Tag Archives: banking

Killing predatory payday lenders with the USPS

Rarely do I find myself getting fired-up over policy initiatives being weighed in D.C., but I just read a really interesting piece in the New Republic about the possibility that the United States Postal Service could begin providing expanded financial services, and I’m intrigued. Not only would it create a new revenue source for the […]

Posted in Ideas, Other, Politics | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Robert Reich on income inequality, his new film, and the need to get money out of politics

For those of you without access to public television, Bill Moyers celebrated the fifth anniversary of “the fiscal meltdown that almost tanked the world economy” a few days ago by speaking with my hero, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich about wealth inequality in the United States, and his soon-to-be-released documentary film Inequality for All. […]

Posted in Economics, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Rolling Jubilee launches Thursday with a telethon, and ambitious plans to buy and forgive millions of dollars in debt

One of the beautiful things about the Occupy movement is how it keeps evolving. What started as a sea of wiggly fingers in a New York City park, has, in a relatively short period of time, spread across the country, adapting as it does so, in order to meet the needs of local communities. Here […]

Posted in Economics | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Is the Bank of Ann Arbor’s “non-local banker campaign” a hypocritical, pointelss mess of faux-localism?

For the past few months, those of us who live in and around Ann Arbor have been subjected to a relentlessly pervasive advertising campaign featuring a balding, sunken-chested, Clearasil-colored cartoon banker with an often furrowed brow, and standard issue “nerd” glasses. He started showing up on billboards a little over a month ago. At first, […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Marketing, Observations, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 119 Comments

I can’t sleep, so I’m watching Bill Moyers and Matt Taibbi… which isn’t helping

Bill Moyers’ most recent show was about how big banks are victimizing democracy. If you’re looking to get to sleep tonight, I’d suggest watching something else. Here’s a clip: BILL MOYERS: Both of you have been writing a great deal lately about the crisis in Europe. So explain to us simply what hand Wall Street […]

Posted in History, Media, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

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