Category Archives: The Economy

October 23, 2011 · 10:30 am

Why Credit Unions Are a Better Financial Choice For Us Than Big Banks

I’ve been with a Credit Union for over 20 years and can offer only praise for their services and costs.  I can’t imagine why anyone would chose a bank-especially a big bank- over a Credit Union.

With Credit Unions, you are not just a customer, but part owner.  Rates are better, service is better and even the smallest Credit Unions generally offer all the same services as big Banks.

My advice:  Move your business to a Credit Union today!  It’s not just best for you, it’s better for the economy and the country as a whole…..

From Daily Finance:

 

With big banks adding new fees or increasing existing fees, credit unions have been able to capitalize on the growing discontent with the financial services behemoths. Bank of Americas BAC $5 debit-card-fee fiasco alone is responsible for 20% to 50% of the new accounts at some credit unions — and new accounts have been growing steadily in recent months.Thats because many credit unions are offering cash back or reward points for debit card usage, not fees. There are other perks, too, to get you to move your business. For example, the Co-op Services Credit Union of Michigan has been successfully offering $105 to those who switch to them from a regular bank.

And credit unions are reaching out to business customers, too. FDIC data has shown bank business lending shrinking over the past year or so, while credit union commercial lending is growing.

Dollars and cents arent the only reason people are moving their money to credit unions. The fundamental setup of the system is vastly different from that at big banks. While a bank is a for-profit business, aiming to maximize earnings for its shareholders, credit unions are nonprofits. While youre simply a customer of a bank, youll be a member of a credit union, owning the whole thing along with your fellow members.

via Why Credit Unions Are a Better Financial Choice For Us Than Big Banks – DailyFinance.

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October 12, 2011 · 9:25 pm

Georgia Considers Replacing Firefighters With Free Prison Laborers

Well, this is one of the dumbest, most outrageous ideas from the GOP yet.  I’m surprised it didn’t come from South Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama as well…

I guess someone in Georgia got the idea from “Gone With the Wind” when Scarlett used prisoners to run her lumber mill.

They’ve never been real good at separating fiction from reality in Georgia….

Not only does this endanger the prisoners, it endangers professional firemen who have to work with them as well as the general public since they will have neither the training nor the enthusiasm of a professional.

Next, they’ll be trying to use prisoners to fill the gap in General Practice doctors.  Or as school teachers.  Or as policemen!

Dumb, dumb, dumb….

Almost as dumb as voting for these fools…..

From ThinkProgress.org:

A select group of inmates may be exchanging their prison jumpsuits for firefighting gear in Camden County.

The inmates-to-firefighters program is one of several money-saving options the Board of County Commissioners is looking into to stop residents’ fire insurance costs from more than doubling. […] The inmate firefighter program would be the most cost-effective choice, saving the county more than $500,000 a year by some estimates. But that option is already controversial, drawing criticism from the firefighters who would have to work alongside – and supervise – the prisoners.

The Camden program would put two inmates in each of three existing firehouses, and they would respond to all emergencies – including residential – alongside traditional firefighters. The inmates would have no guard, but would be monitored by a surveillance system and by the traditional firefighters, who would undergo training to guard the inmates.

The inmates would not be paid for their work, but upon release they would be eligible to work as firefighters five years after their conviction dates instead of the normal 10.

Naturally, many are questioning the wisdom of asking prisoners to put their own lives at risk in a dangerous job they don’t necessarily want to do. Not only would the program jeopardize inmates’ safety, but their potential lack of enthusiasm and training could jeopardize the lives of fire victims they are supposed to be saving. Firefighter Stuart Sullivan told the Florida Times-Union that firefighters choose the profession because they have a passion for serving the public and helping people, while the inmates would only be there as an alternate way to serve their sentences.

Many firefighters are speaking out against the idea, and don’t relish the additional responsibility of having to guard and worry about inmates as they are trying to put out fires and save lives. This distraction could be another life-threatening consequence of the measure. The program also runs the risk of inmates escaping — all in all a very dangerous proposition for public safety just to save money.

Georgia is not the first state to use prison slave labor to try to cut costs: in California there are more than 4,000 firefighting inmates stationed at 45 camps throughout the state. (HT: Gawker)

via Georgia Considers Replacing Firefighters With Free Prison Laborers | ThinkProgress.

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October 9, 2011 · 6:30 pm

$39,000 For a Backpack? Luxury Items Flying Off the Shelves

As Marie Antoinette allegedly said, when told the poor had no bread, “Let them eat cake.”

I bet she would have had one of these bags….

Some kids can’t pay their college tuition without mortgaging their future with student loans and others carry a backpack that costs more than a year’s tuition at an Ivy League College???

Something is very wrong here….

From AlterNet.org:

If you wanted to sum up what people mean when they toss around phrases like “class war” and “the 99 percent”  and “WTF,” you might put it all down to this: $39,000 backpacks. Sold out.

It’s been four years since the entrepreneurial Olsen sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley, launched their luxury fashion line, the Row, and three months since they debuted their stylish and exorbitantly priced black crocodile bag. But it was the news this week that at the Paris launch of the handbag line, Ashley Olsen bragged that the backpack “was the first thing that sold off the shelf” that really took the let-them-eat-cake. Olsen added that luxury brands do well in hard times, noting that “During our last economic crisis in the U.S., the only thing that went up was Hermès,” before, in the words of Women’s Wear Daily, “returning to sip Champagne with guests including Michelle Harper and Christian Louboutin.” As a commenter on CNN observed of this news, “This is what’s wrong with America. The income inequality in this country is outrageous, we are well on our way to becoming a 3rd world country.” Or, as another more aptly expressed it, “That’s cray cray.”

via $39,000 For a Backpack? Luxury Items Flying Off the Shelves | | AlterNet.

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October 4, 2011 · 6:52 pm

White House on Occupy Wall Street: `We understand’ – The Washington Post

The fact that the mainstream media is finally paying attention and that the White House is having to address this is a really, really big change….

This movement is getting too big to ignore- which is a very good thing!

I knew there was an Anit-Tea Party alternative out there and it looks like the sleeping giant has awakened….

From Greg Sargent in the Washington Post:

The story here is not what the White House said but that it was asked to weigh in on the protests at all — another sign of the remarkable speed with which it has grown from a crowd chanting at police two weeks ago. As for the substance of the White House response, it would have been a mistake for it to go any further than it did here — registering an understanding of economic frustration. Because if there’s one thing that’s growing clearer by the hour, it’s that this is an entirely organic effort, one that’s about nobody but the protesors themselves. In this sense, we’re seeing a replay of the Wisconsin protests. Those ended up falling just short of what activists had hoped to achieve, but their months-long showing was still important — it demonstrated that left wing populism is still alive and well and sent an important message about the mood of the country. The key was that it grew organically with little to no involvement from Beltway Dems and the White House.

If anything, Occupy Wall Street’s lack of outside encouragement from bigfoot Dems has been a strength, rather than a weakness. As major progressive groups debate how they can contribute to strengthening the movement — and how to give it specific direction and a specific agenda — the need to preserve its grassroots nature will remain paramount. Who knows where this will end up, but for now, this is another reminder that the Tea Party isn’t the only voice of popular discontentment over the economy. We don’t necessarily live in Tea Party Nation, after all.

More: White House on Occupy Wall Street: `We understand’ – The Plum Line – The Washington Post.

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October 2, 2011 · 7:02 pm

We Are the 99 Per Cent – Mark Ruffalo

Wonderful article from actor/activist Mark Ruffalo in today’s Guardian in the UK.

As my friend Linda and many others have noted, this is getting much more press in the British press and overseas than it is here.

I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact the mainstream American media is now mostly owned by large corporate conglomerates….

Yeah, right….

Here is a brief excerpt and a link to the full column:

It is a thing of beauty to see so many people in love with the ideal of democracy, so alive with its promise, so committed to its continuity in the face of crony capitalism and corporate rule. That should be celebrated. It should be respected and admired.

Their message is very clear and simple: get money out of the political process; strive for equality in taxation and equal rights for all regardless of race, gender, social status, sexual preference or age. We must stop poisoning our food, air and water for corporate greed. The people on Wall Street and in the banking industrial complex that destroyed our economy must be investigated and brought to justice under the law for what they have done by stealing people’s homes and savings.

Jobs can and must be created. Family farms must be saved. The oil and gas industry must be divested of its political power and cheap, reliable alternative energy must be made available.

This movement transcends political affiliations. America has been debased and degraded by greed. This has touched 99% of America’s population. The other 1% is doing just fine – with more than a third of the wealth of this nation. We all know people who have been hurt by the big rip-off. We all know people who have lost their jobs or their homes. We all know people who have had to go and fight wars that seem to have no objective and no end – leaving families for years on end without fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.

More: We are the 99 per cent | Mark Ruffalo | Comment is free | The Guardian.

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October 2, 2011 · 4:55 pm

Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Arrests 700 Protesters On Brooklyn Bridge

I’ve been wondering for several years now, exactly what it would take to get Americans to take to the streets, in protest, like they did in the 1960’s.  Or in other countries earlier this year….

I may be getting my answer…

I’m going to be watching this much more closely…

These Police tactics are really starting to worry me.  This is sounding  more and more like a story from Tiananmen Square in China than from New York City in the USA.

Now, the protests are spreading to DC and LA.   This may really be getting interesting.

Hundreds of people protesting Wall Street abuses were penned in and arrested by police Saturday, two weeks into an ongoing demonstration that has become known on Twitter as #OccupyWallStreet.

Centered at Zuccotti Park since September 17, the gathering that began as a call to arms from anti-consumerist magazine AdBusters has shown no sign of a slowdown.

The movement aims to “express a feeling of mass injustice,” according to the group’s declaration for the occupation of New York City released Friday. The injustices include the foreclosure crisis, work place discrimination and student loan debt, among a list of others.

As HuffPost reported recently, the movement is less about specific policy demands and more about an expression of opposition to ever yawning economic inequality driven by Wall Street and its allies in Washington.

Calling themselves an American revolution, the protesters say they plan to stay in the park indefinitely.

George Basta, an official with New York Communities for Change, said that the organizers were encouraged by police on Saturday to march on the street area of the Brooklyn Bridge, instead of the walkway, then subsequently arrested them for marching in traffic. Two lead organizers, Jonathan Westin and Pete Nagy, were penned in by police. Westin managed to exit the police pen, but Nagy is missing and presumed detained by police, Basta told HuffPost.

“Police say some demonstrators spilled onto the roadway Saturday night after being told to stay on the pedestrian pathway,” the Associated Press reported.

Similar demonstrations started Saturday in Washington and Los Angeles.

Shon Botado, a protester staffing a first aid station in New York, told The Huffington Post on Friday that he’s not leaving “until change is made to the financial structure.”

More, From the Huffington Post Story:   Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Arrests 700 Protesters On Brooklyn Bridge [LATEST UPDATES].

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October 2, 2011 · 11:29 am

Increase in Number of Unclaimed Bodies: Relatives Can’t Afford Funerals

Another sign of just how bad the economy is out there for some folks.  This is unheard of in the South.

Those of us in the middle class are generally insulated from this type of situation-but not always.  And it appears it’s happening more and more frequently to people who probably didn’t see it coming…

From the Greensboro News and Record:

GREENSBORO — The number of bodies that go unclaimed each year is rising across the country — even in the South, where traditions die hard and cousins twice-removed could once expect a family burial.

Bodies are being abandoned everywhere — from hospital morgues to the funeral home that picked up the person who died at home.

“They’re being outright unclaimed by family because family members claim they have no money,” said Clyde Gibbs, North Carolina’s chief medical examiner, whose agency has seen an increase from 45 unclaimed bodies in 2006 to 73 in 2010.

Numbers are not kept by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services or most states, although a county’s social services agency is responsible for disposing of those bodies. Agencies contract the services to local funeral homes or crematoriums. State law requires a mandatory 10-day hold on unclaimed bodies.

“Weddings and funerals are the last vestiges of tradition,” said Paul Harris, executive director of the industry-regulating N.C. Board of Funeral Service, which is getting more calls from funeral homes stuck with remains.

“I’m hard-pressed to believe our human nature doesn’t cause us to want to do something.”

More:   Relatives forced to leave the deceased : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad’s most trusted source for local news and analysis.

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September 29, 2011 · 8:30 am

Elizabeth Warren and the Social Contract

The more I see of Elizabeth Warren, the more I love her….

She is one smart – brilliant- woman and I hope to God she gets elected to the Massachusetts Senate seat so she has a platform to run for President in 2016.

I also love that she talks about the Social Contract.  I was thinking I was the only one left who believed there was such a thing….

We desperately need more politicians like Elizabeth Warren…

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September 27, 2011 · 6:30 am

Quote of the Day

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.

Dorothy Parker

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September 26, 2011 · 7:34 pm

Stockbrokers More Competitive, Willing To Take Risks Than Psychopaths

Uh, why am I not surprised?

 

Various studies have suggested that a certain kind of psychological profile gravitates toward the fast-paced, high-pressure environment of the trading floor — and that this profile probably has more than a little in common with psychopathic personality, a clinical condition marked by gregariousness, impulsiveness, dishonesty and lack of empathy.

A recent study from the University of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, goes one step further. The research, led by forensics expert Pascal Scherrer and prison administrator Thomas Noll, finds that professional stock traders actually outperform diagnosed psychopaths when it comes to competitive and risk-taking behavior.

According to Der Spiegel, Scherrer and Noll had a group of 28 stockbrokers participate in various simulations and intelligence tests, and then compared their results to a group of psychopaths.

They found that the traders showed a higher degree of competitiveness than the psychopaths — and that the traders were surprisingly willing to cause harm to their competitors if they thought it would bring them an advantage.

via Stockbrokers More Competitive, Willing To Take Risks Than Psychopaths: Study.

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