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Banks Charging through Loopholes to Rip Off the Poor!

New Orleans   Every time we think we might be surprised at the avarice of major financial institutions, we are reminded that in the real world, there are no limits either to greed or the willingness for banks to rip off anyone available including preying on desperate, poor families.   More sickening evidence was available in a [...]

Chinese Banks, Student Loans, Foreclosures, and Political Impasse

Wen Jiabao

New Orleans   Are you kidding me?  The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called for breaking up the banks because they are making too much money and charging too much interest.  It turned out he was actually calling for breaking up banks in China, rather than elsewhere, but how refreshing to have a head of [...]

Fire in the Mercado, Usury at Los Bancos

Tegucigalpa    Within minutes of hitting central Tegucigalpa we were on our way to a series of markets directly across the picturesque but fetid river running alongside the capitol not far from the original palace.  ACORN Honduras in Tegucigalpa had been working with stall vendors over the last month who had asked for help after a sudden [...]

Daily Litany of Citizen and Consumer Smackdowns

New Orleans     Like a modern version of the 12 days before Christmas, I think we could all start listing a daily beating we are taking from business, government, or both.

Yesterday news came out that a fair chunk of the $26 billion settlement with banks over their home mortgage scandals and abuses with the state attorney [...]

Pushing Back the Banks in the Wake of Occupy

Orleans Given all of the niggling around the impact of the Occupy Wall Street movement and its impact, it is worth raising some footnotes a little higher on the tally sheet where the results are important, but perhaps unnoticed.  Take these recent developments into account.
Small example, but telling is that JP Morgan Chase, [...]

Hope for Frances Gomez and Other Foreclosure Victims

New Orleans I have often quoted a line by a former Republican OMB director that we should “never suffer from premature certainty,” and given the disaster that banks, the Treasury Department, the Bush and Obama Administrations, and the servicers have made of the housing crises and its millions of homeowner victims, I almost hesitate [...]