Information is power. Our mission at Portside is to seek out and to provide information that empowers you -- that empowers the left. Every day we search hundreds of sources to connect you with the most interesting, striking and useful material. Just once a year we appeal to you to contribute to make it possible to continue this work. Please help.
To pay off fines and other debts, inmates in Mississippi’s little-known restitution centers must work grueling low-wage jobs, pay rent and endure strip searches. Caught between prison and freedom, they often don’t know when they’ll get to go home.
With every purchase, those credit cards in our wallets are reinforcing a rich people-friendly America.
High-interest loan companies are using Utah’s small claims courts to arrest borrowers and take their bail money. Technically, the warrants are issued for missing court hearings. For many, that’s a distinction without a difference.
Moral thinking about debt has fluctuated throughout U.S. history. Today’s calls for cancellation suggest it may be poised for transformation once again.
The problem is not a structural lack of liquidity but the use banks make of the liquidity available to them [...] they use the liquidity placed at their disposal to buy up massive amounts of debt which sooner or later will lead to a major new crisis
UCLA Labor Center study finds county relies on laborers – largely people of color – threatened with debts and jail to do work that would otherwise be paid.
Who was really responsible for the Mexican debt crisis? Did Mexico start it?
Robert Reich explains why the growing federal debt enriches Wall St. bankers and wealthy Americans.
I am in debt, but not alone. Debt is a millstone that weighs down more than three-quarters of us. It can determine if we are able to run for office, launch a business, or quit a job we hate. It should not—and cannot—be a disqualification for ambition
“The use of contempt is being used to get people to pay up, I would say that constitutes unlawful imprisonment for inability to pay.”
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