Community Reinvestment in Hard Times             New York City             I spent some time with a friend at Citi yesterday.  My first joke to him was, “how did he like working for the government again.”  His jokes were more of the gallows humor variety, mentioning that he would be there to turn off the lights and …

Listening without Hearing             Langely Park, Maryland         Working with national and local groups seeking to advance the cause of comprehensive immigration reform, one of the ideas was to organize “Obama Watch” parties to allow folks to listen Obama’s Inaugural Address to see if they heard more specifics on his frequent campaign promises to advance immigration …

Toxic Dump or National Bank             New Orleans               Shelia Bair from the FDIC, one of the few government finance people who has not been permanently tarnished by the financial meltdown, and others on the eve of the Inaugural are starting to talk without fear about whether or not there is a “real” plan or solution …