McNeil Consumer Healthcare hired contractors around the country to buy up Motrin IB caplets that were not dissolving properly without alerting regulators or the public about the problem, according to documents released yesterday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The "phantom recall' by the division of Johnson and Johnson was blasted by committee members, Lyndsey Layton reports. "It is a moral outrage for a company specifically marketing its products for children to allow a culture of neglect and irresponsibility to taint the medicines that parents and physicians trust to help children get well," said …

Former South Dakota Gov. William "Wild Bill" Janklow forever changed the credit card business in the U.S. in 1981 when he welcomed Citibank to his state after it removed the limits, known as usury caps, on the amount of interest that banks could charge borrowers. In light of the record write-off of $89 billion in bad debt in the U.S. last year, and issuers dumping risky customers like dogs shedding fleas, Lisa Kassenaar starts her analytical piece by talking with Janklow about the deal he cut with Citicorp CEO Walter Wriston that "transformed U.S. consumer lending." It was …

Microsoft may have yielded its crown as the tech company with the largest market cap to Apple this week but it's still No. 1 when it comes to inspiration. Inspiration Blvd., a brand-consulting firm, surveyed 1,752 consumers to identify America's most inspiring company. Bill and Melinda Gates' charitable work has had the perhaps unintended consequence of overhauling consumers' perception of the software giant, Laurie Burkitt points out. Others in the Top 10, from No. 2 downwards, are: Google, Apple, Ford, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Chick-Fil-A, Target and Procter & Gamble. …

Dyan Machan takes a look around Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald's office and finds that, like many executives, he's filled it with reminders of his extended family. Crest, Tide, Gillette, etc. But as excellent as his offspring may be historically in the marketplace, McDonald needed a spoonful of Pepto-Bismol to digest last year's results as consumers turned to cheaper alternatives. As a result, not only is P&G beefing up its marketing and pushing product development, McDonald is chatting about it. McDonald's says that single-use sizes are a good fit for consumers in developing countries, that …

Acer and Dell unveiled plans for tablet-style machines using Google's Android OS, Don Clark and Justin Scheck report.