How South Dakota became a global tax haven on par with the Cayman Islands

South Dakota has become the world’s foremost tax haven — right up there with the Cayman Islands, and ahead of old-fashioned locations like Switzerland. That’s one of the clear messages from the Pandora Papers leak of confidential financial information about the world’s richest individuals.

Why it matters: The hundreds of billions of dollars sequestered in South Dakota trusts generate no taxes and are effectively off limits to anybody who might have a legitimate claim on them.

---

How it works: A South Dakota trust is “the most potent force-field money can buy,” in the words of the Guardian’s Oliver Bullough.

• Like most tax havens, South Dakota has no income tax, no inheritance tax and no capital gains tax. But the state has gone even further than that. South Dakota allows for extreme secrecy when law enforcement comes knocking, and protects assets from being claimed by creditors, ex-spouses, or pretty much anybody else.
• By setting up a trust, the “settlor” — think some billionaire wanting to keep his assets secure — gives those assets to a trustee in South Dakota to look after. The trustee then invests the assets for a “beneficiary” who is often a direct relative of the settlor. Neither the settlor nor the beneficiary ever needs to set foot in South Dakota, or even be able to find it on a map.
• All three parties — the settlor, the trustee, and the beneficiary — can legally claim that the money isn’t theirs. The settlor and the beneficiary can say they don’t have the money, it’s all in a trust run by someone else. The trustee can say that she is just looking after the money and doesn’t own it.

How it happened: South Dakota started carving out its position as the most laissez-faire state for financial services in 1981, when it abolished upper limits for credit-card interest rates. (That’s why the credit card in your wallet was almost certainly issued in South Dakota.)

• In 1983, South Dakota became the first state to allow perpetual trusts — money that can remain untouchable for centuries, with no one ever paying inheritance tax on it.
• Since then, South Dakota has continued to pass laws making its trusts more attractive to the world’s ultra-wealthy. It allowed trusts where the settlor and beneficiary can be the same person. It has also sealed all court documents setting up trusts, making it impossible to know — in the absence of Pandora Papers style leaks — who might have one.
• The Republican-controlled South Dakota legislature regularly rubber-stamps whatever bills are placed in front of it by the financial services industry. “Nobody understands any of them,” said Gene Abdallah, Republican chair of South Dakota’s Senate Judiciary Committee in 2007 — although it’s broadly understood that the laws help to support hundreds of financial-services jobs in Sioux Falls, as well as the lawmakers’ free-market bona fides.

Context: Since 2010, almost every country in the world has signed onto the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), whereby governments inform each other about assets held by foreigners. The United States is the only major country not to sign on to the CRS, making it much more attractive as a tax haven than places like the Bahamas or Panama.

• Who’s in: Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso, Chinese real-estate billionaire billionaire Sun Hongbin, and dozens of other high-profile tax optimizers — both foreigners and Americans —are sheltering their assets in South Dakota.

By the numbers: A decade ago, South Dakotan trust companies held $57 billion in assets. The current figure is about $360 billion — with similar trusts in other states bringing the total for the U.S. close to $1 trillion.

• The United States — not only South Dakota but also rival tax-haven states like Nevada and Delaware — now ranks second only to the Cayman Islands for financial secrecy.

The bottom line: “South Dakota offers the best privacy and asset protection laws in the country, and possibly in the world,” tax expert Harvey Bezozi told the Guardian.

Source: https://www.axios.com/south-dakota-global-tax-haven-5120d206-20ab-4cc1-ba91-d1d59fe22487.html
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Felix Salmon

! #Headlines, #Axios, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Corruption, #Newsfeed, #SouthDakota, #Taxes, #News

The USPS is testing out becoming a bank, and it’s about damn time.

The American Prospect reports the US Postal Service has — finally! — begun piloting several postal banking programs.

In four pilot cities, customers can now cash payroll or business checks of up to $500 at post office locations, and have the money put onto a single-use gift card.

— Read the rest

Source: https://boingboing.net/2021/10/06/the-usps-is-testing-out-becoming-a-bank-and-its-about-damn-time.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-usps-is-testing-out-becoming-a-bank-and-its-about-damn-time
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Thom Dunn

! #Headlines, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Newsfeed, #Random, #USPS, #News, #Politics

Massive savings “war chest” could drive growth as COVID relief ends

Economists expect the pace of economic growth to cool off now that government transfer payments like stimulus checks and emergency unemployment benefits are in the rearview mirror. But evidence suggests that the U.S. consumer is sitting on a lot of financial firepower that could be a key driver of growth in the quarters to come.

Why it matters: U.S. consumer spending is massive, representing about 70% of GDP.

---

What they’re saying: “Sustainability of US consumer spending as stimulus support wanes has been questioned by some investors,” Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, JPMorgan head of U.S. equity strategy, wrote in a research note Wednesday.

• “We disagree with this negative narrative which underestimates the robustness of consumer balance sheets and more pointedly the savings war chest in place to support future spending.”

By the numbers: During much of the pandemic, personal incomes far outpaced spending. Incomes were boosted by fiscal stimulus while spending was depressed amid lockdowns.

• When adjusting for how much consumers typically save, the excess savings accumulated during the pandemic amounts to around $2.4 trillion.
• “These significant ‘excess’ savings should more than buffer headwinds that consumers may face from decreasing government stimulus payments and rising consumer prices,” Lakos-Bujas argued.

Yes, but: This estimate doesn’t account for how much money was used for paying down mortgages, paying off student loans, or even funding a brokerage account.

• “I’m leery of thinking about this as though it were some giant piggy bank just waiting to fuel some bacchanalian spending spree once we get past the worst of the pandemic,” Wells Fargo senior economist Tim Quinlan tells Axios.

The bottom line: The average consumer has some combination of extra cash and lower debt.

Source: https://www.axios.com/consumer-spending-stimulus-covid-pandemic-4cd45230-3e1f-492f-ba8a-158986db707f.html
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Sam Ro

! #Headlines, #Axios, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #CoronaVirus, #Economy, #Money, #Newsfeed, #People, covid19, pandemic, #Coronavirus, #Health, #News, #Science

Afghanistan braces for even greater financial disaster

“It’s going to be hard until the situation stabilizes,” said one expert.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/afghanistan-braces-even-greater-financial-disaster-n1277032
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Cyrus Farivar and Jacob Ward and Jonathan Allen

! #Headlines, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Economy, #Newsfeed, Afghanistan, #News, #WorldNews

Biden administration freezes Afghan government reserves in US banks: report

The Biden administration reportedly froze Afghan government reserves held in U.S. bank accounts Sunday, after the Taliban seized the capital city of Kabul this weekend, effectively toppling the country’s government….

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/568209-biden-administration-freezes-afghan-government-reserves-in-us-banks
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Mychael Schnell

! #Headlines, #Banking, #Biden, #Government, #Money, #Newsfeed, #Political, #Politics, #WorldNews, Afghanistan, #News

Debt investors retreat from funding dirty energy

Banks are coming under fire from all sides for their role in funding fossil fuel companies, even though most have pledged to pull back over the coming decades.

What’s happening: Despite pressure from activists, shareholders and Democratic politicians to finally divest from carbon-spewing businesses as the planet warms, the biggest American banks are still energetically backing dirty energy.

---

The big picture: Withdrawing capital from fossil fuel companies is only half the story in the transition to a sustainable future. The other half is investment in developing the technology and infrastructure to support widespread adoption of renewable power.

• Banking heavyweights like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have committed trillions to sustainable projects. And this year has brought a surge of private capital investment and major fund closings in the climate tech space, as Axios Generate author Ben Geman reports.

Where it stands: Until that renewable infrastructure is in place at a larger scale, there’s still a need for some level of fossil fuel power.

• Those companies need funding — but simple supply-and-demand dynamics means fossil fuel companies increasingly have to pay up for the privilege of borrowing cash, sources tell Axios.
• “There’s a growing number of [credit] investors who have oil and gas on their list of what they don’t want to lend to,” a capital markets banker tells Axios.

The impact: How much more do dirty energy companies have to pay? The cost compared to non-fossil fuel businesses can range from a half a percent premium to more than 5% for riskier endeavors.

• And a shrinking universe of lenders means that if a company faces a bout of financial distress, there may not be anyone there to lend it money.

State of play: This scenario is most pronounced in the coal world.

• “There’s a very small pool of alternative capital providers that are now financing these assets at low to mid-teen interest rates, whereas three or four years ago there was a wide dispersion of capital available at very competitive rates,” Chris Post, a senior managing director in FTI Consulting’s power & renewables practice, tells Axios.
• It’s not just ESG sensibilities dragging investors away from coal. From a purely financial standpoint, the industry has become less economic over the last decade — and there’s regulatory risk, too.

Meanwhile: In the oil and gas space, the lending calculus is different.

• Profitability in the sector depends on the prices of oil and gas. Low oil prices early last year brought a wave of bankruptcies among smaller independent U.S. producers.
• But oil prices are up more than four-fold since the low reached in April 2020 — enabling a lot of those producers to make money.
• Cue the debt spigot for companies willing to pay the pricing premium.

The bottom line: Investors are driven by returns. As the universe of buyers of fossil fuel debt shrinks, so too does liquidity in the market and the ability to exit a position if things go south — a risk that helps perpetuate the shrinking universe of buyers.

• At the same time, the ability to charge higher than average interest will no doubt keep other investors hooked on lending to fossil fuel companies.

Source: https://www.axios.com/debt-investors-dirty-energy-c75c4dca-9106-49cd-b57b-c97766026c3e.html
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Kate Marino

! #Headlines, #Axios, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Energy, #Environment, #FossilFuels, #Money, #Newsfeed, #News, #Protest, #Science, #ThePlanet

House Appropriations Bill Removes Anti-Marijuana Rider and Includes Banking Protections

In the proposed FY22 Financial Services and General Government spending bill, which includes provisions relating…

The post House Appropriations Bill Removes Anti-Marijuana Rider and Includes Banking Protections appeared first on NORML.

Source: https://norml.org/blog/2021/06/23/house-appropriations-bill-removes-anti-marijuana-rider-and-includes-banking-protections/
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Justin Strekal, NORML Political Director

! #Headlines, #Banking, #Cannabis, #CannaBuzz, #Congress, #Government, #LegalizeIt, #Marijuana, #Money, #Newsfeed, marijuana cannabis mmj norml, #News

House fails to pass bill to promote credit fairness for LGTBQ-owned businesses

The House on Tuesday failed to pass a bill aimed at ensuring that LGBTQ-owned businesses aren’t facing discrimination when applying for credit.Lawmakers considered the bill, authored by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)…

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/558653-house-fails-to-pass-bill-to-promote-credit-fairness-for-lgtbq-owned-businesses
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Cristina Marcos

! #Headlines, #Banking, #Congress, #Diversity, #Newsfeed, #Political, #Politics, LGBTQ, #News

Biden administration reverses Trump-era policy that hampered probes of student loan companies

The Biden administration announced Friday it is reversing a Trump-era policy and will broaden the ability for state and federal regulators to investigate large student loan companies.Richard Cordray, the Biden admi…

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/556071-biden-administration-reverses-trump-era-policy-that-hampered-probes
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Tal Axelrod

! #Headlines, #Banking, #Biden, #BusinessNews, #Education, #Government, #Money, #Newsfeed, #Political, biden trump, #News, #Politics, #Trump

States threaten to pull assets from banks that drop coal

More than a dozen Republican state treasurers are threatening to pull assets from large financial institutions if they agree to decarbonize their lending and investment portfolios, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The Biden administration — led by special presidential climate envoy John Kerry — has leaned on the banks to help reduce U.S. carbon emissions. That’s prompted GOP lawmakers to criticize efforts to “de-bank” fossil fuel firms. The treasurers collectively control hundreds of billions worth of assets.

---

• Fifteen of them, led by coal-heavy West Virginia, say they’re prepared to use this financial muscle to push back.
• The effort includes treasurers from other states with large energy industry presences such as North Dakota, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma.

What’s happening: The state officials sent a letter on Tuesday to Kerry, who’s leading the administration’s efforts to enlist banks in its climate policy fight.

• “We intend to put banks and financial institutions on notice of our position, as we urge them not to give in to pressure from the Biden administration to refuse to lend to or invest in coal, oil and natural gas companies,” the officials wrote.
• In an interview with Axios, West Virginia state Treasurer Riley Moore said he was prepared to terminate contracts with banks that pull back their fossil fuel industry lending in response to administration pressure.
• “Frankly, it is not fair for the people of West Virginia to allow a bank to handle our money when they’re diametrically opposed to our way of life,” Moore said.

What they’re saying: Moore called the issue “a matter of life and death for my people.”

• He said coal and gas operators in his state have reported difficulties obtaining financing from banks blaming pressure from the Biden administration to try to “green” their portfolios.
• “If you just cut these guys off at the knees — gas and coal in a state like West Virginia — and they can no longer conduct their business … it is going to destroy us,” Moore said. He cited the industries’ heavy jobs footprint and contributions to the state’s tax base.
• A State Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Between the lines: The state officials signing the letter collectively manage more than $600 billion in assets in state treasuries, pension funds and other government accounts, according to publicly available financials and information provided by the state treasurer offices.

• Those states work with large financial institutions to invest and grow those funds, to support state spending and retirement payments to former workers.
• Even for sizable investment banks, such funds can be some of their largest accounts.

Source: https://www.axios.com/states-banks-drop-coal-warning-biden-carbon-278bb3fb-2254-41b2-9b94-f986c1c9a3d2.html
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Lachlan Markay

! #Headlines, #Axios, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #ClimateChange, #Conservation, #Economy, #FossilFuels, #Government, #Money, #Newsfeed, #Politics, #Republicans, #ThePlanet, #News, #Science

Main Street is starting to rebuild from a pandemic that barely hurt Wall Street.

Main Street is finally beginning to rebuild from the hurricane that barely glanced Wall Street.

Between the lines: Small businesses are always particularly exposed when crisis hits, due to limited cash buffers, according to JPMorgan Chase Institute, which tracks anonymized credit and debit card data.

---

Axios Re:Cap, the afternoon podcast I host, this week is airing a special six-part series on America’s small business comeback.

Three big trends that we’ve learned while putting together the Axios Re:Cap series.

• 1. Tech-tonic shift. The pandemic rapidly accelerated the small business sales model move from offline-to-online, and data suggests that much of the shift is permanent. This also helps explain why so many tech startups were able to thrive in the pandemic, because they never had offline products in the first place.
• 2. Thanks Sam: Most small business owners we spoke with received PPP loans. Some complained a bit about the early application process, but everyone was unanimous in their praise of the program, crediting it with helping them continue to pay employees and, in some cases, keep their doors open.
• 3. No self-pity: Not a single small business owner expressed even an ounce of “woe is me.” I wouldn’t have blamed them if they did, given what they faced over the past 14 months, but they didn’t (despite continuing labor shortages). If American small business was a bumper sticker, it would be “Shit Happens.”

Take a listen: The podcast series launched yesterday with a view from the shopping centers (e.g., where big national chains rub shoulders with moms-and-pops), in which I speak with a top landlord and several of his tenants in an Allen, Texas property called The Villages.

Today’s episode will focus on Black-owned small businesses, including a conversation with Shelly Bell, founder of Black Girl Ventures.

• Beginning today we’re also ending each episode with an “audio postcard” from iconic small businesses, including Pat’s Famous Steaks (Philly), First Avenue Club (Minneapolis) and Pike Place Fish Market (Seattle).
• You can find the series on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform.

Go deeper: Nearly 90% of small businesses say they’re confident their shops will survive

Source: https://www.axios.com/covid-small-business-comeback-472db803-d298-4765-8d4d-d6448173540d.html
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Dan Primack

! #Headlines, #Axios, #Banking, #CoronaVirus, #Economy, #Money, #Newsfeed, covid19, pandemic, #Coronavirus, #Health, #News

The US cannabis industry’s one big problem: Too much cash

Most banks refuse to service the industry because of federal rules, leaving marijuana sellers to deal with bags of cash.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/24/the-us-cannabis-industrys-one-big-problem-too-much-cash
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By:

! #Headlines, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Cannabis, #LegalizeIt, #Money, #News420, #Newsfeed, #Political, marijuana cannabis mmj norml, #News

Yellen taps top Fed aide to serve as acting bank cop

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has tapped Federal Reserve official Michael Hsu to serve temporarily as one of the nation’s top bank cops, according to two people familiar with the matter, the latest development in a contentious personnel fight.

Hsu will serve as the acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent agency housed in Treasury that is responsible for overseeing national banks.

No one has been formally nominated for the position, but news that President Joe Biden was expected to tap former Treasury official Michael Barr generated strong blowback from some progressive groups.

Lawmakers including Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown and the Congressional Black Caucus have supported appointing another top contender: law professor Mehrsa Baradaran, who is an expert in racial inequities in the financial system.

The OCC has been run in the meantime by Blake Paulson, a career official seen as an ally to the previous acting comptroller, Brian Brooks, who was appointed by President Donald Trump.

Hsu runs an internal committee at the Fed that is responsible for all supervisory matters related to the biggest U.S. banks. His appointment as acting comptroller has been in the works for weeks, and the goal is for him to start at the OCC this week, sources said.

The Wall Street Journal reported the news of his expected appointment earlier on Monday.

Hsu is being put in charge of the national banking system at a time of technological upheaval, with traditional lenders confronting both competition and business opportunities from upstart online lenders and financial apps — innovation that could lead to more efficient and equitable delivery of financial services but also more consumer abuses.

Financial technology has become a flashpoint between Paulson and Democrats. A Brown spokesperson called it “outrageous” that Paulson had sent a letter in support of a Trump-era rule that critics say could increase predatory lending.

Paulson also has continued the work of Brooks, who is now CEO of the U.S. arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, by approving applications from crypto companies to become national trust banks, an expansion of the type of institution that can be granted a bank charter.

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/03/yellen-taps-fed-aid-banking-cop-485225
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Victoria Guida

! #Headlines, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Economy, #Newsfeed, #Political, #Politico, #Trending, biden trump, #News, #Politics, #Trump

Cannabis banking act passes U.S. House with bipartisan support

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a landmark bill aimed at easing restrictions placed on the cannabis industry. The SAFE ACT (Secure and Fair Enforcement) banking act provides safe harbor for financial institutions to work with cannabis operators. If passed by the Senate and approved by President Biden, this bill would allow the cannabis industry to access traditional banking services, which has so far been forced to do much of their business with cash.

This is the fourth time the SAFE ACT passed the House of Representatives. A previous version of the bill passed the House in 2019, but later died in a Senate committee and never reached then-President Trump’s desk.

Under the current bill, the SAFE ACT would protect banks and credit unions from federal prosecution when operating with cannabis companies compliant with their state’s laws. This would open up traditional lines of capital from financial institutions, which have been unavailable since cannabis is still considered illegal on a federal level. The SAFE ACT would allow these banks to work with operators in states where cannabis is legal.

Cannabis is currently legal for medical purposes in thirty-six states, four territories, and the District of Columbia. Recreational use is legal for adults in eighteen states, two territories, and D.C.

The bill passed the House with broad bipartisan support and was approved by 321-101. Before the bill’s passing, a letter showing support of the legislation was sent to House leadership from 20 state governors and one U.S. Territory and bankers from each state and a coalition of state treasurers.

With support from both parties, advocates and industry experts feel more confident that this bill will pass the Senate and reach President Biden’s desk.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/20/cannabis-banking-act-passes-u-s-house-with-bipartisan-support/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Matt Burns

! #Headlines, #Banking, #Cannabis, #Congress, #Government, #LegalizeIt, #News420, #Newsfeed, #Politics, #TechCrunch, #TechNews, #Weed, biden trump, marijuana cannabis mmj norml, #News

$50K of student loan forgiveness would wipe out federal debt for 36M, new data shows

More than 36 million Americans would have their federal student loans completely erased if the Biden administration were to accede to progressive demands to cancel up to $50,000 per borrower, according to new data from the Education Department.

The federal data was released on Tuesday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who requested the information from the agency earlier this month.

Impact: If the federal government were to cancel that amount, 36 million of the 45 million federal student loan borrowers — roughly 80 percent — would have their debt completely eliminated, according to the data. That includes 9.8 million of the 10.3 million federal student loan borrowers who were either in default or more than three months delinquent on their debt at the end of 2019.

Key context: Warren and other Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have been pressing President Joe Biden to use executive authority to cancel student loan debt. The Biden administration has said it’s reviewing the issue.

The data provides more granular insight into how sweeping student loan forgiveness would affect the federal government’s $1.5 trillion student loan portfolio than is available from the department’s existing public datasets.

Less expansive student loan cancellation of $10,000 per borrower — which Biden backed on the campaign trail — would completely wipe out the debts of 15 million borrowers. About 4.6 million of those borrowers were in default or delinquent at the end of 2019.

The data also showed that millions of borrowers have been carrying federal student loan debt for decades. More than 10.6 million borrowers have been in repayment for more than 10 years. Another 4.4 million borrowers have been in repayment for more than 20 years.

Legal review: The Education Department’s response did not address Warren’s question on whether the Biden administration had rescinded a legal opinion published by the department in the waning days of the Trump administration. That memo concludes that the agency lacks the power to unilaterally to forgive large swaths of outstanding federal student loans.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain earlier this month told POLITICO that Biden expected a memo from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona within a “few weeks” about the administration’s legal powers to cancel federal student loans.

The Justice Department is also involved in that review, according to the White House.

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/13/student-loan-forgiveness-new-data-481202
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Michael Stratford

! #Headlines, #Banking, #Congress, #Economy, #Education, #Government, #Money, #Newsfeed, #Political, #Politico, #Politics, #Trending, biden trump, college, #News, #Trump

Rep. Ayanna Pressley Urges President To Act On Student Loan Debt As Biden Considers Executive Action

Long reluctant to erase student loan debt by executive order, President Joe Biden may be shifting his position. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was asked to research and draft a memo laying legal options available to the president. 

The review comes as progressive lawmakers and various constituent groups call for the president to forgive at least a portion of existing student loan debt. Members of Congress, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, insist the president can erase $50,000 of federal student loan debt with a stroke of the pen. 

During a press conference with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, Pressley called the student loan struggle an “all too familiar story for too many people.” She said the intersecting crises of economic hardship, racial injustice, and white supremacy and the ongoing student loan debt crisis demanded real action.

“What this moment calls for is that we are bold and intentional in our policymaking at every level of government, to confront these overlapping crises head-on and to set ourselves on a pathway to a just and equitable recovery,” said Presley. 

She also said Biden needed to “do right by the movement that elected him” and cancel $50,000 of federal student loan debt by executive order. 

https://t.co/b1dL8pAfB2 pic.twitter.com/2MoRhmBaxr

— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) April 5, 2021

 

According to Pressley, eighty-five percent of Black students believe they have to take out student loans, and they are five times more likely to default on their loans. She also pointed out that borrowers 50 and older are the fastest-growing population of those who owe student loan debt. 

Biden has previously said he did not think people who went to top-tier schools should benefit; failing to acknowledge such a policy could negatively impact people from disadvantaged backgrounds who were more likely to take out loans. Also, some data suggests that less than 1% of all student loan borrowers attended Ivy League schools. Nearly half of all borrowers took out money to attend public colleges. 

Canceling $50,000 in federal student debt was a part of Warren’s platform when she ran for president. She explained that the $10,000 Biden previously pledged to cancel does not go far enough for most people. 

Warren said that from her team’s review of the data, canceling $50,000 helps most people carrying federal student loan debt. Warren also described seeing changes to the bankruptcy rules permit individuals who might have over $50,000 in federal student loans to use that process to discharge the debt. 

“The student debt crisis has always been a racial and economic justice issue,” Pressley continued, directly challenging skewed narratives around student loan debt. “But for too long that narrative has excluded Black and Latinx communities when in fact the student debt crisis has exacerbated deeply entrenched racial and economic inequities in our nation.” 

SEE ALSO:

Dems Pressure Biden To Cancel $50K Of Student Loan Debt To Help Close Racial Wealth Gap

Here’s Why We Need To Cancel Student Loan Debt. Period.

[ione_media_gallery id=”4114294″ overlay=”true”]

Source: https://newsone.com/4135741/rep-ayanna-pressley-urges-biden-to-act-on-student-loan-debt/
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Anoa Changa

! #Headlines, #Banking, #Biden, #Congress, #Education, #Government, #Money, #Newsfeed, #Politics, college, #News, #Science

‘A win-win solution’: Banking and booze could save the U.S. Postal Service, advocates say

“Postal banking is an elegant solution that would provide the USPS upwards of $9 billion a year in revenue and would address the high cost of being poor in America,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/postal-banking-alcohol-delivery-could-save-u-s-postal-service-n1262225
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Mary Pflum

! #Headlines, #Banking, #Booze, #Government, #Newsfeed, #USPS, #News

Dow tumbles 700 points amid GameStop mania, on pace for worst day since October

There are fears that the GameStop frenzy is a sign of a larger bubble in the market.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/dow-tumbles-700-points-amid-gamestop-frenzy-pace-worst-day-n1256186
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Yun Li, CNBC

! #Headlines, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Money, #Newsfeed, #News

Bank cop halts Trump rule boosting loans to private prisons, energy industry

A key bank regulator on Thursday halted a last-minute, Trump-era rule that would prevent big banks from denying loans and other services to entire industries like energy or private prisons, a regulation that had drawn ire not just from Democrats but from banks themselves.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the decision on the fate of the rule should be left to whomever President Joe Biden names to head the national bank regulator.

“Pausing publication of the rule in the Federal Register will allow the next confirmed Comptroller of the Currency to review the final rule and the public comments the OCC received, as part of an orderly transition,” the OCC said in a press release.

The rule, finalized before former acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks left office earlier this month, has been criticized by lenders, investors, consumer groups, Democrats and some conservatives.

Lenders increasingly are weighing the economic risks of climate change and are under pressure from activists and shareholders to adopt business practices that are environmentally and socially responsible. In some cases, that has led them to deny loans to gun manufacturers, oil and gas firms and other categories of companies.

The regulation finalized under Brooks would require banks to treat customers on an individual basis rather than refusing to serve them because they’re part of a particular industry. Brooks has defended the rule, saying that banks have also been urged to stop lending to groups like Planned Parenthood, which are broadly supported by Democrats and often targeted by Republican lawmakers.

The OCC is being led by Acting Comptroller Blake Paulson until Biden formally picks a successor. The president has been expected to tap former Treasury official Michael Barr for that position, but progressives favoring law professor Mehrsa Baradaran have pushed back hard against that decision.

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/28/bank-trump-rule-loans-prisons-energy-463495
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Victoria Guida

! #Headlines, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Energy, #Newsfeed, #Political, #Politico, #Trending, #Trump, biden trump, prisons, #News, #Politics, #Protest, #Science, #ThePlanet

Mastercard to raise fees to EU firms by 500% for online sales to UK shoppers

Change from October could lead to higher prices for those paying with UK-issued cards

Mastercard is to increase the fees it charges EU firms to take payments from online shoppers from the UK by at least 500%, in a move that could mean higher prices for consumers.

The company charges 0.3% to process credit card payments and 0.2% to handle debit card payments but it has told EU firms that these will increase to 1.5% and 1.15% respectively from 15 October.

Continue reading…

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/jan/25/mastercard-to-raise-fees-to-eu-firms-by-500-percent-for-online-sales-to-uk-shoppers
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Hilary Osborne

! #Headlines, #Banking, #BusinessNews, #Europe, #Money, #Newsfeed, #Trending, #UK, #News, #WorldNews