Merry Felonies: Predatory lending in poor Communities
Racism & Predatory lending
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): “Unequal Burden: Income and Racial Disparities in Subprime Lending in America
“HUD has released a study showing that the number of subprime home loans is skyrocketing in predominantly black neighborhoods and low-income neighborhoods. While expanded access to credit is critical, there is growing evidence that some lenders may be engaged in predatory lending that is making homeownership far more costly for blacks and poor families than for whites and middle-class families.
The study – Unequal Burden: Income and Racial Disparities in Subprime Lending in America – at the start of the meeting of a new Predatory Lending Task Force, and announced that Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers will join him as co-chair of the Task Force.
Key findings of the Department of Housing and Urban Development analysis show that: 1) From 1993 to 1998, the number of subprime refinancing loans increased ten-fold. 2) Subprime loans are three times more likely in low income neighborhoods than in high-income neighborhoods. 3) Subprime loans are five times more likely in black neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods. 4) Homeowners in high-income black areas are twice as likely as homeowners in low-income white areas to have subprime loans.” [read more…]
Learn more:
• Segregation and subprime lending within and across metropolitan areas
• Unequal Burden: Income and Racial Disparities in Subprime Lending in America
• Bank Accused of Pushing Mortgage Deals on Blacks
• Subprime lending in Baltimore
• 2015 Baltimore protests
• Killing of Freddie Gray
• Say Their Names Green Library Exhibit supporting the Black Lives Matter movement
• 10 years after Freddie Gray’s death, calls for police reform and racial equity persist in Baltimore
News from the wrong perspective
Have you ever read the news and thought something like this…
• Is this true?
• No! This must be a joke.
• Are these people are crazy?
• You’ve got to be kidding!
• Is this guy on drugs?
Well, you’re not alone. Merry Felonies is our form of relief. A way to lighten our spirits when the news is too damn much! So, when we see something ridiculous, we have to make fun of it.
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જ⁀➴ Read ALL of our Merry Felonies cartoons!
How did the comic strip start?
The idea for Merry Felonies started with our reaction to the news. Miguel and I would watch or read the news and make sarcastic comments. If there was something particularly funny, Miguel would sketch something out and I’d think of a punchline.
When our good friend and favorite renegade economist Steve Keen worked with IDEA Economics, a small outfit that worked to educate regular people about how economics functions, we were hired to provide the comic strip. It ran from about 2015 – 2020.
It’s interesting to look back at that era and realize that not only have things not changed much, they’ve somehow gotten worse (economically speaking). Now we’ll republish all the comic strip here.
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