On Our Radar

American Banker, May 18, 2022, 5 states blazing new trails in financial services policy As Congress remains stalled on a wide range of issues, from cannabis banking to overdraft fees, some of the action has shifted to the states, where legislative dominance by one political party often makes it easier to enact change. In some […]

The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2022, Small Businesses Lose Confidence in U.S. Economy Small businesses are flashing warning signs on the U.S. economy as inflation, supply-chain snarls, a shortage of workers and rising interest rates darken the outlook for entrepreneurs. Fifty-seven percent of small-business owners expect economic conditions in the U.S. to worsen in

Bloomberg, May 20, 2022, Black Caucus Ups Pressure on Biden to Cancel Student Debt “This is a crisis created through policy decisions, and we have a responsibility to address it head-on,” Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty said in a statement Friday. “Canceling student loan debt is one of the most impactful ways to address ongoing

Business Insider, May 21, 2022, A 36-year-old chess prodigy built a software to speedily buy homes from afar for big investors, beating out everyday buyers. Now he’s Atlanta’s top broker. A.J. Steigman sold more houses in Atlanta last year than any other broker — despite the fact that he lives in Florida and has no

CNN, May 23, 2022, A new billionaire has been minted nearly every day during the pandemic Much of the jump in wealth came in the first year of the pandemic. It then plateaued and has since dropped a bit, said Max Lawson, head of inequality policy at Oxfam. At the same time, Covid-19, growing inequality

The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2022, Billions in School Covid-Relief Funds Remain Unspent U.S. school districts are struggling to spend billions of dollars in federal pandemic-relief money before the funding expires. Districts have yet to spend 93% of $122 billion sunk into the K-12 education system last year as part of the $1.9 trillion American

American Banker, May 18, 2022, Goldman Sachs report shows bank is losing senior Black women Goldman Sachs Group is losing its most powerful Black women, according to new data the firm released in a report on its website. The bank had 19 Black women among its executives and senior officials as of November 2021, the bank said,

The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2022, Fed Nominee Michael Barr Has Pressed to Reverse Trump-Era Banking Policies Former Treasury Department official Michael Barr is expected to pursue tougher oversight of the financial system and reverse some Trump-era policies if he wins confirmation as the Federal Reserve’s top bank regulator. Mr. Barr, who worked in

The New York Times, May 18, 2022, US Soccer and Top Players Agree to Guarantee Equal Pay For the first time, soccer players representing the United States men’s and women’s national teams will receive the same pay and prize money, including at World Cups, under landmark agreements with the U.S. Soccer Federation that will end

American Banker, May 17, 2022, FDIC, CFPB target crypto firms that make false claims of deposit insurance The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. adopted a rule Tuesday that outlines its authority to prohibit individuals and organizations from making misrepresentations about deposit insurance, or misusing the FDIC’s name or logo. Following the meeting, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The New Yorker, May 15, 2022, American Racism and the Buffalo Shooting On Saturday, in the parking lot of a neighborhood grocery store, an eighteen-year-old armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle, the N-word emblazoned on its front sight, began shooting. Shots cracked in the air, piercing through an unusually warm eighty-degree spring afternoon in Buffalo,

Defender News Service, May 15, 2022, Report: America’s major cities pricing out Black residents At the onset of the pandemic, there wasn’t a single state, region, or county in America where a full-time worker earning the minimum wage could afford a two-bedroom rental home, and nearly half of Black and Latinx renters (and more than a

The White House, May 16, 2022, President Biden Announces New Actions to Ease the Burden of Housing Costs As President Biden said last week, tackling inflation is his top economic priority. Today, President Biden is releasing a Housing Supply Action Plan to ease the burden of housing costs over time, by boosting the supply of

NPR, May 11, 2022, Inflation may be easing — but low-income people are still paying the steepest prices The rising costs of housing, food and other necessities are big drivers of inflation, and they fall especially hard on lower-income Americans, posing a growing challenge for President Biden and the nation’s top economic policymakers. When inflation

Vox, May 11, 2022, The good and bad news about housing for LGBTQ Americans LGBTQ individuals have long faced difficulties finding and maintaining stable housing. Studies have found housing providers favor heterosexual couples over same-sex partners and provide transgender applicants fewer options than cis applicants when they disclose their gender status. Housing searches can be