The Cheddar Path | A blog about economics, politics and personal finance
Credit Card Ridiculousness 2009
Earlier this year, Congress passed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act in an effort to protect consumers from the oftentimes predatory actions of the credit card corporations. In retaliation, it looks like these corporations are going to start rail-roading their customers even more than they already have. Citibank is going to increase some [...]
Books on Investing
I’ve set a personal goal for myself to start setting aside money specifically for opening a Roth IRA retirement account to invest in socially responsible companies. Contrary to what you may hear from Wall Street, I think it’s possible to invest in companies that are practicing solid environmental, labor and human rights policies and also [...]
The Schwab/Credit Union Combo
Several months ago, I opened an online checking account with Charles Schwab, and I have to say, they’ve got a great thing going on. Let me be clear: in these times of financial crises and corporate banking bailouts paid for with tax dollars, I think our privatized, corporate banking system is at the heart of [...]
Nader: How Credit Unions Survived the Crash
Ralph Nader, arguably America’s most visible consumer advocate of the last few decades, wrote a great piece on CounterPunch recently detailing why credit unions seems to be faring much better than the corporate, commercial banks during this economic recession.
The opening passage is pretty insightful and summarizes the situation:
“While the reckless giant banks are shattering like [...]
SRI: Muslim Investing Proves Profitable
An interesting article in the SF Chronicle recently described how in spite of the dismal current economic situation, investors adhering to certain Muslim principles have somewhat insulated themselves from the markets’ suffering and have actually made a profit. The article points to many reasons for why this might be, and one in particular really got [...]
BofA, The Employee Free Choice Act & Credit Unions
Recently, after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America hosted a meeting with members of the business community and conservative activists to discuss sending “large contributions” to groups trying to defeat the government’s proposed Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to join unions. So, Bank of America [...]