Tag Archives: banking reform

Ypsilanti’s Michigan Ladder makes the Wall Street Journal

By Mark | March 15, 2010

Today, the Wall Street Journal’s Neil Hickey published a story about how the commercial credit crisis is impacting small business growth here in the United States. And, to illustrate the real world consequences, he spoke with local Washtenaw County business owners, like Tom Harrison, the CEO of the Michigan Ladder Company. Harrison, when asked how […]

Posted in Economics, Local Business, Media, Michigan, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Bank of Ann Arbor, banking, credit crisis, James Haeussler, Michigan Ladder, Neil Hickey, recovery, Saline, stimulus, Timothy Marshall, Tom Harrison, Wall Street Journal, Washtenaw County | 3 Comments

Fighting for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency till our teeth are smashed out

By Mark | March 3, 2010

As we’ve discussed here in the past, if we’re to avoid financial disasters in the future, it’s absolutely essential that the banking reform bill presently being discussed within the Senate Banking Committee establish a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Unfortunately, it looks as though some Democrats might be willing to trade it away in […]

Posted in Art and Culture, Economics, Politics | Also tagged bailout, Chevy Chase, Chris Dodd, COngressional oversight panel, Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Dan Aykroyd, Dana Carvey, Darrell Hammond, Elizabeth Warren, Federal Reserve, financial industry, Fred Armisen, Funny or Die, Jim Carrey, Maya Rudolph, No Chevy Chase rule, Obama, Saturday Night Live, Treasury Department, Wall Street, Wall Street bailouts, Will Ferrell | 14 Comments

Corporations given the green light to buy elections

By Mark | January 21, 2010

Last night, I posted a video here by Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig about the importance of getting corporate money out of politics. At the time, I agreed with the professor that corporations had way too much influence over American politics. Since I posted it, however, things have gotten considerably worse. This morning, the U.S. Supreme […]

Posted in Corporate Crime, Economics, Free Speech, Observations, Politics | Also tagged Afghanistan, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, Chuck Schumer, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Constitutional amendments, corporations, corporations are not people, corporations are people too, defense contractors, election finance reform, Free Speech, get the money out of Washington, John Roberts, Lawrence Lessig, lobbying, McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, money in politics, Obama, personhood, public funding of elections, Supreme Court, the surge | 13 Comments

Attend an urban gardening potluck, and avoid the cannibal holocaust

By Mark | January 4, 2010

Whenever I start to get a little too optimistic about the future, and I want to regain my foothold in the word of dystopian pessimism, I like to check in with author Jim Kunsler. Jim, for those of you who don’t know him, is the author of such books as The Long Emergency: Surviving the […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged bailout, cannibal holocaust, cheap oil, civil disturbance, community potlucks, decomplexifying, discipline and fortitude of the citizenry, downscaling, dystopia, Federal Reserve, Great Depression, Growing Hope, healthy food access, Hostess Ho-Hos, Jim Kunstler, jive talking, neck tattoos, re-humanizing, re-localizing, recovery, sustainable communities, The Long Emergency, urban farming | 11 Comments

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

By Mark | December 14, 2009

David Cross and Will Arnett, from Arrested Development, have reunited for a British television show called The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. The pilot, which was written and directed by Cross, also stars director Spike Jonze. I’ve only seen this one clip so far, and, while it didn’t blow me away, I think it […]