News Blog

Banking and Me

9/30/2008

My problem with the bailout is manifold but at least part of it is personal. Being a person of relatively low income, I’ve had a lot of opportunity to deal with the less friendly side of banks. At times, it seems as though they really do want a pound of flesh given the outrageous rates they charge on their credit cards — up to 33%, if you can believe it — and the fees on banking services generally.

I have a little bit of history with banks. As a young woman, I worked for banks and savings and loans for almost ten years, right through the financial crises of the early 1980s. One of my employers went under while I worked there and was taken into receivership by the federal government. I still remember the auditors marching in in their black suits. And hey, guess what the problem was? Worthless mortgage-backed securities, a measly $48 million dollars worth. Read More

Living Through The New Depression

5/23/2007

I’m sure there are still some starry-eyed optimists out there, but lately, everybody I know is fed up with with the way things are going. Maybe it was tax bills, or the impeachment vote, or colony collapse disorder, but I feel as though we collectively sagged over the last few months. For me it was the Virginia Tech shootings, a weekend during which (coincidentally) over 150 people died in Baghdad. I kind of fell apart, and was starting to think there might be something wrong with me when my neighbor mentioned in passing that she had been feeling the same way.

Misery loves company. I was relieved to know that I was not the only one who couldn’t take any more bad news. Since that dreary weekend, I’ve run into a surprising number of people near and far who feel, as I do, that something’s got to give. Many Americans seem to be ready for a change to something inspiringly different. Read More

American Mythos Part 3

A little over 2000 years ago, a group of men decided to put together a book of the historical documents and texts they had floating around. These men were of a tribal culture that had originated in the desert, herding animals and worshipping a warlike male god. This jealous male god is still with us today–his name is Jehovah; the book is the Bible. But at the time that the early Jews were commencing their archival efforts, they were under pressure from a neighboring tribe, a tribe that worshipped a nature goddess. These men did not want the goddess religion to prevail over their own people, who were starting to slip back into old ways. So the early Jewish priests and scribes adopted a foundation myth that battled the goddess by making women the enemy. Read More

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