The Ladder

A Blog from New America's Asset Building Program

 

The Lottery Where Everybody Wins

  • By
  • Justin King
February 9, 2010

In the past, we have put forward the idea of "prize-linked savings." Basically this is an attempt to induce more savings behavior among those least likely to save by introducing the element of chance into the equation--specifically the chance to win more money.

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After the Bursting of the Bubble, What Does Responsible Homeownership Look Like?

  • By
  • Reid Cramer
February 9, 2010

Cross posted at Huffington Post

While the burst of the housing bubble recedes into the past, its echo continues to reverberate throughout the economy and in communities across the land. The U.S. housing market remains a mess. Home values remain down and defaults and foreclosures remain up. Looking back in hindsight, it seems many that too many irresponsible actors were allowed to operate without supervision.

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An hour in the California State Capitol...

  • By
  • Maria Sotero
February 4, 2010

... Became a month in the shoes of the poor. After a bipartisan press conference, the coalition that launched Step Up CA on Wednesday also provided lawmakers and their staff with a personal understanding of poverty.

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A Blip on the savings radar

  • By
  • Maria Sotero
February 1, 2010
Amid all the hullabaloo over social media, the policy world has perhaps been the slowest to catch on. The wonks have fully embraced blogging and twittering to their followers, of course. But advocating for policy reforms rarely allows one to say that "there's an app for that."
 
What if there were a way to bring technology, social media, and saving together? Blippy may be the answer to this question.  
 
This new website broadcasts, tweetlike, every electronic purchase made by its users.
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Canadians are Boring

  • By
  • Reid Cramer
February 1, 2010
Publication Image

Paul Krugman also likes Elizabeth Warren, and apparently, Canadians as well.

Yes, they are boring, he says, but in some cases that's a good thing. Such as with banking! Unfortunately, the banking headlines in the U.S. have recently been about meltdowns and credit freezes.

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Savings (for Retirement & College) in the State of the Union

  • By
  • Justin King
  • Mark Huelsman
January 28, 2010
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/photogallery/state-union-0

As we noted earlier this week, President Obama's State of the Union address contained significant mention of his plans to make it easier for Americans to save for retirement and for college. A great deal of the speech was devoted to the struggles of the middle-class and the President's plans to ease the burdens they face. Here's the President on the Auto-IRA and Saver's Credit:

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Elizabeth Warren Continues to Make Sense

  • By
  • Reid Cramer
January 27, 2010
Elizabeth Warren

Not many heroes have emerged from the morass of the financial meltdown. But the voice of Elizabeth Warren has repeatedly stood out. Not only did she answer the call when Senator Reid tapped her to oversee the implementation of the TARP stabilization program, but she has repeatedly offered a clear and sober account of how the economy was taken to the edge of the economic abyss by increasingly risky financial practices. 

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Early Preview--State of the Union Week

  • By
  • Justin King
January 25, 2010
President Obama Speaks to Congress

The Obama Administration is starting to previewfor items that will be included in this week's State of the Union address. At today's meeting of the Task Force on Middle Class Families President Obama revealed that he is going to use the address to focus on economic security for the middle class.

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New Report: African Americans and EITC Recipients are Much More Likely to Take Out RALs

  • By
  • David Newville
January 22, 2010
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As the tax season begins in earnest, the Woodstock Institute, a nonprofit community development group based in Chicago, released a timely report that analyzes the use of refund anticipation loans (RALs) in Illinois. RALs are short-term loans that allow tax filers to receive their refunds as quickly as a few hours or days after they file their tax returns. Tax filers also usually use RALs to pay for the upfront cost of tax preparation.  

The problem with RALs is that they typically come at very high cost and are targeted at low-income tax filers. According to another report released the National Consumer Law Center and the Consumer Federation of America last year, fees for RALs are typically over $100 and have triple digit annual percentage rates (APRs). If you add additional fees that some providers charge, such as application fees, and the cost of tax preparation on top of that, tax filers often end up paying several hundred dollars in total fees. According to the Woodstock Institute report, tax filers in Illinois spent over $114 million on RALs in 2006.

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Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction

  • By
  • Reid Cramer
January 20, 2010
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My colleague Barry Lynn just released his excellent new book, entitled Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction. It is an especially timely release because it elevates a set of issues that deserve to take center stage in current debates about the economy and the collective future of our political economy. As a follow up to his 2005 book End of the Line which described the increasingly risky supply chain of the new global corporation, Barry now takes his readers on a contemporary tour of our economy to reveal the widespread consolidation of corporate control in almost every conceivable sector. Eyeglasses, shampoo, pharmaceuticals, banks, toothpaste, candy, music distribution, electronics, book sales, commodities, seeds, and even whisky and beer are all dominated by a few large providers that are able to exert a degree of authoritarian control that is debilitating to many would-be small providers and workers alike.

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