Economic Justice 
Tue Feb 26, 2008 at 23:22:44 PM EST
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I think this is really excellent.
Here's where the problem starts:
Go to the link, click through the slide show and see how it all plays out.
(h/t Consumerist)
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Tue Feb 26, 2008 at 19:51:37 PM EST
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I heard a great story recently from our friends at the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (a.k.a. The Federation, not to be confused with this Federation) whose member credit unions help bring affordable capital into many low-income and immigrant neighborhoods around the country.
Think this sounds a little abstract? It's not. Affordable capital helps people start small businesses, buy homes, and strengthen their communities in any number of ways. As Simon Greer has written, organizations that do this work are fighting the good fight in the current subprime mortgage crisis, making responsible loans to low-income borrowers by offering fair, stable rates and combining loans with borrower education.
Anyway. Ten years ago, two of these credit unions came together and created a program called the Youth Credit Union Program for teenagers in a couple of neighborhoods in San Francisco where there weren't a lot of financial options. The program allowed the teens to essentially run their own credit union. They learned how to save and manage money, do accounting, and serve as tellers for their fellow teens. The program now has over 500 members. The youngest teller is 12 years old.
The Federation made a video about this project, which you could probably get a hold of if you were interested. What struck me most about it was the personal testimonial of Annie Hou, a multilingual immigrant woman barely into her 20s, who is clearly on her way to a hell of a career in community finance if she wants one. In the video, she says:
"When I came to YCUP they told me it's a bank, and then I realized it's not a bank, it's a credit union that's non profit, that helps you learn how to save. ... YCUP gave me a position in Patelco Credit Union. First it's an internship. I learned a lot, they moved me around... They taught me first filing and then I moved on to become a teller. After that they moved me to the loan department. I was just 19 at that time. I'm just an intern, so I work 20 hours a week, and it's really flexible. They help me a lot because I'm in school."
This is it: this is the ladder, the way in, the way up. This is where the American dream is still alive. This is how we make citizens - citizens we're going to need very badly in the years to come. Let's do it everywhere.
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Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 00:28:12 AM EST
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In my irritation over Lori Gottlieb's argument that single women should just settle (about which Hannah has already blogged), I almost missed two pieces in the Atlantic that are much closer to my heart.
First: Is the wave of the future a return to city living? Christopher Leinberger writes:
Pent-up demand for urban living is evident in housing prices. Twenty years ago, urban housing was a bargain in most central cities. Today, it carries an enormous price premium. Per square foot, urban residential neighborhood space goes for 40 percent to 200 percent more than traditional suburban space in areas as diverse as New York City; Portland, Oregon; Seattle; and Washington, D.C.
It's crucial to note that these premiums have arisen not only in central cities, but also in suburban towns that have walkable urban centers offering a mix of residential and commercial development. For instance, luxury single-family homes in suburban Westchester County, just north of New York City, sell for $375 a square foot. A luxury condo in downtown White Plains, the county's biggest suburban city, can cost you $750 a square foot. This same pattern can be seen in the suburbs of Detroit, or outside Seattle. People are being drawn to the convenience and culture of walkable urban neighborhoods across the country--even when those neighborhoods are small. . .
In most metropolitan areas, only 5 to 10 percent of the housing stock is located in walkable urban places (including places like downtown White Plains and Belmar). Yet recent consumer research by Jonathan Levine of the University of Michigan and Lawrence Frank of the University of British Columbia suggests that roughly one in three homeowners would prefer to live in these types of places. In one study, for instance, Levine and his colleagues asked more than 1,600 mostly suburban residents of the Atlanta and Boston metro areas to hypothetically trade off typical suburban amenities (such as large living spaces) against typical urban ones (like living within walking distance of retail districts). All in all, they found that only about a third of the people surveyed solidly preferred traditional suburban lifestyles, featuring large houses and lots of driving. Another third, roughly, had mixed feelings. The final third wanted to live in mixed-use, walkable urban areas--but most had no way to do so at an affordable price. Over time, as urban and faux-urban building continues, that will change.
And, in what is ostensibly a review of Jonathan Kozol's newest book, Sandra Tsing Loh recounts her own success in parental activism at her children's low-income, minority-dominated public school in Los Angeles. Determined to bring music instruction to the school, she takes matters into her own hands:
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Thu Feb 21, 2008 at 17:44:48 PM EST
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According to the Washington Post, the number of grocery stores in New York City's five boroughs has dropped by one third over the past six years. The effect on poor neighborhoods is not good:
The impact of losing a neighborhood grocery is powerful, not only eliminating a spot where residents come together but also affecting a community's health. Some poor neighborhoods in central Brooklyn or the Bronx that have lacked a good supermarket for decades have the lowest rates in the city of consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and the highest rates of diabetes and obesity -- a trend that has been found in inner cities across the country.
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Fri Feb 15, 2008 at 12:50:17 PM EST
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I'm perversely enjoying this quote from Henry Paulson, current Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, which was part of his response to a question from Senator Robert Casey at a recent Senate Banking Committee hearing on the state of the US economy (h/t: This Week In SRI).
"I did not create this problem."
Granted, I don't know the context for this quote, but it sounds kind of like one of those great post-Katrina lines, doesn't it? I didn't personally cause the sub-prime lending crisis, so anything I do to try to fix it is above and beyond my job description. And quite frankly, gentlemen, I'm surprised that you would even ask. More importantly, as TWISRI points out, his statement may actually be false:
Several market analysts feel that Mr. Paulson may have, at some level, helped create the problem. They point out that the firm he once ran, Goldman Sachs, made millions by facilitating the creation and distribution of subprime-backed investments.
I think I'll try this at my own work place - next time all hell breaks loose, I'll tell my co-workers that I only help solve problems that I create. Sounds like it could be a real time saver, doesn't it?
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Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 13:33:49 PM EST
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Former Labor Sec. Robert Reich has a useful editorial in today's NYTimes that explains why this recession is not like the others. In a nutshell, Americans have run out of ways to live beyond our paychecks. First, women entered the work force in large numbers to add income. Then we all worked more hours. And finally we went in to debt, spending again our homes and on our credit cards.
His solution? Permanent, long-term new streams of income for families. That means higher wages (see: unions) and an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit. And better schools.
Reich says all that, in under 1000 words. I am not an economist, but from what I understand about our economy and recent history, this feels about right. If our next administration followed through on these three suggestions, we'd be in considerably better shape than we are now. Add in real, sensible health care reform, and we'd all be much better off.
While Reich decries protectionist measures (they increase prices on goods that Americans need), he doesn't acknowledge that higher wages to union members can have a similar effect on the price of services. But I'm with Reich on this one too. Workers who make more can spend more, and if we're going to raise prices it feels more sensible for it to be a bi-product of collective bargaining (which, at its best, empowers workers and builds a progressive movement) rather than protectionist trade policies (which often feed jingoistic, isolationist, and/or nativist movements which are regressive).
My hunch is that the views expressed by Reich, who is Jewish, are shared by many Jews. Yet this focus on the changing economy and the long-term needs of workers is not often reflected in the work of Jewish organizations. A few obvious reasons come to mind. 1. Jewish groups believe these are not Jewish issues. 2. Jewish groups get nervous talking about taxation. 3. Jewish groups get really nervous talking about unions.
We'll see if this timidity holds in 2009, particularly if a Democratic administration is in the White House...
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Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 15:52:47 PM EST
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He was yesterday, according to MSNBC anchor Keith Olberman. Dobbs' offense this time? Calling the Anti-Defamation League "a joke." (The ADL has criticized the apparently thin-skinned Dobbs in the past for his over-heated anti-immigrant rhetoric: here and here)
Good for Olberman for sticking up for the ADL, whose work on immigration in particular has been both appropriately aggressive and representative of most American Jews.
Watching CNN when Lou Dobbs is on is a profoundly disturbing experience. If it were just him with a few xenophobic friends that would be bad enough. But he is
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Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 17:03:29 PM EST
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Despite knowing better, I eat my share of fast food. Yet the latest outrage re Burger King should make it impossible for those of us opposed to slavery to eat there.
Hat tip to God's Politics blog, which has the story and one of the better opening sentences I've read in a while:
Nothing has exposed the severe ethical troubles of the world´s second largest burger chain quite so lucidly as a slave break in Florida´s tomato country in November.
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Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 16:17:48 PM EST
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The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is looking for applicants to it Legislative Assistant program. Details below, but basically its a great opportunity for anyone looking for a chance to get to know Capitol Hill as an advocate for a highly respected liberal Jewish organization.
Not to mention that next year will be an amazing time to be in Washington, DC. First the election, then the hiring spree, then a new Congress and new administration. And, depending on who wins in November, 2009 could see real movement on significant pieces of legislation.
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Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 12:02:58 PM EST
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