimination. The Paycheck Fairness Act would reduce those obstacles and lower those walls in an attempt to finally achieve equal pay for equal work. It’s time to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act!

NCL calls on the FDA to investigate misleading labeling on Martin’s ‘100% Whole Wheat Potato Bread’ – National Consumers League

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April 9, 2013

Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL) today sent a letter to Dr. Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requesting that the agency review the misleading product name on Martin’s “100% Whole Wheat Potato Bread,” manufactured by Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, Inc.

“This product name is confusing and misleading to consumers, not to mention an oxymoron,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “Martin’s 100% Whole Wheat Potato Bread’ contains potato flour in addition to whole wheat flour and, therefore, should not be called 100 percent whole wheat. Whole wheat bread must be prepared in accordance with ingredient requirements set forth in FDA regulations And those regulations require that the only flour that can be used is whole wheat flour.”

Greenberg further stated that “while it is laudable that the primary ingredient in Martin’s ‘100% Whole Wheat Potato Bread’ is whole wheat flour, the 100 percent whole wheat designation is certainly misleading.” She urged the FDA to require the product label to state “potato bread made with whole wheat” whenever the name of the bread appears on the product label.

Government agencies and scientific communities have been widely promoting the consumption of whole grains, and manufacturers have responded by marketing a large variety of products with labels highlighting the presence of whole grains. FDA became so concerned about the proliferation of claims that may be misleading to consumers, that in 2011 it sought permission to conduct a study about consumer perceptions of whole grain claims.

“The wide array of whole wheat claims in the bread aisle is overwhelming to consumers trying to decide which breads are the healthiest,” said Greenberg. “All products making whole wheat or whole grain claims should be required to specify clearly and accurately the percentage of whole grains. We call on FDA to ensure that Martin’s no longer represents its product as ‘100% whole wheat.’”

Read the full letter here.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

FTC announces winners for Robocall Challenge – National Consumers League

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By Sandra Latouff, NCL Fraud and Policy Intern

Last week, the FTC announced the winners of the Robocall Challenge. The winners, Serdar Danis and Aaron Foss will each be receiving $25,000 and a trip to Washington, DC for an opportunity to present their innovations. The Challenge asked innovators to create solutions that will block illegal robocalls for both landlines and mobile phones. A robocall is a term for a phone call that uses a computerized auto dialer to deliver a pre-recorded message.

In 2012, the FTC received about 200,000 complaints per month from consumers about robocalls! In an effort to fend off robocalls, some consumers have turned to the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry. Currently, 220 million consumers have registered their numbers on the Registry, but even with the Registry consumers nationwide are still being pestered by robocalls. In an effort to help the public fight against the creative methods robocalls are reaching consumers, the FTC created the Robocall Challenge to gather creative and efficient ideas from participants that could be successful. The hope of the FTC is that by hosting the Robocall Challenge a winning idea will catch the attention of private companies and eventually find its way to the marketplace for consumer protection.

Danis’s proposal, titled “Robocall Filtering System and Device with Autonomous Blacklisting, Whitelisting, GrayListing and Caller ID Spoof Detection”, would analyze and block robocalls using software that could be implemented as a mobile app, an electronic device in a user’s home, or a feature of a provider’s telephone service. Foss’s proposal, called Nomorobo, is a cloud-based solution that would use “simultaneous ringing,” which allows incoming calls to be routed to a second telephone line. In the Nomorobo solution, this second line would identify and hang up on illegal robocalls before they could ring through to the user. A third proposal from Google engineers Daniel Klein and Dean Jackson won the Technology Achievement Award. Klen and Jackson’s solution would involve using automated algorithms that identify “spam” callers.

As a result of the Robocall Challenge, the FTC created a video compiling submissions that focused on what consumers are doing right now to reduce illegal robocalls. Here are some of the tips:

  1. Ask you carrier what services they provide. Some service providers allow their customers to block off certain phone numbers. There may or may not be a charge for this service. Consumers may also be able to use VoIP hardware that allows them to tag any incoming number as unwanted which then plays a disconnected tone to the caller. After this, there is usually no second call.
  2. Check out devices for your landline. Search Internet shopping sites for “call blocker.” One consumer said that she uses a special phone that causes robocaller software to drop her number from their call list, which reduced and eventually stopped the number of calls she received.
  3. Experiment with “special information tones.” Some consumers placed the three note “non-working number” ringtone at the beginning of their voicemail or answering machine message which resulted in fewer robocalls.
  4. Investigate apps for your smart phone. Consumers are paying for apps that block robocalls. There are some free apps that, based on reviews, perform decently as well.
  5. Use a “virtual phone line” with call screening options. One consumer obtained a virtual phone line that forwarded the calls from that line to his actual phone. He gives his virtual number to everyone and keeps his other phone number to himself.

Consumers should also be sure to check the Terms of Service for any new program or offer when applying. An agreement to receive phone calls (i.e. robocalls) may be buried deep within the fine print.

If you have any tips or suggestions on how you prevent or stop robocalls, the FTC invites consumers to share their knowledge on their Facebook page. Click here for more information about the Robocall Challenge and its winners.

The Food Safety Modernization Act and the struggle to give FDA additional power – National Consumers League

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By Teresa Green, Linda Golodner Food Safety & Nutrition Fellow

On January 4, 2011 President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law.  The culmination of years of work by advocates, victims of foodborne illness and their families, and the regulated food industry, FSMA was seen as a game changer.  It gave FDA new power to regulate food safety.  Most importantly, once fully implemented, FSMA was designed to transform FDA from an agency whose primary mission is response to foodborne illness to one working proactively to prevent these outbreaks from occurring at all.

An essential part of establishing this new paradigm is a series of proposed rules, four of which were scheduled to be released in January 2012.  As January passed, followed by February, then spring, summer, and fall, the clamoring from advocates and the industry for the release of the rules grew louder and louder.  Finally, in January 2013, a year later, two of the four rules were released. These two rules address produce safety and preventive controls in processed food.

Earlier this week FDA released an additional set of documents that can help to explain some of the reasons for the long delay.  These documents show that the two rules were held up at OMB (the agency that must review all agency rulemaking), where extensive changes were made to their content.  Most notably, OMB removed requirements for environmental and end-product pathogen testing as well as a proposed supplier approval verification program.

While what remains is still an improvement over the existing system, it is far weaker than what FDA had initially proposed.  There are likely many reasons why these changes were made, but these considerations will matter very little to the parents of a child whose foodborne illness could have been prevented by one of the nixed measures.

 

Looking for ROI? Try investing in public health – National Consumers League

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92_ayannaBy Ayanna Johnson, Health Policy Associate

This week, April 1-7, is National Public Health Week. This year’s theme is Public Health is ROI: Save Lives, Save Money. The public health model relies extensively on prevention—preventing deaths, preventing illness, and preventing high healthcare costs. Since 1995, communities nationwide have celebrated NPHW each April to draw attention to the need to help protect and improve the nation’s health. Investing in public health systems and interventions saves money and certainly saves lives.

Every year in the United States, seven out of 10 deaths are due to preventable chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Chronic conditions, like asthma, COPD and diabetes, cost our health care system millions. In fact, chronic diseases account for a whopping 75 percent of national health care spending, yet only 3 percent of our health care dollars go toward prevention. Nearly 45 percent of individuals with a chronic disease require at least one medication. However, one-third of people never fill their prescriptions, which is costly and can lead to unintended health consequences. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, it is now more important than ever to invest in preventative health care, like medication adherence, to manage our growing epidemic of preventable chronic diseases.

Poor medication adherence is a national problem that contributes to our growing health care costs, especially among those with chronic conditions. It is estimated that nearly 3 out of 4 Americans don’t take their medications as directed, costing Americans nearly $300 billion per year in avoidable hospitalizations, doctor’s visits, ER visits, and nursing home admission.

Improved medication adherence leads to cost savings. Patients with chronic conditions who are adherent to their medications have fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations than patients who are not adherent, saving as much as $7,800 per patient annually in overall health care costs. And, every additional dollar spent on improving adherence saves $7 in medical costs for people with diabetes; $5 in medical costs for people with high cholesterol, and $4 in medical costs for people with high blood pressure.

At the National Consumers League, our campaign to raise awareness of the importance of medication adherence is an example of how improving public health can save money on health care costs in the long run.  The Script Your Future campaign provides patients, their family caregivers, and health care professionals with the tools needed to take control of their health. This includes knowing the right questions to ask a doctor, pharmacist, or other health care professionals about medications. For patients to manage their medications, it is important that they understand their chronic condition, the role of medication, and the importance of adherence.

For more information about Script Your Future, visit. www.ScriptYourFuture.org.

For more information about National Public Health Week, visit www.nphw.org.

The President’s Push For Rebuilding the Nation’s Infrastructure is Just The Right Medicine – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

I’m on vacation in FL for the week and reading the Palm Beach Post’s coverage of President Obama’s speech from the port of Miami calling for a surge in spending on infrastructure. I couldn’t agree more. The President is not saying that all such spending should be taxpayer funded. Instead, he’s asking for a public-private partnership, including improving Miami’s rail connection to Hialeah, and in turn, with rail lines all over the country. Right now, port traffic must go through downtown Miami, causing costly delays in transporting the cargo that can be avoided with a tunnel under Biscayne Bay.

This kind of public works project will provide jobs, and likely good jobs that pay livable wages and benefits, and can help repair crumbling infrastructure affecting bridges, dams, tunnels, and sewer systems.  This is a win-win-win, because the taxpayers get better services and improved systems, workers get jobs, and the public-private partnership means that businesses are kicking in their share and have a stake in the outcome. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, a Republican, says the project will create at least 10,000 jobs in the port and is a strong supporter.

I like how the President put it: “There are few more important things we can do to create jobs right now and strengthen our economy over the long haul than rebuilding the infrastructure that powers our businesses and economy. …My top priority …is to ignite the true engine of our economic growth—a rising, thriving middle class.”

Mr. Obama also outlined a series of other projects which Congress needs to support, including a $10 billion “infrastructure bank.” This is exciting stuff, and just the medicine the nation needs as we climb out of the recession of the last few years. Now we need Congress to get behind the effort.