Essays

Sale-leaseback: Corporations’ New Scheme To Steal American Homes

Maybe you are elderly and on a fixed income, or for some other reason you cannot afford a major increase in your cost of living, but you live in a Midwestern city where the cost of living is traditionally low. You’ve owned your home for years and have plenty of equity, so you should have financial security, right?

Not so fast. Private equity firms and other “property investors” have bought up homes in your neighborhood to flip them and/or rent them out, driving up house prices. Your county assessor raised their appraisal of your home, and now you can’t afford your new property tax bill. But have no fear, the millionaires and billionaires who caused this problem for you are also here to offer a solution.

Continue reading “Sale-leaseback: Corporations’ New Scheme To Steal American Homes”
Book Reviews

Book Review: Lords of Finance

Lords of FinanceLords of Finance is described as the story of the four central bankers who set up the world for the Great Depression. However, the reader can expect to get a whole lot more than that from this book–whether he wants it or not.

It is mostly written in a biographical style, with more incidental details than necessary. The financial side of the story is explained, but not with as much depth or clarity as many other books of this type offer. Some general claims about the macroeconomy are made without enough explanation about macroeconomics to back them up. Continue reading “Book Review: Lords of Finance”

Book Reviews

Book Review: Business Adventures

Business AdventuresThis is a neat book of magazine-style business stories. There are 12 stories about 25-100 pages each. They don’t relate to each other at all, other than all being related to business, finance, and economics.

The stories are all interesting and well-written, so it is both entertaining and informative. This gave me some lesson ideas for my entrepreneurship class.

This is a great way to learn some new business content in a fun and engaging way.