WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
New Orleans A reporter, Jed Kolko, with the New York Times seems to be connecting the dots in an interesting and important way. In a recent article about some of the unintended consequences of geographic inequality being concentrated in certain cities, he pointed out several things. First, that the level of economic activity concentrated …
New Orleans Microfinance has many positives, but should never be confused or misnamed as a “poverty reduction” strategy. There is simply no way to reduce poverty through debt. Microfinance or microcredit or micro-lending or whatever the name has a value for the poor as a way to access minimal credit to create or improve livelihoods, …
Quepos It was an extra present under the palm tree to read in the pre-dawn that Santa Barbara Bank & Trust was being pulled out of the business of factoring RALs, predatory refund anticipation loan for Jackson & Hewitt and other companies in the viciously competitive tax services market for lower income and working families. …
Baltimore If we didn’t have so many fast deals and multi-billion dollar scams to read about every day, then the student loan situation would be a scandal that doesn’t stop shaming everyone who touches it. Finally we have a chance to streamline the process and take out the sticky fingered middlemen skimming the cream off …