Under pressure from Congress, celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday offered to help "drain the swamp" of unscrupulous marketers using his name to peddle so-called miracle pills and cure-alls to millions of Americans desperate to lose weight. Oz appeared before the Senate's consumer protection panel and was scolded by Chairman Claire McCaskill for claims he made about weight-loss aids on his TV show.
It was bad enough that Dodd-Frank under-protected the American public from predatory big banking, but Senators are now trying to further weaken the legislation and even make its existence completely moot. The Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act of 2013 is the latest bill that shifts the government's role as protector of the people to protector of the powerful.
I knew the battle over prop 37 would be heated, tough, and ugly. But I was not expecting biotech companies and food manufacturers to stoop as low as they have and spend a million dollars a day doing so.
