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Does It Have To Be This Way? Bank Fees Pile Debt Upon Workers

By Gregory Williams

We live in a capitalist society, that is, a dictatorship of the rich. As we look around us, it’s obvious that the game is rigged against everyone except the billionaires. We’re so used to the B.S. that we start to believe it has to be this way. But does it?

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. banks made over $30 billion in overdraft fees in 2016. Most of us who live from paycheck to paycheck have experienced this. You pay the rent, for instance, and your account goes into the negative. You’re already broke; then you get hit with a fee.

The banks are intentionally preying on the poorest among us. Often, they rearrange the order of a day’s transactions so as to slam you with multiple fees. Your landlord might cash your rent check a week after you write it. On the day it’s cashed (which you have no control over) you make several small purchases; the bank processes these after the whopping rent check is cashed, and there you are!

Like most other things in capitalist society, this is a racket. Banks are cashing in on struggling people, laughing all the way to…the bank. And yet, when the banks themselves were struggling during the last financial crash, their lackeys in Washington gladly bailed them out giving them $1.2 trillion of our money. The rich and powerful do what they can get away with. If workers organize, fight back, and say “No more!” it would not have to be this way.

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Cuban Doctors to Help Patients in South Side Chicago

Cuba’s infant mortality rate is lower than the U.S. according to the World Health Organization. A partnership signed between the University of Illinois Cancer Center and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health has teamed up three Cuban doctors and a nurse with their U.S. counterparts during home visits to 50 women of reproductive age in Englewood, according to Kaiser Health News.

In exchange for a US $50 stipend, the women responded to a questionnaire that includes questions such as: “In the last 12 months, have you had any problems with any bug infestations, rodents or mold?” or “Have you ever had teeth removed or crowned because of a cavity?” The questions cover a range of topics, including emotional well being and condition of one’s residence.

Cuba’s Minister of Public Health, Roberto Morales, explained Cuba’s success. “The entire health care system in the country is about lives saved, quality of life, happiness and satisfaction for our people,”.

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NSA Collected More Than 530 Million US Phone Call Records in 2017

The National Security Agency collected more than 530 million US phone call records in 2017. This is more than three times the 151 million collected in 2016. The new statistics were first reported by Reuters. The report, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is mandated by the USA Freedom Act passed by Congress in 2015 that aimed to restrict and boost oversight of the NSA’s surveillance program. Guess its not restricting, it’s certainly not freedom

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Raise Wages, Outlaw Predator Interest on Payday Loans

By Anthony Mangano

As prices continue to rise while wages remain stagnant, it’s no wonder that workers are more and more often running short of money at weeks or months end, causing a terrifying debate between keeping the electricity on or feeding their children. Not satisfied with driving workers to the edge of starvation or homelessness, greedy capitalists have created a new system to rob the workers -the “payday loan”. Touted as an “emergency stopgap measure”, the interest on these short-term loans is so usurious as to force borrowers into permanent debt, a modern day version of debt peonage or sharecropping.

While big banks and corporations can borrow OUR money at 1-2% from the Federal Reserve Bank, payday loan interest rates can be almost 400% plus hidden fees, entrapping workers in an unending cycle of poverty and misery. Nationally, 83% of payday loans are paid to borrowers already stuck in several other loans. In Louisiana, which sucks $240 million yearly from workers, 79% of payday loans are lent to borrowers on the same day as they pay back a previous loan. In fact, 87% of borrowers are forced to seek new loans within two weeks of paying off an old loan. As the economic crisis worsens, more and more workers find themselves in desperate circumstances. In response, payday lenders flood TV and radio with ads offering workers a “magic solution”. Of course, more than two times as many offices are located in Black and LatinX communities. The 12 million workers who use payday loans every year are most commonly characterized by being separated or divorced renters who do not have a four-year college degree and earn less than $40,000. A majority are African-American.

While payday loan and auto title companies don’t break workers legs (yet) for falling short on their payments like organized crime syndicate loans of TV legend, the results are often no less devastating including homelessness, job loss, family breakup and depression. Payday loan vultures give millions of dollars to politicians for laws making these practices “legal”.

The Workers Voice demands that the Louisiana Legislature outlaw all predatory loans as part of our overall fight to improve the economic conditions of the workers. However, we also know only socialist revolution will end this criminal exploitation of the workers.