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Taking care of business

03 Oct 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the Sunday gospel, Jesus suggests the appropriate response to having done our duty should not be to boast but simply to say “we have done what we were obliged to do.” Monday President Barack Obama signed a small-business tax and lending bill long delayed by Senate maneuvering with a low-key statement amounting to “it’s about time.” The law sets up a lending fund for small businesses and includes an additional $12 billion in tax breaks for small companies. "It was critical that we cut taxes and make more loans available to entrepreneurs," Obama said in remarks at the White House. "So today after a long and tough fight, I am signing a small business jobs bill that does exactly that." Republicans in general opposed the bill, calling it a smaller version of the Wall Street bailout and blocking it in the Senate for weeks. Democrats say the small-business law incentives could provide up to $300 billion in new small-business credit and create 500,000 new jobs. "It's going to speed relief to small businesses across the country right away," Obama said. Source: An article by Alister Bull and Matt Spetalnick for Reuters

taxes barack obama small business lending

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Doing well by doing good

10 Oct 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

When Naaman is healed of leprosy in this Sunday’s first reading, he offers Elisha a gift in return, which Elisha refuses. Government and charitable handouts to the poor have come into increasing disfavor among a group of development specialists and wealthy philanthropists who prefer using good old-fashioned capitalism to address poverty. Vinod Khosla, a billionaire venture capitalist and cofounder of Sun Microsystems, is a leading proponent of a movement to replace charitable handouts with microloans and venture capital investments. By backing businesses that provide education loans or distribute solar panels in villages, he says, he wants to show that commercial entities can better help people in poverty than most nonprofit charitable organizations. “There needs to be more experiments in building sustainable businesses going after the market for the poor,” says Khosla. “It has to be done in a sustainable way. There is not enough money to be given away in the world to make the poor well off.” Advocates of microlending find support for the idea from the work of business management professors like the late C. K. Prahalad, who have argued that large corporations can do well and do good by aiming at people at the so-called bottom of the pyramid. Besides Khosla, entrepreneurs like Pierre Omidyar, a cofounder of eBay, and Stephen M. Case, a cofounder of America Online, have started funds with similar aims. But Khosla, 55, who moved to the United States from India as a graduate student in 1976, has another motive. He wants to goad other rich Indians into giving away more of their wealth. A recent study estimated that Indians give much less as a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product than Americans. Rich Indians “are more into temple building and things like that,” said Samit Ghosh, the chief executive of Ujjivan Financial, a microlender based in Bangalore, “rather than putting their money into real programs, which will have real impact on poverty alleviation.” Khosla said his experience with microfinance had helped shape his views on the best way to tackle poverty. He has invested in commercial microfinance lenders and has donated to nonprofit ones, and he said that moneymaking versions had grown much faster and reached many more needy borrowers. Source: An article by Vikas Bajaj for the New York Times

poverty philanthropy charitable giving mirolending indians microfinancing vinod khosla

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Money that walks is money that talks

06 Nov 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The “foolish” virgins in this Sunday’s gospel story are turned away from the wedding feast because of their poor judgment. Individuals, community groups, and even some churches are beginning to turn away from some of the nation’s largest banks because they believe these financial institutions have acted foolishly with their money and callously toward those who are struggling economically. Just as wisdom, according to this Sunday’s first reading, “makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her,” individuals and groups are looking around at their investment options, and a movement is gaining traction, labeled the “Move our Money” campaign in some quarters. The nationwide campaign aims to move at least $1 billion from large banks such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co. to community banks and credit unions that make small business loans, help create jobs, and invest in the community. Tuesday, as part of the launch of the Move Our Money campaign, clergy representing 30,000 Los Angeles families divested congregational funds from Bank of America and Wells Fargo. They called on the Los Angeles City Council to vote on a pending resolution that would require the city to divest from banks that have not cooperated with efforts to prevent foreclosures among other responsible banking measures. Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Jose, California is among the churches involved, closing its $3 million accounts with Bank of America and moving the money to a community credit union. Father Eduardo Samaniego, S.J., pastor, made the announcement several weeks ago during a press conference organized by PACT (People Acting in Community Together), an interfaith organization of 25 congregations in Santa Clara County. Standing in the church sanctuary and surrounded by 17 other PACT members, Samaniego said momentum is building to hold banks accountable for their behavior in local communities. At issue is the banks’ slow pace of loan modifications for qualifying homeowners as well as the high bonuses big banks continue to pay their top officials. This week Bank of America backed off a highly unpopular move to add a $5-a-month fee for debit card purchases, saying “our customers’ voices are most important to us.” "When I heard about the fee, it was the last straw for me," said Molly Katchpole, a 22-year-old nanny who had started a popular online petition calling on the bank to drop the debit fee. "I'm living paycheck to paycheck and one more fee was just too much." Katchpole said it was exciting that customers were able to sway a big corporation to rethink its decision, but she already had closed her account a few weeks ago and said the bank's decision won't win her back. She plans to stay with her new community bank in Washington, D.C. Sources: Articles by Monica Clark for National Catholic Reporter, Candice Choi for the AssociatedPress via Businessweek.com, and a press release from NewBottomLine.com

investment pact eduardo samaniego wells fargo bank of america move our money lending jpmorgan chase co banks people acting in community together

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Recess appointment sidesteps Republicans

08 Jan 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The gospel recounts the magi’s trip to Bethlehem to pay homage to the newborn leader who would shepherd the people of Israel, while the psalmist pledges the Lord will help those who have no one to help them. President Barack Obama sidestepped Republican opposition in the U.S. Senate to appoint the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), tasked with protecting the public from the abuse of unscrupulous financial institutions. Obama used a recess appointment to place nominee Richard Cordray in the leadership post. “When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them," Obama said. "I will not stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people they were elected to serve." The CFPB was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, enacted in response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis to police the market for consumer products such as credit cards and mortgages. Democrats have heralded the bureau, which opened its doors in July, as a way to protect consumers from abusive lending practices like the type of home loans that were made in the years leading into the financial crisis. Republicans have charged the agency is a virtually unchecked government body that will hurt lending and put small banks out of business. "President Obama, in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in response to the appointment, which sharpened tension between the White House and Republicans who had vowed since May to block confirmation of any director unless they get structural changes to the bureau. Consumer advocacy groups ranging from Public Citizen to the Consumer Federation of America praised Obama's move. So did Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard University professor and Democrat running for the Senate in Massachusetts. Warren gave original shape to the proposal for a consumer bureau and was once a leading candidate to run it. "President Obama's decision to overrule the big banks and the Senate Republicans who are protecting them gives consumers a strong ally and advocate in Washington," Warren said in a statement. Sources: Articles by Jennifer Liberto for CNN Money and Dave Clarke and Matt Spetalnick for Reuters

barack obama recess appointment richard cordray cfpb consumer financial protection bureau lending mitch mcconnell banks republicans senate elizabeth warren

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