Author: Erik Sherman

Two Senators want  Cryptocurrency used as Retirement Savings. Some say Cryptos are Scams Sometimes, an interview can shine a light on the political system and leave viewers scratching their heads if not reaching for bottles of aspirin. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) appeared on camera with Bloomberg Technology to discuss their proposed cryptocurrencies legislation. They said there’s a need for “transparency and accountability” as well as “consumer protections” and legal predictability for industry players. Even with inside information, people in Congress often show themselves to be anything but financially savvy. And yet, some of the statements by…

A Partial Solution From Maine People buy influence. That doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bribing someone or even engaging in a quid pro quo. It’s old as human history. But the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, which opened the floodgates to unchecked levels of political donations by corporations and the wealthy, perverted the course of democracy. If enough large cities or states take up similar measures, then a net begins to be drawn around those wealthy people and corporations trying to secretly influence politics. In the years since, all restraints on secretive money influencing politics were effectively turned…

Demanding An End to Environmental and Social Policies The formerly corporate-friendly GOP has found itself at odds with big companies that take an interest in ESG, an acronym that stands for policies concerned with environmental, social, and governance issues. The party’s beef is with the first two parts of ESG. It’s trying to bring pressure, for assumed political advantage, from as many directions as possible to attack these activities. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley doubled down with his Twitter comment: “No more handouts for woke corporations.” The pattern and intent has been unusually clear of late. It indicates a polar swap…

Group Behind Restrictive State Laws Wants to Stop Investments in Companies with Pro-Environmental and Social Policies

What Looks Like A Smart Biden Administration Reform Misses A Vital Ingredient Apartment tenants are at the mercy of landlords who can make rent skyrocket but take their time about those leaking faucets. Landlords control Internet access, deciding which Internet Service Provider, or ISP, will serve their tenants. Often that decision is a backroom deal. The landlord gets a kickback from the ISP, which typically is a big cable or telecom corporation, in return for a service monopoly. Tenants must pay inflated prices or go without cable television, VoIP telephone service and Internet access. President Joe Biden moved to…

You Can Blame Wall Street, Congress, City Hall, the Fed and, Yes, Your Greedy Landlord

Rule Lets Non-Bank Lenders Charge Triple-Digit Interest on Loans

CPFB Reverses Trump-Era Hands-Off Regulation, Ramps Up Abuse Prevention

How an Obama-Era Effort to Help Small Businesses and Individual Investors Became a Tool for Big Businesses and Their Top-Tier Financial Backers

Trump and His Cronies Tried to Discredit Mail-In Ballots; When That Didn’t Work, They Just Didn’t Deliver Them