by
Ralph Nader
As
a candidate, Donald Trump promised regular people, “I will be your
voice,” and attacked the drug industry for “getting away with
murder” in setting high prices for lifesaving medications. But as
president, he has declared war on regulatory programs protecting the
health, safety and economic rights of consumers. He has done so in
disregard of evidence that such protections help the economy and
financial well-being of the working-class voters he claims to
champion.
Already
his aggressive actions exceed those of the Reagan administration in
returning the country to the “Let the buyer beware” days of the
1950s.
Though
Mr. Trump is brazen in his opposition to consumer protections, many
of his most damaging attacks are occurring in corners of the
bureaucracy that receive minimal news coverage. His administration,
for instance, wants to strip the elderly of their right to challenge
nursing home abuses in court by allowing arbitration clauses in
nursing home contracts. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration has announced that it is canceling a proposed rule
intended to reduce the risk of sleep apnea-related accidents among
truck drivers and railway workers.
And
the Environmental Protection Agency is busy weakening, repealing and
under-enforcing protections, including for children, from toxic
exposure. Scott Pruitt, the director, went against his agency’s
scientists to jettison an imminent ban on the use of chlorpyrifos, an
insecticide widely used on vegetables and fruits. Long-accumulated
evidence shows that the chemical is poisoning the drinking water of
farm workers and their families.
This
assault began with Mr. Trump choosing agency chiefs who are tested
corporate loyalists driven to undermine the lifesaving,
income-protecting institutions whose laws they have sworn to uphold.
At
the Food and Drug Administration, Mr. Trump has installed Dr. Scott
Gottlieb, a former pharmaceutical industry consultant, who supports
weakening drug and medical device safety standards and has shown no
real commitment to reducing sky-high drug prices. At the Department
of Education, Betsy DeVos, a billionaire investor in for-profit
colleges, has weakened enforcement policy on that predatory industry,
hiring industry insiders and abandoning protections for students and
taxpayers.
Mr.
Pruitt, as the attorney general of Oklahoma, filed suits against the
E.P.A. He has hired former lobbyists for the fossil fuel and chemical
industries. Mr. Trump’s aides and Republicans in Congress are
pushing to restrict access to state courts by plaintiffs who seek to
hold polluters accountable.
The
administration is even threatening to dismantle the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau and fire its director, Richard Cordray,
who was installed after Wall Street’s 2008 crash. Their sins: They
returned over $12 billion to defrauded consumers and plan to issue
regulations dealing with payday debt traps and compulsory arbitration
clauses that deny aggrieved consumers their day in court. (The Senate
is now considering legislation to gut the arbitration rule.)
Draconian
budget cuts, new restrictions on health insurance, diminished privacy
protections and denying climate change while putting off
fuel-efficiency deadlines and auto safety standards will hurt all
Americans, including Mr. Trump’s most die-hard supporters.
Mr.
Trump’s deregulation crowd argues that they are freeing markets to
grow. But preventing casualties and protecting consumers are, in
fact, good for the economy. Nicholas Ashford, a professor of
technology at M.I.T., has shown how safety regulation has fostered
innovation. Markets grow in humane and efficient ways when workers
make airbags, products to detect contaminants in food and water, and
recycling equipment. Fraud prosecutions leave consumers with more
money, generating sales, jobs and a higher standard of living.
When
courts grant compensation for wrongful injuries, they not only help
victims pay their bills but also lessen the burden on public
insurance programs like Medicare. Fuel-efficiency standards save
consumers money, improve air quality and reduce dependence on foreign
oil. The Department of Energy itself says that over five years, a
30-m.p.g. vehicle will save $3,125 if driven 15,000 miles annually.
Mr.
Trump’s regulatory abolitionists should know they will face
litigation. In the 1980s, the Reagan administration’s repeal of the
rule requiring airbags in cars was challenged by the insurance
industry and consumer groups. The Supreme Court unanimously required
the rule to be reinstated. Labor, consumer and environmental groups
are mobilizing to fight efforts to sap health and safety protections.
Citizens are rediscovering the benefits of focusing on members of
Congress at town halls and other gatherings.
Smashing
safety and consumer safeguards will lead to deaths, injuries and
diseases that provoke intense news coverage. Demands to hold the
profit-obsessed Trump team accountable for conflicts of interest will
intensify. And civil servants, blocked from enforcing laws, will
respect established procedures or become whistle-blowers, with legal
protections.
The
administration’s corrosive polices should be a clarion call to
Democrats not to mimic Republicans in pursuing special interest
campaign dollars and instead devise a powerful consumer protection
message for voters left, right and center — voters who can be
injured or defrauded regardless of their political views.
Championing
a consumer agenda should be a good way to win elections.
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