Consumer Confidential: Pocketbooks, protection and pups

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Here’s your thrilled-it’s-Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--We’re shopping again. Consumer spending posted a 1.3% increase in August -- the largest jump in nearly eight years -- thanks mostly to the government’s cash-for-clunkers program, which lured car buyers back into showrooms. Economists say we probably won’t see another spending spree like that any time soon, but we’ve still logged four straight months of growth.

--Fedmeister Ben Bernanke told lawmakers it’s ‘vitally important’ that consumers are protected from ‘unfair and deceptive practices in their financial dealings.’ But he stopped short of endorsing President Obama’s plan for a a new regulatory agency that would focus solely on doing just that. The banking industry says the Fed can handle all that watchdogging on its own (with help from a bunch of other agencies). Yeah, that’s worked really well for consumers so far.

--Careful with that puppy chow. Nutro Products is pulling some of its puppy food from store shelves because a worker’s hard hat was apparently sucked into the machinery, raising the possibility of bits of plastic getting into Fido’s feast.

-- David Lazarus