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Public Banking Efforts Are Gaining Momentum In California

July 2, 2023 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. , , ,
Prince Osemwengie has been looking into every tool in the toolbox to help stem the tide of local businesses being displaced due to rising rents and rising property values in South Los Angeles: Technical assistance and legal aid for small business owners, commercial rent subsidies, tax credits for small business oriented economic development, community ownership of commercial real estate, and all the above. But with the financial system so tilted against local businesses, especially Black- and Brown-owned businesses, he believes the time has come for a more drastic solution: L.A.’s first city-owned bank. And with a recent city council vote, that solution is one step closer.

What Sweden Can Teach The US About Overcoming The Housing Crisis

May 21, 2023 David J. Thompson, Grassroots Economic Organizing. , , ,
The housing-supply crisis in the United States has most impacted low- to moderate-income households. And, while the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program plays a valuable role in increasing housing access for low-income families, there is no similar source for moderate-income households. Lacking a targeted funding scheme, the demand for moderate-income housing grows, yet the supply is negligible. There are loud voices demanding resources for moderate-income households, but there is not as yet an agreed-upon policy or viable funding format to meet that demand. Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives (LEHC) — a cooperative corporation that owns the entire site of the cooperative, including all the apartments and buildings on the site — could be a supplier of much-needed, permanently affordable housing for moderate-income households.

While Crypto Bro Scammed Clients, Reporters Scammed Readers

November 21, 2022 Ari Paul, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. , , ,
Today, you probably know who Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX are, and the details of why he and his company are front-page news are emerging at an amazing pace. Here’s the short version: Bankman-Fried—a boyish-looking cryptocurrency baron known commonly as SBF—announced that his lauded cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, had lost at least $1 billion in client funds, sending the crypto market into a tailspin (Fox Business, 11/16/22). The company, once the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange (AP, 11/16/22), has filed for bankruptcy. Lest one think this is a debacle that only affects crypto bros, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that “the sector’s links to the broader financial system could cause wider stability issues” (New York Times, 11/17/22). How could this happen? How could no one have seen this coming? These are the questions many people are asking. One problem is that in the months leading up to Bankman-Fried’s transition from financial genius to possible financial criminal (Yahoo Finance, 11/14/22), he received little scrutiny in the media. On the contrary, he was celebrated.

Berlin: Activists Protest Climate Debt Inside Finance Ministry

October 17, 2022 Imanuel Marcus, Berlin Spectator. , , ,
Members of three groups known as Last Generation, Scientist Rebellion and Debt for Climate staged several protests today. Some activists entered Germany’s Ministry of Finance with banners on which they accused Finance Minister Christian Lindner of an “empty promise” in regard to debt cancellation. “Dear Christian Lindner”, Debt for Climate said on Twitter. “We know that you are in the building, you just passed our activists. We are here to talk to you about what you promised to do: debt cancellation for the Global South.” The protesters told him to meet them “outside” for a discussion. The same group posted photos. They showed its members inside the Ministry. Some of them had glued their hands to windows, elegant counters, desks and other furniture. Others held big signs. “Cancel the debt of the global south!” one of the banners read.

Reimagining Reparations As America’s Marshall Plan And Not Just A Payday

September 15, 2022 Jon Jeter, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
Congratulations Fam, I hear that you’ve finally secured the bag, otherwise known as reparations. A cool $800,000 to be paid in eight annual installments, the first $100,000 of which arrived in your bank account today. Well, maybe not quite $100k, but about $75,000 after taxes. Still some nice coin. So, how should we get the party started? You say you want to finally buy a house for you and your family? Seventy-five grand is not gonna get you that deluxe apartment on the upper East side, but it’s a nice downpayment on a three-bedroom condo in Teaneck or Tallahassee. All you have to do is pop into the bank and sign on the dotted line  . . . but wait one cotton pickin’ minute; is that a subprime mortgage? Perhaps America’s worst- kept secret is that usurious, adjustable mortgages were not designed to help African Americans who don’t have money but to exploit those who do.

Who Is Bankrolling Israel’s Latest Excursion Into The West Bank?

July 23, 2022 Jessica Buxbaum, Mintpress News. , , ,
Occupied West Bank - On Wednesday, thousands of Israeli settlers from the Nachala settler group — along with Israeli lawmakers — flocked to the occupied West Bank and established seven illegal outposts in a land grab operation propelled by a massive fundraising campaign. By Thursday evening, Israeli forces evacuated the day-old outposts and detained and later released 11 settlers. Despite the evictions, Nachala remains determined to continue building on land they claim is only reserved for Jews, with plans to set up new outposts as early as next week. Nachala, the group responsible for the infamous Evyatar outpost erected last year, has been preparing since April to establish outposts en masse in July. Initially, the plan was to build 28 new outposts throughout the West Bank, but that number was scaled back in recent days.

Investors Are Reevaluating The Mountain Valley Pipeline

March 12, 2022 William Limpert, Truthout. , , ,
During a recent hearing about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) policy statements about fracked gas certificates, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, defended the MVP. Manchin claimed the pipeline is 95 percent completed, but opponents cite the company’s own reports, which indicate “final restoration of the pipeline right-of-way is now about 55% complete.” Moreover, two recent federal court rulings have thrown out key MVP permits, as three more federal agencies have been sent back to the drawing board after failing to analyze the MVP’s harmful impacts. The court ruled that the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management inadequately considered actual sedimentation and erosion impacts, prematurely authorized stream crossings, and failed to comply with a Forest Service rule.

Cryptocurrencies: A View From The Left

January 8, 2022 Thomas Redshaw, Red Pepper. , ,
The use of cryptocurrencies is rapidly increasing across the world. In 2020, scholars at the University of Cambridge estimated there were 101 million people using cryptocurrencies worldwide, an increase from 35 million just two years previously. The rise of cryptocurrency is usually a story of pizzas bought with bitcoins now worth over a billion dollars, kingpins of darknet drugs markets ordering assassinations and hospitals being held to ransom by anonymous hackers. These new levels of activity however are pushing cryptocurrency, and its underlying blockchain technology into the mainstream – with significant consequences. The first and arguably biggest impact so far is cultural.

Climate Movement Hails $40 Trillion In Fossil Fuel Divestment Pledges

October 28, 2021 Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams. , , ,
Over the past decade, nearly 1,500 investors and institutions controlling almost $40 trillion in assets have committed to divesting from fossil fuels—a remarkable achievement that climate campaigners applauded Tuesday, while warning that further commitments and action remain crucial. "Amidst a depressing era in the race against climate change—with killer fires and titanic storms, political stalemate, and corporate greenwashing—the fossil fuel divestment movement is a source for tremendous optimism," states a new report—entitled Invest-Divest 2021: A Decade of Progress Toward a Just Climate Future—published Tuesday. "Ten years in, the divestment movement has grown to become a major global influence on energy policy," the publication continues.

The Black Death Killed Feudalism. What Does COVID-19 Mean For Capitalism?

May 4, 2020 By John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus , , , , , ,
You pay little attention to the systems of your body — circulatory, digestive, pulmonary — unless something goes wrong. These automatic systems ordinarily go about their business, like unseen clockwork, while you think about a vexing problem at work, drink your morning cup of coffee, walk up and downstairs, and head out to your car to begin your morning commute. If you had to focus your attention on breathing, pushing blood through your veins, and metabolizing food, you’d have no time or energy to do anything else. The body abhors the micromanaging of the mind. The same applies to the world’s markets. They whir away in the background of your life, providing loans to your business, coffee beans to your nearby supermarket, labor to build your house, gas to fill your car.

Activists Urging Barclays To ‘Stop Funding The Climate Emergency’ Shut Down Nearly 100 Branches Across UK

March 13, 2020 By Jessica Corbett, Commondreams.org , , ,
In a coordinated action to pressure Barclays to stop financing climate destruction, Greenpeace activists on Monday morning shut down 97 of the British investment bank's branches across the United Kingdom. "Barclays must stop funding the climate emergency; that's why we've taken action today," Morten Thaysen, climate finance campaigner at Greenpeace U.K., said in a statement.

The FBI Is Investigating Massive Embezzlement Of Border Patrol Union Funds

February 26, 2020 By A.C. Thompson and Jeff Ernsthausen, Pro Publica. , ,
The FBI is investigating the disappearance of some $500,000 from the coffers of the powerful union representing the country’s roughly 20,000 Border Patrol agents, said the organization’s national president, Brandon Judd. Judd said the probe is focused on identifying the individuals responsible for siphoning the money from the bank accounts of the union’s El Paso branch in recent years. “We know the FBI is looking at it,” said Judd, head of the National Border Patrol Council, which has forged a close alliance with President Donald Trump. Under the Trump administration, the Border Patrol, a once obscure federal agency, has been thrust into the center of a rancorous debate over immigration policy, facing intense criticism over the squalid conditions in the agency’s overcrowded detention facilities, a string of migrant deaths and revelations that some 9,500 current and former agents were part of a private Facebook group that included vulgar and misogynistic content.

Goldman Sachs’s European Headquarters Targeted By Climate-Change Activists

April 25, 2019 Staff, Reuters.com , , ,
LONDON (Reuters) - Environmental activists held a protest outside Goldman Sachs’s European headquarters in London on Thursday in attempt to underline what they say is the role the finance industry in fuelling climate change. The protesters lay down on the road blocking traffic and chanted: “What do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now.” The premises on Fleet Street, discreetly positioned behind an unmarked door and entrance foyer and manned by several security staff...

This Radical Plan To Fund The ‘Green New Deal’ Just Might Work

December 19, 2018 Staff, Ellenbrown.com ,
With what Naomi Klein calls “galloping momentum,” the “Green New Deal” promoted by newly-elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) appears to be forging a political pathway for solving all of the ills of society and the planet in one fell swoop. It would give a House Select Committee “a mandate that connects the dots between energy, transportation, housing, as well as healthcare, living wages, a jobs guarantee” and more. But to critics even on the left it is just political theater, since “everyone knows” a program of that scope cannot be funded without a massive redistribution of wealth and slashing of other programs (notably the military), which is not politically feasible.

China Warns Canada Of Consequences For Imprisoning Huawei’s Financial Director

December 11, 2018 Staff, Cubadebate.cu , , ,
The Canadian justice made the arrest last day 1 in the airport of Vancouver, while Meng was preparing to take a flight with connection to Mexico. Huawei denied the accusation and ensured compliance with all the regulations of the territories where it operates. In addition, the Government of China recalled that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council it always implemented the resolutions approved by that body, but at the same time it rejected the imposition of unilateral measures by one State against another.
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