Dollars & Sense articles from March 2007

Dollars & Sense archives from March 2007

From the editors.
March 22, 2007... One year ago, on May Day 2006, immigrants gathered in massive numbers in cities and towns across the United States to demonstrate for legal and economic rights. The May Day protests this year were notably different: for one thing, they were...

No room at the ... Theme Park?(Disneyland in Anaheim, California)(Brief article)
March 22, 2007... Having low- and moderate-income families living nearby would just ruin the Disneyland experience for tourists. That's apparently the view of Walt Disney Co., which is suing the city of Anaheim, Calif., to block the construction of a residential...

Financial tip: exploit the subprime crisis.(subprime lending business)(Brief article)
March 22, 2007... The subprime lending business may be in crisis, but you can still make money in it, according to a Philadelphia real estate investment company. Forget about actual homeowners, suggests Matt Crane, CEO of Stockbridge Financial Corp. They are a...

No mercy on the banks of the magic kingdom.(Orlando, Florida)(Brief article)
March 22, 2007... In downtown Orlando, Fla., ordinary standards of compassion are getting reversed in a manner that must make the Wicked Queen proud to be one of the town's more notorious fictional residents. In April, undercover Orlando police filmed and...

Shaker Heights shaken.(surge of housing foreclosures in Ohio)(Brief article)
March 22, 2007... The intersecting problems of a deflated housing bubble and a surge in foreclosures are leading local government officials in some relatively affluent suburbs into territory that they may have thought was limited to blighted neighborhoods like...

Anti-terrorism vs. anti-unionism.(Brief article)
March 22, 2007... What's more important to the Bush administration--fighting terrorism or squelching labor rights? The administration may be forced to reveal its true priorities in the coming months. Bills to further implement the recommendations of the 9/11...

Blinder on the road to Damascus.(Alan Blinder)(Brief article)
March 22, 2007... Princeton economist and former Fed governor Alan Blinder made the front page of the Wall Street Journal in March by expressing further doubts about outsourcing. Last year, in a widely publicized article in Foreign Affairs, Blinder predicted...

Ampersand.(the short run)(Cartoon)
March 22, 2007... THE STATE OF THE AMERICAN LEFT [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] amptoons.com

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2007... To the editors: Re: "Activism against Digital Rights Management" [D & S, January/February 2007]. Here's what I think. Every time a musician's work reaches a consumer's ear, the consumer should pay for it. It takes years of work to...

Permitting pollution in Texas: activists push back against TXU's proposed coal-fired power plants.
March 22, 2007... In April 2006--two days after Dallas experienced rolling blackouts as residents cranked up their air conditioners to deal with an early heat wave--Dallas-based energy company TXU announced an ambitious plan to build 11 new coal-fired power...

Fidelity and genocide.(Fidelity Out of Sudan)
March 22, 2007... Pressure is increasing against the government of China for its business ties to Sudan, and for its inaction as the Sudanese government pursues genocide in the Darfur region--and the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics are providing useful leverage....

George Bush's favorite vultures: how financial birds of prey are seizing Africa's AIDS medicine.(Donegal International, Michael Francis Sheehan, and Paul Singer of Elliott Associates)
March 22, 2007... It's quite a heartwarming story. Rock stars in designer glasses, lefty clergymen, blond-bearded anti-poverty campaigners all joining hands with George Bush and the International Monetary Fund to cut the debts of Africa's poorest nations. The...

Muckraking around the globe: a Dollars & Sense interview with investigative reporter Greg Palast.(Interview)
March 22, 2007... BBC investigative reporter and international gadfly Greg Palast has dug into many critical stories in recent years--particularly those, like the vulture funds saga (see page 8), that lie at the intersection of political decision-making and...

The real political purpose of the ICE raids.(Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
March 22, 2007... For the last several months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have carried out well-publicized raids in factories, meatpacking plants, janitorial services companies, and other workplaces around the country employing immigrants....

South Korean labor faces repression: a "tiger economy" takes up battering rams against its unions.(government unions)
March 22, 2007... Last fall, South Korean riot police, along with hired "security" armed with claw hammers and battering rams, smashed their way into multiple offices of the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU), dispersing or arresting the union staff and...

The home ownership myth: a contrarian asks whether home ownership really benefits low-income families.
March 22, 2007... Anyone who has given the headlines even a passing glance recently knows the subprime mortgage industry is in deep trouble. Since 2006 more than 20 subprime lenders have quit the business or gone bankrupt. Many more are in serious trouble,...

Supply, demand, and tortillas: rises in staple prices rile the population in Mexico.
March 22, 2007... The last year has been a fractious one in Mexico. Last May, in San Salvador Atenco in Mexico State, a group of street vendors and a wide range of allies protesting the vendors' expulsion from the central square were brutally repressed, with...

Chase: a bank for the new century? Chase Bank's recent litany of suspect practices exposes the dark side of banking deregulation.
March 22, 2007... Here are a few items from the recent corporate history of JPMorgan Chase & Company: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * October 2001: Chase quietly pays $1 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it filed false reports...

The care gap: how we ignore those in need, why, and what to do about it.(work-family conflict)
March 22, 2007... Work-family conflict is usually portrayed as a middle class, white woman's problem: how can you balance a demanding career with raising your children? This problem is indeed daunting, but if we want to understand the true costs of work-family...

Dow's all-time high inconsequential for most Americans.(Dow Jones Industrial Average)
March 22, 2007... In April the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 13,000 for the first time ever, an event marked with great fanfare in some quarters. "Dow 13,000" may be a milestone on Wall Street, but it is a relatively insignificant blip on the radar...

Ask Dr. Dollar.
March 22, 2007... Dear Dr. Dollar: Some of my friends believe that the Federal Reserve and international bankers (Rothschilds, Rockefellers, etc.) run the world. They think the Federal Reserve was formed in secret and is pretty much a conspiracy. This is...