Just When You Thought the Banks Couldn't Be Worse

LIBOR Scandal, Economist, 7/7

LIBOR Scandal, Economist, 7/7, ii.

Wash Post call for "Banksters" to be prosecuted.

More on LIBOR, New Yorker 7/30

We Are Our Own Agents of Change

12-year-old Canadian Victoria Grant schools us.

I think the most important part of this speech might be that she encourages us to take steps on our own to become more informed. At the outset, she says, "I will share with you three important points of reference, which will hopefully spark enough interest and concern for you to continue the research on your own and to engage your government to stop this criminal act against the people of Canada." In other words, "Don't take my word for it, take your own." 

And she closes with Margaret Meade: "Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." 

We are our own agents of change.

If Not George Bailey's Dream, Maybe the Mayans

rsn.com urges you to support your local credit unions.

anyone know anything about rsn.com?

The Price You Pay to Be Poor

Slacktivist Fred Clark on the "poverty surcharge," and other ways the banks screw us. (from 2009.)

Also, "5 Things Nobody Tells You about Being Poor," and "The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor," from Cracked

A Government Agency That's Working For Me?

This is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Joe Nocera thinks it's an agency devoted to making a difference in people's lives.