Payday Lending is a Drain on the U.S. Economy

The Insight Center for Community Economic Development released its latest report finding the payday lending industry cost the American economy $774 million in 2011, causing the estimated net loss of more than 14,000 jobs.  Add in the costs caused by an increase in Chapter 13 bankruptcies from borrowers unable to keep afloat of the drainingContinue reading “Payday Lending is a Drain on the U.S. Economy”

Conservatives Continue Their Budget Myths While Threatening to Make Childhood Hunger a SNAP

Who crashed the economy? If one turns the pages of Paul Ryan’s spine-chilling budget one sees who conservatives like himself believe to be the biggest threats to the US Economy: Hungry children and pregnant mothers.

Laundering The Message

How big insurance bought and paid for the “small business” attack on Obamacare   Last week, the National Journal reported that in 2011, the health insurance industry lobby group AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) quietly funneled $850,000 to the NFIB – the self-proclaimed “Voice of Small Business” – as part of a campaign to repealContinue reading “Laundering The Message”

Homeowners Protest Dept. of Justice Failure to Prosecute Wall Street Crimes

17 Homeowners Arrested On Monday, Alliance members from Colorado Progressive Coalition and Washington CAN!  joined over 500 homeowners for a day of action targeting the Department of Justice for its continued failure to prosecute Wall Street banks and their executives for major financial crimes.  In March, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate JudiciaryContinue reading “Homeowners Protest Dept. of Justice Failure to Prosecute Wall Street Crimes”

Colorado: Judge Rules that Homeowner Has the Right to Fight Impending Foreclosure…in this case.

A win for homeowners in Colorado!  Alliance affiliate Colorado Progressive Coalition has been working for two years to pass “Show Me the Note” legislation, which forces banks to prove they own the deed to a home before they can foreclose on it.  On Monday, U.S. District Judge, William Martinez, ruled that the unsworn testimony ofContinue reading “Colorado: Judge Rules that Homeowner Has the Right to Fight Impending Foreclosure…in this case.”

New Bottom Line’s 16-Month Campaign Takes Giant Step Forward To Removing:

“The biggest roadblock to our country’s economic recovery”   Re-Posted with permission from The New Bottom Line Since early 2012, New Bottom Line has driven the campaign to get President Obama to dump Ed DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Today, the organization celebrated the news that the president finally made a nominationContinue reading “New Bottom Line’s 16-Month Campaign Takes Giant Step Forward To Removing:”

Take These Chains Off My CPI (Consumer Price Index)

 The deficit crowd cheered when the President included a concept called “Chained CPI” in his 2014 Budget. This is a proposal to change the way the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is calculated. This change is about as wonky as wonk-dome can get, but here’s a try. Currently the CPI grows based on overall increases inContinue reading “Take These Chains Off My CPI (Consumer Price Index)”

Austerity versus Dignity for Senior Citizens: A Case for Strengthening Medicare

It seems we keep referencing Bill Daley’s recent post Has The Budget Crisis Du Jour Got You Down?. Maybe that’s because it gives you have a pretty good sense of the impending debt lid crisis that is due to hit in July, and that we need to be ready to push back against efforts toContinue reading “Austerity versus Dignity for Senior Citizens: A Case for Strengthening Medicare”