Much like the 2008 housing crisis, big banks are now maneuvering to exploit the current economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Banks are seeking to push their lower income customers to accumulate debt by paying expensive overdraft fees to stay afloat. However, these same bank customers are running the risk of having their bank accounts closed for too frequently relying on overdrafts to pay their bills.
(“How Banks Are Exploiting the Coronavirus Crisis for Profit,” American Prospect, June 4, 2020; “Bank Regulation Can Be Tools Oppression Too,” American Prospect, June 3, 2020)
The coronavirus pandemic triggered a huge fall-off in the use of fossil fuels around the world as stay-at-home orders were issued. But instead of taking advantage of the pandemic to speed up the shift from oil to renewable energy, Mexico’s populist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is doing roughly the opposite.
(“Betting on Black,” The Economist, May 23, 2020 Economist, “Betting on Black,” 5/23/20 nothing-can-shake-amlos-
The graphic video image of the police murder of George Floyd on Memorial Day is just another example of the too frequent deadly encounters between black citizens and the mostly white Minneapolis police department. Reforms in the department have failed to reduce violent confrontations between the black community and the heavily armed white cops who have been trained in “warrior style” policing.
(“Hoping Minneapolis Police Will Change? Meet the Police Union Chief,” The Guardian, June 5, 2020; “Minneapolis Police Union President “I’ve Been Involved in 3 Police Shootings, Myself,” The Intercept, June 2, 2020; “How Union, Supreme Court Shielded Minneapolis Cops,” Reuters, June 4, 2020)
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Anna Manzo.
