A tactic of the left in recent years is to bring political pressure to bear on banks which fund or otherwise do business with industries our liberal friends don’t like. Because nothing says progressive like ideological ostracism. The oil and coal industries are one target of this push. Recently socialist Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez harangued the CEO…
Absence Of Profit Motive Is Exactly What's Wrong With Student Loans
Senator Heidi Heitkamp is on a statewide tour aimed at ingratiating herself with college students by talking about the student loan issue. In the Senate Heitkamp has opposed introducing some market forces to the heavily-inflated student loan market,and here in North Dakota she’s seemingly arguing against any sort of market forces for student loans. “Everybody…
Price Caps On Swipe Fees Making Your Banking More Expensive
Three years ago Monday the Senate passed the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Banking Bill which sought to make the retail experience for Americans cheaper by capping the fees for debit and credit card swipes. Essentially, the federal government told the banks they were charging too much, and cut the price in half for them…
Online Sales Tax May End Up Being A Tax On Your Retirement Savings
There’s nothing fair about the Marketplace Fairness Act, which both of North Dakota’s Senators voted for. In addition to lumping more red tape and tax burden onto online shopping – which means higher prices for everyone who shops online – its an expansion of taxation to companies that use none of the services the taxes…
USDA Expands Subprime Loan Program In Western North Dakota
Western North Dakota has a housing shortage driving spiking prices. There’s no doubt that is creating headaches for those trying to find a place to lead, but are government-backed subprime loans really the answer? According to Jasper Schneider, the USDA’s Director of Rural Development here in North Dakota, they are. Why, they can even provide…
Subprime Auto Loans Were Up 18% In 2012
Yesterday we got news that the Obama administration is pushing banks to make subprime home loans again. Today comes word that in 2012, subprime auto loans were up 18%: The Fed’s program, while aimed at bolstering the U.S. housing and labor markets, has also steered billions of dollars into riskier, more speculative corners of the…
Obama Pushing Banks To Make Subprime Loans Again
“Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit,” reads the Washington Post headline. Because it worked out so well the last time we did that. The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to make more home loans available to people with weaker credit, an effort that officials say…
If Businesses Or Landlords Are Discriminating Against Gays, Why Not Name Names?
The North Dakota Senate voted down a bill which would have added gays to a list of protected classes (races, genders, religious affiliations, etc.) under state law. Now activists in Grand Forks are going to ask the city council there to pass a local version of the law. I find these sort of efforts a…
Grand Forks Herald: Please Pay No Attention To The Student Loan Bubble
When the higher education/student loan bubble pops, the folks at the Grand Forks Herald should be indicted (figuratively, not literally) as co-conspirators. Because despite a report illustrating the bubble perfectly, despite a report in their own paper showing that student loan debt has exploded even as the degrees students are purchasing have fallen in power,…
Movie Rentals, ATM's And Fast Food Make Up 44% Of North Dakota Welfare Expenditures
I’ve written before of my efforts to review how North Dakota TANF (welfare) recipients spend their benefits, and I’ve gotten a little bit of traction of late. I’ve been trying to get my hands on transaction data from the debit cards used by beneficiaries to spend their allotment of funds. After initially telling me that…