David Lazarus – Page 2

Andrew Smith, head of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, has had financial dealings with no fewer than 120 companies, including Amazon, Facebook and Uber.

Column: This top FTC official is so conflicted, he has to leave the room if Facebook gets mentioned

December 11, 2018 at 6:39 p.m.

It’s almost pointless to say that conflicts of interest abound as the country’s first billionaire president continues populating his administration with captains of industry. Just last week, President Trump nominated...

Pfizer, maker of erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, put off planned price increases earlier this year to appease President Trump. Now it says it's back in the price-hiking business.

Drug giant Pfizer says it will return to ‘business as normal,’ which means price hikes

May 23, 2019 at 3:41 p.m.

Business as normal. With those three words, the chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer declared this week that his company, and by extension the drug industry, is dropping any pretense...

Let’s stop pretending that corporations have any ‘values’ beyond making money

May 23, 2019 at 3:40 p.m.

The PR firm FleishmanHillard came out with a study the other day intended to help companies navigate “an issues-laden environment that quickly tests corporate values.” The idea is that we...

Americans lost nearly $58 million last year to what the FBI calls the advance-fee scheme, which involves con artists seeking payment up front for some pie-in-the-sky opportunity.

I kept scammers on the hook for weeks: ‘Are we doing this?’

May 23, 2019 at 3:40 p.m.

It was Emma Weibel’s lucky day. The Lake Oswego, Ore., resident received a letter from someone named Mike Ross informing her that an Aneta Weibel had died and left a...

This scam assumes you’re having an affair (so be careful if you really are)

May 23, 2019 at 3:40 p.m.

Call it the guilty-conscience scam. “I know about the secret you are keeping from your wife and everyone else,” the snail-mail letter begins. “More importantly, I have evidence of what...

AT&T's chief executive, Randall Stephenson, argued that the company's merger with Time Warner would allow it to cut prices for consumers. The price of DirecTV Now is going up.

When companies say a merger will result in lower prices, try laughing in their face

May 23, 2019 at 3:40 p.m.

The next time a big company, and especially a telecom company, tells lawmakers and regulators that a multibillion-dollar merger will result in lower prices for consumers, I hope everyone in...

Always look on the bright side of life, says CEO who raised EpiPen price by more than 400%

May 23, 2019 at 3:40 p.m.

The myriad problems with the U.S. healthcare system aren’t the fault of any one person. But every so often, an industry executive spouts something so wrong-headed, it shines a helpful...

Prescription drugs, and their ingredients, can come from all over the world. But unlike most other products, their countries of origin do not have to be fully disclosed.

Where do prescription drugs come from? Good luck answering that question

May 23, 2019 at 3:40 p.m.

Los Angeles resident Steve Simich was taking a generic anti-cholesterol pill. One day he got curious about where it came from. It didn't say on the label. Simich, 57, asked...

T-Mobile CEO John Legere, left, and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure argue that their companies need to merge so they can build a next-generation wireless network. Analysts say that may be hard to prove.

T-Mobile, Sprint come up short in making their case for a wireless merger

August 18, 2019 at 3:40 p.m.

Economists call it "perfect competition" and it's basically the opposite of a monopoly. It's when a market has a sufficient number of players to ensure the highest level of efficiency...

Experts say the complex and fragmented nature of the U.S. healthcare system makes it more tempting, and easier, for medical scammers to commit fraud.

Another downside to U.S. healthcare system: Way more opportunities for fraud

May 23, 2019 at 3:39 p.m.

It's no secret that Americans pay more for healthcare than people in all other developed countries. And a big reason for that is because our $3 trillion healthcare system is...

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