Ford Press Releases, January - April 1966: 12130682

- FORD ON CONSUMER MESSAGE -2-
The President calls for swift passage of the truth in packaging and
truth in lending bills. Both bills are tied up in Sanate committees and
there has to be good reason for this.
Nobody's opposed to truth in packaging and truth in lending. That's
like being against motherhood.
The truth in packaging bill is a touchy package because there's reason
to believe it would result in added cost to the consumer--and we've already
had enough of rising prices.
In addition, many of the packaging complaints aired before the Senate
Commerce Committee have resulted in remedial action by the producers and
packagers.
Advocates of the legislation also are ignoring the fact that the
President already has all the power he needs to do the job. Deceptive
packaging already is a violation of federal and state law.
In ~rt, the legislation just isn't needed.
As for truth in ~ding, nobody in his right mind wants to see anyone
deceived into paying ridiculously high interest charges. But many contend
the proposed Douglas bill is unworkable because it's virtually impossible
to determine the simple interest rate accurately at the time of purchase.
This legislation also may be unnecessary because the states are moving
in on the gougers in the metropolitan areas where the worst practices exist.
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is
expected to report in a short time that any federal law of this type would
conflict with state laws. The conference also is expected to report that
state laws should be adjusted to apply uniformly to the gougers. This would
be far better than federal action in this field.
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