Assets that are sometimes lent with interest include money, shares, consumer goods through hire purchase, major assets such as aircraft, and even entire factories in finance lease arrangements.

The purpose of Directive 1999 / 94 / EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 13 December 1999 relating to the availability of consumer information on fuel economy and CO < sub > 2 </ sub > emissions in respect of the marketing of new passenger cars is to ensure that information relating to the fuel economy and CO < sub > 2 </ sub > emissions of new passenger cars offered for sale or lease in the Community is made available to consumers in order to enable consumers to make an informed choice.

Its development was protracted enough to merit vaporware status, and upon its 2008 release, found itself subject to harsh criticism and the target of a consumer protest against Electronic Arts.

When it becomes possible for a people to describe as ‘ postmodern ’ the décor of a room, the design of a building, the diegesis of a film, the construction of a record, or a ‘ scratch ’ video, a television commercial, or an arts documentary, or the ‘ intertextual ’ relations between them, the layout of a page in a fashion magazine or critical journal, an anti-teleological tendency within epistemology, the attack on the ‘ metaphysics of presence ’, a general attenuation of feeling, the collective chagrin and morbid projections of a post-War generation of baby boomers confronting disillusioned middle-age, the ‘ predicament ’ of reflexivity, a group of rhetorical tropes, a proliferation of surfaces, a new phase in commodity fetishism, a fascination for images, codes and styles, a process of cultural, political or existential fragmentation and / or crisis, the ‘ de-centring ’ of the subject, an ‘ incredulity towards metanarratives ’, the replacement of unitary power axes by a plurality of power / discourse formations, the ‘ implosion of meaning ’, the collapse of cultural hierarchies, the dread engendered by the threat of nuclear self-destruction, the decline of the university, the functioning and effects of the new miniaturised technologies, broad societal and economic shifts into a ‘ media ’, ‘ consumer ’ or ‘ multinational ’ phase, a sense ( depending on who you read ) of ‘ placelessness ’ or the abandonment of placelessness (‘ critical regionalism ’) or ( even ) a generalised substitution of spatial for temporal coordinates-when it becomes possible to describe all these things as ‘ Postmodern ’ ( or more simply using a current abbreviation as ‘ post ’ or ‘ very post ’) then it ’ s clear we are in the presence of a buzzword.

The common thread ( enacted in different ways, and subject to the constraints of various systems of national law ) is the principle that an enterprise or association should be owned and controlled by the people it serves, and share any surpluses on the basis of each members ' cooperative contribution ( as a producer, labourer or consumer ) rather than their capacity to invest financial capital.

For example, the choice problem for a consumer is represented as one of maximizing a utility function subject to a budget constraint.

In some countries telemarketing is subject to regulatory and legislative controls related to consumer privacy and protection.

At the time, up to forty per cent of goods sold in Britain were subject to such price fixing, to the detriment of competition and to the disadvantage of the consumer.

Music genre terms that contain " world " are commonly subject to a very ambiguous consumer definition, due to the confusing similarity and overlapping interpretation of these categories.

These uses are still subject to the requirement that there be no consumer confusion as to source or sponsorship.

Consumer choice theory is a way of analyzing how consumers may achieve equilibrium between preferences and expenditures by maximizing utility as subject to consumer budget constraints.

It covers a wide range of subject matter, including spoofs of pop culture fads, nerd culture, and popular consumer products.

Indicative of the reader-response school of theory, Terence Hawkes writes that the fundamental close reading technique is based on the assumption that “ the subject and the object of study — the reader and the text — are stable and independent forms, rather than products of the unconscious process of signification ," an assumption which he identifies as the " ideology of liberal humanism ,” which is attributed to the New Critics who are “ accused of attempting to disguise the interests at work in their critical processes .” For Hawkes, ideally, a critic ought to be considered to “ the finished work by his reading of it, and to remain simply an inert consumer of a ‘ ready-made ’ product .”

The basic welfare economics problem is to find the theoretical maximum of a social welfare function, subject to various constraints such as the state of technology in production, available natural resources, national infrastructure, and behavioural constraints such as consumer utility maximization and producer profit maximization.

Since at least the late 1970s, the College Board has been subject to criticism from students, educators, and consumer rights activists.

Typically, things which are perceived to be necessary / essential to the consumer are subject to mass marketing.

The statute states that when someone obtains any personal, non-public information from a financial institution or the consumer, their action is subject to the statute.

Closed loop gift cards are subject to rules set by different state regulations, and issuing authorities vary widely in the rules they set for the consumer.

The three major U. S .- based consumer credit reporting companies Transunion, Equifax, and Experian are ( and were intended to be ) the primary entities subject to restrictions under the FCRA.

: If the commercial service you describe regularly provides information for the purposes set forth in the definition of consumer report in Section 603 ( d ), the agency is a consumer reporting agency and the information it collects from public record sources and maintains in its computerized files is subject to the FCRA.

This meant that not only was the site subject to occasional flooding, but also that the park could not expand to include new attractions as consumer preferences changed.

In the United States, consumer third-party agencies are subject to the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act of 1977 ( FDCPA ), is administered by the Federal Trade Commission or FTC.

But this is subject to the substantial exceptions contained in Articles 3-6, the limitations on insurance actions in Articles 7-12, and consumer contracts in Articles 13-15.

Kirby has been subject to relentless criticism by consumer protection agencies.

Because of its value in promoting recording artists and releases, both directly to the consumer, and by encouraging exposure on radio, TV other media, chart positioning has long been a subject of scrutiny and controversy.

The successful American businessman and investor Warren Buffett was quoted in the Associated Press ( January 20, 2006 ) as saying " The U. S trade deficit is a bigger threat to the domestic economy than either the federal budget deficit or consumer debt and could lead to political turmoil ...

While most of his proposals-" to abandon the gold standard, let international exchange rates float, use federal surpluses and deficits as macroeconomic policy tools that could counter cyclical trends, and establish bureaus of economic statistics ( including a consumer price index ) in order to facilitate this effort "-are now conventional practice, his critique of fractional-reserve banking still " remains outside the bounds of conventional wisdom ".

The Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures, and housing.

It works with federal and state environmental and other agencies, the Congress and state legislatures, and the courts to reduce global warming, limit pollution, protect the stratosphere, promote energy efficiency, conserve natural resources and the natural and built environment, and increase the sustainability of the manufacture of consumer goods.

Some of their most prominent reforms are trust-busting ( the destruction and banning of monopolies ), the creation of laws protecting the American consumer, the creation of a federal income tax ( by the Sixteenth Amendment ; the income tax used a progressive tax structure with especially high taxes on the wealthy ), the establishment of the Federal Reserve, and the institution of shorter working hours, higher wages, better living conditions, better rights and privileges to trade unions, protection of rights of strikers, banning of unfair labor practices, and the delivery of more social services to the working classes and social safety nets to many unemployed workers, thus helping to facilitate the creation of a welfare state in the United States and eventually in most developed countries.

Adam Thierer wrote, " The first step toward creating a free market in electricity is to repeal the federal statutes and regulations that hinder electricity competition and consumer choice.

The European Union and New Zealand passed particularly strong laws that were used as a template for more limited laws in Australia and Canada and some states of the United States ( where no federal law for consumer privacy exists, although there are requirements specific to banking and telecom privacy ).

With the written consent of the Commission, Bureau attorneys enforce federal laws related to consumer affairs and rules promulgated by the FTC.

The FTC serves as a federal repository for individual consumer complaints regarding identity theft.

To enable the commercialization of hydrogen in consumer products, new codes and standards must be developed and adopted by federal, state and local governments.

It is claimed that the company has not met US federal laws requiring consumer reporting agencies ( third parties who conduct background checks for employers ) to verify the data they give employers or notify job applicants when they provide adverse information to an employer.

* The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) enforces federal antitrust and consumer protection laws by investigating complaints against individual companies initiated by consumers, businesses, congressional inquiries, or reports in the media.

Employees based in these offices " testify before federal and state legislative and regulatory bodies, petition government agencies, and file lawsuits on behalf of the consumer interest.

Unlike previous federal excise taxes, this tax is collected directly from the consumer by the seller and based on the sale price rather than a quantity.

Since the 1990s, federal and state consumer protection agencies have either successfully sued or been critical of several prominent informercial pitchmen, including Kevin Trudeau, Donald Barrett, and Matthew Lesko.

The federal government only requires that whatever rates, fees or terms are set by issuers be disclosed to the consumer in accordance with the Truth in Lending Act.

In the United States, there are a variety of state and federal laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA ( which regulates the gathering and use of credit data ), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA ) ( which regulates the gathering and use of consumer health data ), and various programs that enable consumers to suppress their telephones numbers from telemarketing.

Since 1992, the federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act ( FPLA ) has required consumer goods to be labeled in both customary and metric units.

In March 2006, following thousands of consumer complaints to the Better Business Bureau, federal agents raided Berkeley facilities, gathering material that resulted in a 112-count criminal indictment.

Under § 618, a consumer may file suit in state or federal court to enforce the Act, and the statute of limitations is the earlier of two years from discovery of the violation or five years from the date of the violation.

* Andy Martin ( also known as Anthony Martin-Trigona ), a journalist and self-described consumer advocate has run for several local, state and federal offices dating back to at least 1977, including two runs for president and six runs for Senate.

To enable the commercialization of hydrogen in consumer products, new model building codes and equipment and other technical standards are developed and recognized by federal, state, and local governments.

* Federal Citizen Information Center, site has links to state and federal regulatory agencies and other consumer information provided by the United States General Services Administration.

At age 31, he became United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, serving from 1977 to 1981, and as the chief federal prosecutor of that state successfully prosecuted many major cases involving drug traffickers, organized crime, white collar criminals, civil rights violators, consumer fraud, and environmental pollution.