New report documents the dismantling of consumer financial protection
David Elliot,
April 19, 2019
Imagine that that the community where you live has a police department, a fire station, and emergency medical service. Yet calls to 911 go unanswered. And police officers, firefighters and ambulances never respond to actual emergencies. Now imagine that the nation’s largest consumer finance regulator and civil enforcement authority, launched in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession to protect the public from unscrupulous financial service providers, practically stopped providing any protection whatsoever. You don’t have to imagine. It actually is happening.
Trump and the courts: Why so much losing?
David Elliot,
April 16, 2019
Baltimore Oriole slugger Chris Davis and President Trump have never met each other, at least as far as I know. But they actually have something in common. Davis, the first baseman for a team that has seen better days, recently set a Major League Baseball record when he managed to go hitless in 62 plate appearances. Trump, who talked a lot about “winning” when he was out on the campaign trail, has found himself on the losing side in federal court more than 63 times so far in his administration.
Building the American Dream: a documentary
David Elliot,
April 12, 2019
By one measurement, Texas is home to four of the nation’s five fastest-growing cities with populations over 50,000. That creates a tremendous need for new housing, which in turn opens up a lot of construction jobs. There are about one million construction workers in Texas, almost half of whom are undocumented workers. "Building the American Dream" lays out just how vulnerable those workers are. Two of the most common problems are wage theft and job safety.
Register now: May 2 webinar on Trump Administration’s effort to repeal payday lending protections
David Elliot,
April 10, 2019
Join the Coalition on Human Needs and Americans for Financial Reform for a webinar that will tell you all about rules that protect consumers from payday loans and other forms of predatory financing - and how the Trump Administration is trying to repeal those protections. The webinar is May 2 at 2 p.m. ET, 11 a.m. on the west coast. During the webinar, you'll learn how to slow down the Administration’s efforts by commenting on the dangers of their proposal.
“Judge Flores…Judge Flores…Where are you when we need you?”
David Elliot,
April 10, 2019
Complaining about a build-up of migrants at the border while visiting Calexico last week, President Trump blamed the build-up on “some very bad court decisions,” singling out the “Flores decision” as a “disaster.” I have to tell you, Judge Flores, whoever you may be, that decision is a disaster for our country,” Trump said. Problem: “Flores,” in this context, is not a judge. She was a 15-year-old girl named Jenny Lisette Flores, who fled El Salvador in the 1980s and was detained upon trying to enter the U.S. to live with her aunt.
