I’m just a regular person making about $70K a year in a big city, and I’ve recently felt incredibly powerless dealing with private companies. For instance, my landlord’s auto-pay system had a glitch that excluded my pet rent and water bill. I ended up with over $1,000 in late fees. Despite hours on the phone, it turns out their system doesn’t really do auto-pay and requires a fixed amount instead of covering the full rent. It feels like a scam, and my options are to pay the fees or potentially spend a fortune on legal action.
Another frustrating experience was trying to cancel my pest control service. I had to endure a 40-minute call followed by 35 minutes of arguing, just to finally cancel. There’s no online cancellation option, and the process felt like a timeshare sales pitch.
Why do ordinary people seem so unprotected against these shady practices, and how can we change this? How does one person even start to address these issues?
Vote. Seriously. Recent history around consumer protection has been very partisan and this is something that impacts us all
One party creates things like
- cfpb
- net neutrality
- ACA
- education assistance
The other party. Cancels, sues, interrupts. Project 2025 probably tries to entirely destroy
One party creates things like cfpb
Putting warning labels on predatory lending. Spending more time fighting various right-wing interests in the right-wing dominated courts than doing any actual regulating. Does nothing to deliver actual money to the people who need it - all they can do is regulate the extent to which a private loan is shitty and extortionary.
net neutrality
Tries to regulate the ISP monopoly rather than breaking it up. Doesn’t actually guarantee internet access to anyone. Doesn’t extend high speed internet or establish public internet access points. Also constantly under fire in the right-wing dominated courts, such that they can’t effectively deliver on their function.
ACA
The best thing about the ACA is the extension of who qualifies for Medicaid. Everything else is a band-aid on a band-aid. Just open up Medicaid as the Public Option and you’d have done more good for more people in the long run.
education assistance
Doesn’t limit the total cost of education. Can’t even extend loans at the Prime Rate, because some private middle man always needs to get a cut. Doesn’t improve access to education by setting up new public schools or vocational programs. Doesn’t increase teacher pay, reduce student housing costs, or mitigate the cost of living while pursuing an education.
Blah blah, the Republicans Are Worse. But the Democrats only ever seem capable of operating through the private sector via subsidies and civil penalties. Where is the actual public infrastructure? What does the public sector actually own and operate? What is being delivered at cost rather than as a profit-center for a third party?
And for the cherry on top, the party in the 2-party system that claims to be the “good” side trying to implement all these citizen-friendly policies have enjoyed multiple majorities in the last 40 years that would have allowed them to do these with the snap of a finger using well documented legal mechanisms.
And yet, they do not.
That liberal sneer about leftists just wanting to complain rather than fix things? Also projection.
Really weird how everywhere I turn, the “good” side is doing the same fucking thing as the bad orange side.
