Consumers and Consumerism in America Today

These remarks were delivered on April 5, 2002, at the Annual Meeting of the American Council on Consumer Interests, in Universal City, California. It's a special privilege for me to deliver the Colston Warne Lecture because of my own personal, academic and professional connections with Colston Warne. As a youth growing up in Amherst, Massachusetts, where Colston taught economics at Amherst College, I was Colston's paperboy. Later I went to Amherst College and was a student of Colston. And then, years later, I joined the Board of Consumers Union. Colston was the founding Chair of the Board of Consumers Union, originally called President, back in 1936, and he served in that capacity for 44 years. When he stepped down, I succeeded him as Chair of the Board, and served as Chair for 21 years. So for the first 65 years of CU's history, there were only two Board Chairs, Colston Warne and me. Then when Rhoda Karpatkin left after 27 years as President of Consumers Union, the Board chose me to be CU's new President, and I've been serving in that capacity for a little over a year. So, from Colston Warne's paperboy to CU's president, there have been multiple connections between me and Colston Warne and Consumers Union, and I'm especially pleased and honored to give the Colston Warne Lecture this year. Let me say a quick word about recent developments at Consumers Union that might be of interest. This week, our web site, ConsumerReports.org, reached the mark of 830,000 subscribers--an increase of 45% in the last 10 months, making it by far the largest publication-based subscription site on the web. In the past year we've added a new service that let's you download Consumer Reports product ratings onto your personal digital assistant. We're exploring opportunities for other products and services--from e-newsletters, to specialty "hubs" on the web, to presenting information in our print products and other media in ways that appeal to younger audiences as well as others. We're doing more than ever to provide unbiased, research-based information to consumers--when they need it, where they need it, and how they choose to receive it--through Consumer Reports magazine, our web site, and other publications and services. Meanwhile CU's advocates in our offices in California, Texas, Washington, DC, and New York continue to work for consumers on a wide range of issues, including product safety, health care, financial services, food safety, and much more. Today I'd like to share some thoughts with you on the state of consumers and the consumer movement. The need--and the opportunity--for us in the consumer movement to make a much-needed impact has been underscored by the spate of high-profile abuses recently in the marketplace: * the Ford-Firestone debacle, * the California energy crisis with its manipulation of the power supply, soaring energy bills, and rolling blackouts, * the failures in telecommunications after business interests persuaded Congress to deregulate the industry with misleading claims that it would be good for consumers, * the lapses in airline security and public health protection that caught all of us unaware on September 11 and afterward, * and now, of course, the scandal of Enron and the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, and more to come. These breaches of consumer welfare and the public trust have sent shock waves through the American public. They demonstrate all too clearly the need for consumer watchdogs and for strong, vigilant oversight of the marketplace. And that requires the kind of research and expertise on consumer matters that ACCI members are especially able to provide. I see five overarching lessons. LESSON NUMBER ONE: The consumer movement is absolutely essential in pressing for a fair and just marketplace for all consumers, and we've made a huge impact. …