banks

With their contracts expiring at midnight, city workers in Los Angeles flooded the streets around city hall in protest on Tuesday. They oppose predatory fees the city pays to Wall Street banks and believe that money should be redirected to improve city services.

Attorney General Eric Holder plans to roll out new regulations that would allow legal marijuana sellers and banks to do business together. Currently, banks are reluctant to hold the cash of enterprises that are still technically illegal in the federal government's eyes.

The European Union is pushing for a more stable financial system by clamping down on "shadow banking" — the high-finance sector that handles trillions of dollars but isn't bound by the same rules as banks.

Katie Barnett of MacArthur, Ohio, returned from her vacation to find her home broken into and all of her belongings gone. It turns out First National Bank in Wellston are the one's who broke into her house and took her belongings . . . after they foreclosed on her house instead of the house across of the street. The bank now refuses to replace what they took and the police won't press charges.

Remember when New York bailed out Texas to the tune of $150 billion? It was less than 25 years ago, but a lot has changed — and yet global parallels still abound.

In a letter, MA Sen. Elizabeth Warren questions why the U.S. government is backing expensive private student loans. "It is deeply worrisome," Warren writes, "that the Federal Home Loan Banks may be undermining their mission by extending billions of dollars in cheap credit to private student lenders."

Will California Attorney General Kamala Harris hang tough in her new lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase, the first to target individual bankers accused of defrauding the public? If so, it would be the first time in five years that executives at a major bank have personally paid a price for their wrongdoings.

When it comes to foreclosing on Californians, it looks like Wells Fargo may take the prize, where it's responsible for more homes in the foreclosure pipeline in California than any other single lender.

Congress' deadly addiction to corporate cash is the main reason Washington is unable to solve the myriad problems affecting our economy, environment and politics. If only we could help Congress kick the habit, our government could work for us again.