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Puerto Rico's New Fiscal Plan: Certain Pain, Uncertain Gain

Lara Merling The Philadelphia Inquirer
Puerto Rico was already in trouble after suffering a “lost decade” without economic growth after 2005, leading to a default on its public debt and mass migration from the island. That was before Hurricane Maria.

It’s Time to Crack Down on the Toys ‘R’ Us Vulture Capitalists

Winnie Wong and Michael Kink The Nation
Billionaire fund managers and their firms must pay for the damage they’ve caused. Toys “R” Us workers need immediate severance pay—if Bain and KKR were to forgo their predatory profits, each worker would receive about $15,000 in severance, a pittance for what in many cases is a lifetime of diligent

What Happens When Wall Street Becomes Your Landlord?

Negin Owliaei Inequality.org
eviction free zone banner Over the course of their research, they conducted more than 100 interviews with tenants who are essentially renting from Wall Street firms. The report tells the stories of absurd rent increases, dangerous failures in property management, and high eviction rates. And, as the authors note, lower income families and people of color are disproportionately affected by these practices.

Trump’s Financial Arsonists: The Next Financial Crisis -- Not If, But When

Nomi Prins TomDispatch
Written one week before the current Wall Street tumble, economist Nomi Prins writes: Watch out. Even in the seemingly best of times, neglecting Wall Street is a dangerous idea. With a rag-tag Trumpian crew of ex-bankers and Goldman Sachs alumni as the only watchdogs in town, it’s time to focus, because one thing is clear: Donald Trump’s economic team is in the process of making the financial system combustible again.

poetry

After All, the Market Runs on Greed

Nicholas Gordon Poemsforfree.com
After all, the New Jersey-based poet Nicholas Gordon writes, Washington and Wall Street move up and down on one principle--why be surprised? what did you expect?—Greed!

books

A Modern Greek Tragedy Foretold

Bennet Baumer The Indypendent
Greece's former finance minister under the radical Syriza government offers a revealing tell-all about modern capitalism through his battles over Greece’s debt with the “Troika”: the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB), and eventually with his own prime minister.

Trump’s Fateful Mistake on Consumer Financial Protection

Simon Johnson Project Syndicate
By seizing control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and placing an ideological extremist in charge, US President Donald Trump has brought to the fore the deepest flaws in his administration’s founding myth. The gutting that now awaits the agency will visibly harm many of the ordinary people Trump promised to defend.

Equifax’s Maddening Unaccountability

Zeynep Tufekci The New York Times
Last week, Americans woke up to news of yet another mass breach of their personal data. The consumer credit reporting agency Equifax revealed that as many as 143 million Americans’ Social Security numbers, dates of birth, names and addresses may have been stolen from its files — just the kind of information that allows for identity theft and other cybercrimes.
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