The Smithian

May 8th, 2013

When it comes to economic gaps between whites and communities of color in the United States, income inequality tells part of the story. But let’s not forget about wealth. Wealth isn’t just money in the bank; its insurance against tough times, tuition to get a better education and a better job, savings to retire on and a springboard into the middle class. In short, wealth translates into opportunity…

Less than Equal: Racial Disparities in Wealth Accumulation, from the Urban Institute’s Opportunity and Ownership project

April 1st, 2013

thesmithian

…those Asian Americans that say race doesn’t matter anymore bother me the most. Race does matter. Do I want people to be judged by their merit? Of course. But that’s just not the country we live in. Let’s be real here. Race plays a major factor in things like education, health, social economic outcomes, whether you can get a loan from a bank, get a job interview, criminal sentencing, etc. As an Asian American, sometimes it’s just not as oblivious [sic] as it is for other people of color. But they are still there. They are just more subtle. For example, if it was all about merit, wouldn’t it mean that there should be more Asian American politicians, CEOs, and people in positions of leadership in California? Especially when you consider about half the students graduating from the University of California system are Asian/Asian American? Whew. I’m glad I got that off my chest…

screenwriter Koji Steven Sakai

March 30th, 2013

thesmithian

'Once again, federal student loan interest rates are set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent (on new loans; existing ones wouldn't be affected).'

March 14th, 2013

thesmithian

'According to a new study from the Woodstock Institute, banks discriminate on the basis of both gender and race when they make decisions about which loans they’ll approve. That goes for both mortgage applications and refinancing loans, and it’s worst for African American women...Latino and Asian women, too, struggle to get trust from the banks...'

February 28th, 2013

thesmithian

The cover stands out for its cast of black and Hispanic caricatures with exaggerated features reminiscent of early 20th century race cartoons. Also, because there are only people of color in it, grabbing greedily for cash. It’s hard to imagine how this one made it through the editorial process. Compounding the…problem with the image is the fact that race has been a key backdrop to the subprime crisis. The narrative of the crash on the right has been the blame-minority-borrowers line, sometimes via dog whistle, often via bullhorn…the record is clear: minorities were disproportionately targeted by predatory lending, which has always gone hand in hand with subprime. Even when they qualified for prime loans that similar-circumstance whites got, they were pushed into higher-interest subprimes…minority borrowers were disproportionately victimized in the bubble. But BusinessWeek here has them on the cover bathing in housing-ATM cash, implying that they’re going to create another bubble.

more, at the Columbia Journalism Review.

The cover stands out for its cast of black and Hispanic caricatures with exaggerated features reminiscent of early 20th century race cartoons. Also, because there are only people of color in it, grabbing greedily for cash. It’s hard to imagine how this one made it through the editorial process. Compounding the…problem with the image is the fact that race has been a key backdrop to the subprime crisis. The narrative of the crash on the right has been the blame-minority-borrowers line, sometimes via dog whistle, often via bullhorn…the record is clear: minorities were disproportionately targeted by predatory lending, which has always gone hand in hand with subprime. Even when they qualified for prime loans that similar-circumstance whites got, they were pushed into higher-interest subprimes…minority borrowers were disproportionately victimized in the bubble. But BusinessWeek here has them on the cover bathing in housing-ATM cash, implying that they’re going to create another bubble.

more, at the Columbia Journalism Review.

November 7th, 2012

thesmithian

Zoom

…the 2012 election marked a cultural shift as much as a political one. Ballot measures that had failed for years—allowing the marriage of two men or two women in Maine and Maryland; legalizing marijuana in Washington State and Colorado—were voted into law. The nation’s leading champion of bank regulation Elizabeth Warren handily defeated moderate Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts, and the nation’s first lesbian senator, in Tammy Baldwin, was elected in Wisconsin. Even climate change, which was absent for nearly the entire campaign, came roaring back…These measures were passed, and Obama re-elected, by an American electorate that Republicans had dismissed as a fluke of African-American pride and youth enthusiasm, and which a generation of pundits…wrote off as a fantasy…

more.

…the 2012 election marked a cultural shift as much as a political one. Ballot measures that had failed for years—allowing the marriage of two men or two women in Maine and Maryland; legalizing marijuana in Washington State and Colorado—were voted into law. The nation’s leading champion of bank regulation Elizabeth Warren handily defeated moderate Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts, and the nation’s first lesbian senator, in Tammy Baldwin, was elected in Wisconsin. Even climate change, which was absent for nearly the entire campaign, came roaring back…These measures were passed, and Obama re-elected, by an American electorate that Republicans had dismissed as a fluke of African-American pride and youth enthusiasm, and which a generation of pundits…wrote off as a fantasy…

more.

September 14th, 2012

thesmithian

'...Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, reportedly the filmmaker behind the incendiary trailer "The Innocence of Muslims," is on probation following a conviction for bank fraud which restricts him from using the Internet without official approval, court documents obtained by TheWrap show.'

September 7th, 2012

thesmithian

via CJ.

September 6th, 2012

thesmithian

Women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar men make. Those pennies add up to real money… Maybe 23 cents doesn’t sound like a lot to someone with a Swiss bank account, Cayman Island Investments and an IRA worth tens of millions of dollars. But Governor Romney, when we lose 23 cents every hour, every day, every paycheck, every job, over our entire lives, what we lose can’t just be measured in dollars.

Lilly Ledbetter, in Charlotte.

July 17th, 2012

thesmithian

Zoom

It’s hard for the haters to get traction when the president and his wife are looking so all-American, smooching for the “kiss cam” at the U.S. vs. Brazil basketball game here Monday night, as the lovely Malia excitedly looked on. Campaigning Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Romney called Obama’s course as president “extraordinarily foreign.” But it is the Mitt-bot who keeps getting caught doing things that seem strangely outside the norm to most Americans. Americans have been trained to be wary of Swiss bank accounts and tax shelters in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Guys who have those in the movies are always shady and greedy.

more.

It’s hard for the haters to get traction when the president and his wife are looking so all-American, smooching for the “kiss cam” at the U.S. vs. Brazil basketball game here Monday night, as the lovely Malia excitedly looked on. Campaigning Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Romney called Obama’s course as president “extraordinarily foreign.” But it is the Mitt-bot who keeps getting caught doing things that seem strangely outside the norm to most Americans. Americans have been trained to be wary of Swiss bank accounts and tax shelters in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Guys who have those in the movies are always shady and greedy.

more.

June 16th, 2012

thesmithian

‘Conservatives want government to protect them, and otherwise leave them alone…’

In the…everyman-for-himself nation a few will rise and the rest are on their own. The rest, of course, includes the elderly, children, and the disabled. Since this philosophy has no room for a social contract, private charity (“a thousand points of light”) picks up the pieces. As is often pointed out, this philosophy leaves no room for food inspection, health and safety protections, clean water laws, bank deposit insurance, and a host of other public services the vast majority favor. When asked about the impact of her severe reductions in government service on society, Margaret Thatcher said: “There is no such thing as society.” She bypassed Orwell altogether and cut to the quick. If there is no society, there is no need for government…nature is red in tooth and claw; life is war of all against all; man is wolf to man; and devil take the hindmost. There is little room for progress in the predator nation.

more.

April 27th, 2012

thesmithian

Zoom

in the two days since Obama and Jimmy Fallon “slow-jammed the news” on Fallon’s late-night show (specially taped at the University of North Carolina to underline the Democratic campaign to keep student loan interest rates from doubling), the Republicans have put out two web ads. Each tries to turn Obama’s strength into a weakness, insisting that the “Preezy” is too busy being cool to be presidential…

more, plus the clips, here.

in the two days since Obama and Jimmy Fallon “slow-jammed the news” on Fallon’s late-night show (specially taped at the University of North Carolina to underline the Democratic campaign to keep student loan interest rates from doubling), the Republicans have put out two web ads. Each tries to turn Obama’s strength into a weakness, insisting that the “Preezy” is too busy being cool to be presidential…

more, plus the clips, here.

December 6th, 2011

thesmithian

'...An internal Bank of America email has surfaced, making it clear that the megabank is concerned about the national day of action against evictions and foreclosures being carried out today, Dec. 6, by the Occupy Wall Street movement. The leaked internal memo suggests BofA is taking Occupy housing actions very seriously.'

October 26th, 2011

thesmithian

'...So, yes, we face a threat to our capitalist system. But it’s not coming from half-naked anarchists manning the barricades at Occupy Wall Street protests. Rather, it comes from pinstriped apologists for a financial system that glides along without enough of the discipline of failure and that produces soaring inequality, socialist bank bailouts and unaccountable executives. It’s time to take the crony out of capitalism, right here at home.'

October 20th, 2011

thesmithian

…the subject of the New Deal itself, beginning with FDR’s election in November 1932 and his inauguration four months later on a cold, damp day when America, in the midst of a banking collapse, was a “stupefied giant standing face to face with insolvency.” The subject could scarcely be more pertinent or timely.

more.

…the subject of the New Deal itself, beginning with FDR’s election in November 1932 and his inauguration four months later on a cold, damp day when America, in the midst of a banking collapse, was a “stupefied giant standing face to face with insolvency.” The subject could scarcely be more pertinent or timely.

more.