By The Woodstock Institute

Nominee Richard Cordray up for confirmation next week
Next week will be an important one for every Chicago area consumer who uses financial services, from the payday loan store on the corner to Wall Street’s biggest banks.
The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing September 6th to consider the confirmation of Richard Cordray, President Obama’s nominee as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). It is crucial that the Senate quickly confirm Cordray, a former Attorney General of Ohio who is well-qualified in consumer issues.
However, 44 senators, including Illinois’ Mark Kirk, have vowed to block any nominee until the CFPB is significantly weakened. The longer the process drags on, the longer the CFPB will lack the authority to regulate some financial service providers which have high potential for abuse – such as payday lenders, independent mortgage lenders that made the majority of predatory subprime loans during the housing bubble, and debt settlement companies.

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Posted on August 31, 2011

By Chicago Headline Club President Steve Franklin

From an e-mail to the Chicago Headline Club mailing list:
You know what happens when reporters can’t get information they need. Their stories are incomplete, delayed or worse yet, they die. That is one of the reasons the Chicago Headline Club undertook a sweeping survey of the state of journalists’ freedom of information and access rights.
I’m writing to you because I hope you will join us on Sept. 17 when we discuss the findings and results of conversations we have had since with public officials. We will report on some improvements on the situation as a result of our talks. But as you will learn from the report, serious obstacles exist across a wide range of agencies.
Officials from several of the agencies highlighted in the report will discuss the findings along with journalists.

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Posted on August 30, 2011

By The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform

Quinn Has Weakened Public Information Law
Just two years after signing legislation to strengthen the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and calling the improvements “landmark,” Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday signed House Bill 1716 to rollback some of those reforms.
“The changes approved by Gov. Quinn today discourage openness in government and the new law will be a disincentive to local governments to make information available online, without charging citizens,” said Whitney Woodward, policy associate with the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “The Freedom of Information Act is the fundamental tool that gives residents access to the inner workings of government, to see how their tax dollars are being spent. Measures to restrict that access are deeply troubling.

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Posted on August 29, 2011

By Lois Beckett/ProPublica

With housing prices dropping sharply, and foreclosure filings against more than 1 million properties in the first half of this year, the Obama administration is scrambling for ways to help homeowners.

One place they won’t be looking: an estimated $30 billion from the bailout that was slated to help homeowners but is likely to remain unspent. Instead, Congress has mandated that the leftover money be used to pay down the debt.

Of the $45.6 billion in Trouble Asset Relief Program funds meant to aid homeowners, the most recent numbers available show that only about $2 billion has actually gone out the door.

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Posted on August 26, 2011

By Tom Tresser via YouTube

“Tom Tresser spoke at The Chicago Temple on August 3, 2011 on the looming threats of privatization in Illinois. The remarks were made at a forum of anti-privatization activists organized by Citizens Act To Protect Our Water (CAPOW!). Tom is organizing a new effort to stop privatization and to defend and extend the commons – Protect Our Public Assets.”

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Posted on August 25, 2011

By The Beachwood 100 Days Affairs Desk

See first: Reading Rahm: Master Media Manipulator.
*
“One hundred days is a measurement normally associated with U.S. presidents – not Chicago mayors. But then, Emanuel – who will hit the 100-day mark on Tuesday – is not your run-of-the-mill mayor,” Fran Spielman writes for the Sun-Times.
“He’s a Washington tornado storming through his hometown – in the first chief executive’s position he has held – trying to tackle the city’s intractable problems with the sheer force of his personality, energy and formidable contacts.”

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Posted on August 22, 2011

By The Beachwood Stimulus Affairs Desk

How the president plans to get America working again.
* Put more engravers to work by demanding the Fed print more money.
* Double the number of advertising and marketing professionals working on his re-election campaign.
* Finally close that trade deal with Papau New Guinea.
* Support the service industry on Martha’s Vineyard by vacationing there more.
* Put more lawyers to work by passing tax reform full of loopholes.

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Posted on August 19, 2011

By The Beachwood Laffer Curve Affairs Desk

Today is Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair. Here’s a look at what’s on tap.
* Admissions via means testing.
* On this day only, all fair food will be uninspected.
* Unregulated bathrooms will be cleaned by the free market.
* Security outsourced to Blackwater and the Illinois Sons of Liberty.
* Take a ride on the Trickle Down Slide. Blame the Democrats when you end up at the bottom.

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Posted on August 18, 2011

By The Beachwood Mental Health Desk

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel has unveiled plans to make Chicago a healthier city by focusing on issues of fitness, disease control, and access to health care. But at least one part of his health care agenda has its critics and they were waiting for Emanuel at one of his public events on Tuesday.
“CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports that those critics prompted the mayor to slip in a side door at his next event.
“For the record, the mayor’s office said he always uses the side door for such events, but the real reason was probably avoiding a confrontation with the protestors, or even pictures of him walking past them.”

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Posted on August 17, 2011

By Robert Ray/AP

“Illinois is a state in severe financial distress-one program being slashed aids low-income seniors and disabled. Thousands will be left to financial and health ruin on September 1.”

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Posted on August 16, 2011