Unseen Toll: Wages of Millions Seized to Pay Past Debts

Above:?Kevin Evans in his small one bedroom apartment in Springfield, Mo. Evans, who lost income and his home in the recession, is now having his wages garnished by Capital One after falling behind on his credit card payments. (Colin E. Braley/AP Images for ProPublica) A new study provides ... Read more

New Cooperative Refinances Student Debt with Community Funds

Over the past two decades, the amount of money a college student must borrow to pay for their education has doubled. The graduates of 2014 now sit at the top of the class in student debt. Tuition fees have risen dramatically as household incomes have stagnated, at best, causing some ... Read more

The Lure of Taxable Debt

Some universities have started forgoing their ability to issue tax-exempt bonds, long considered a benefit of their nonprofit status. Issuing taxable bonds instead makes sense under market conditions that defy conventional wisdom and allows institutions to avoid additional regulations on tax-exempt bonds, according to ... Read more

Borrowing Against the Future

America’s higher education system is gaining a reputation for high costs and large inequities. In 2012, the U.S. spent $491 billion on higher education1 and twice2 as much per student than comparable industrialized countries. Where is all that money going? Scholars have offered several explanations for these high ... Read more

The coming ‘tsunami of debt’ and financial crisis in America

The US Congressional Budget Office is projecting a continued economic recovery. So why look down the road – say, to 2017 – and worry? Here's why: because the debt held by American households is rising ominously. And unless our economic policies change, that debt balloon, powered by ... Read more

Economy slumps, Wall Street booms

Alongside the massive diversion of social wealth to the financial elite, the IMF, World Bank and Fed continue to demand the gutting of past social reforms and protections for workers, in the name of “job creation” and “competitiveness.” Calling for cuts in government subsidies that hold down food and energy ... Read more

The French are right: tear up public debt – most of it is illegitimate anyway

As history has shown, France is capable of the best and the worst, and often in short periods of time. On the day following Marine Le Pen's Front National victory in the European elections, however, France made a decisive contribution to the reinvention of a radical ... Read more

Enthusiasm High for a New Economy for Baltimore

With growing recognition that the economy fails to serve the interests of most people, alternative institutions and processes based on economic democracy are beginning to pop up everywhere. This movement points to what is called by some as “the New Economy.” Throughout the country people are ... Read more

Economy conference hits Baltimore

Paul Jay, CEO of The Real News Network introduced the conference graciously hosting and televising the event in his town hall space A large crowd was very engaged listening intently to the opening plenary comprised of Margaret Flowers (co-director, It’s Our Economy), Diane Bell Mc-Koy (President& CEO. ... Read more

This man made millions suffer: Tim Geithner’s sorry legacy on housing

At every turn on housing — on mass refinancing, on principal reduction, on leverage for homeowners in the bankruptcy process, on forcing banks to write down mortgages, on a modern-day HOLC — the evidence points to Tim Geithner preferring whatever option put the least pressure ... Read more