By Rachel Goldfarb, originally published on Next New Deal
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GWU Students Tackling Income Inequality in Their Own Backyard (USA Today)
Campus Network Northeast Regional Coordinator Areeba Kamal profiles the George Washington University chapter's Bank on DC initiative, which asks the university to invest at least $250,000 in a community development bank. It wouldn't cost the university anything, because CDBs have comparable returns to traditional big banks, but could have a big impact on low-income neighborhoods in DC.
Research shows that an investment of $250,000 in a local CDB can create jobs and channel capital to low-income communities at no cost to GWU, simply because CDBs provide more opportunities to low-income families and small business owners than other banks.
Community Development Banks (CDBs) are safe and secure financial institutions, required by the government to invest at least 60% of their funds into low-income communities. They offer comparable, and in several cases, higher rates of return than traditional banks to institutions such as GWU looking to earn interest on cash held. CDBs lend predominantly to low-income homebuyers, small entrepreneur and organizations.
Follow below the fold for more.
Failing the Midterms (In These Times)
Chris Lehmann considers why the Democrats lack a solid midterm agenda. Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Tom Ferguson places the blame on the power of wealthy donors in finance and Silicon Valley.
Inside the New York Fed: Secret Recordings and a Culture Clash (ProPublica/This American Life)
Jake Bernstein reports on recording made by a New York Federal Reserve bank examiner embedded at Goldman Sachs, which show the Fed's reluctance to take risks and push back on the banks.
Goldman Bans Employee Stock Trading Following “This American Life” Broadcast (Buzzfeed)
Matthew Zeitlin reports on Goldman's new policies, which appear to respond to concerns about conflict of interest policies raised in the ProPublica/This American Life report.
Bad Tech Helped Banks Screw Homeowners (Medium)
By choosing not to update their technology, mortgage servicers have an easier time covering up the illegal foreclosures that boost their profits, writes Alexis Goldstein.
Obamacare’s Good News Week (MSNBC)
Suzy Khimm highlights new evidence of the Affordable Care Act's success, including hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid seeing fewer uninsured patients, which reduces costs.
New on Next New Deal
Democracy, Economic Crisis, and “Rethinking Communities”
Roosevelt Institute Fellow Sabeel Rahman looks at the Campus Network's Rethinking Communities initiative as a successor to post-Gilded Age reforms, focusing on local power and participatory democracy.