80 Percent of Us Owe Money to Institutions. Can We Leverage It to Reduce Inequality?
Three visionaries discuss how America’s debt problem has transformed the movements they work with.
Wealth and inequality
California Challenges Gender Discrimination With Equal Pay Law (and Other News to Chew On)
A Louisiana university helps solve the national shortage of black doctors, Uber drivers are left with car payments after a raise in fees, and Mother Jones explores whether mammograms do more harm than good.
NYC’s Credit Unions Give Mom-and-Pop Stores a Chance, Despite Gentrification
They're a lifeline to business owners. So why do these credit unions have trouble growing?
1.5 Million American Families Live on $2 a Day—These Authors Spent Years Finding Out Why
For their new book, H. Luke Shaefer and Kathryn J. Edin followed the lives of America’s poorest families to find out what they need to break out of poverty, and how to make it happen.
Think Students Can’t Declare Bankruptcy? Think Again
Bankruptcy is supposed to give debtors a fresh start—unless they’re struggling with student loans. But a little-known provision is helping these borrowers take their creditors to court.
Why Student Debtors Can’t File for Bankruptcy—Or Can They?
Think you can't declare bankruptcy on your student loan debt? Think again.
For These Borrowers and Lenders, Debt Is a Relationship Based on Love
There could be a different financial system, one where debt allows us to honor our freedom rather than our servitude.
Land Trusts Offer Houses That People With Lower Incomes Can Afford—And a Stepping Stone to Lasting Wealth
More than 200 land trusts around the country help struggling families buy their first homes, often in gentrifying neighborhoods.
Hero or Coward: Could Skipping My Student Loan Payments Start a Revolution?
A college professor is calling for a massive student-debt strike next year with only one necessity: that as many debtors as possible refuse to pay.
Do Interest-Free Loans Make Sense? No, But They Do Make a Difference
Neighbors are helping crowdfund the dreams of local entrepreneurs, giving community businesses the chance to expand with interest-free loans.
Will Government Make Good on Its Promise to Forgive Student Debt?
Up to a quarter of the nation’s workers have spent 10 years working in public service on a promise of student loan forgiveness.
6 Ways You Just Got More Power Over Your Credit Score
A complex, for-profit system is behind these three-digit scores that affect your ability to borrow, rent, and work. Here's how regulators are putting credit score companies on notice.
Infographic: A History of Debt Forgiveness and Relief
As long as there has been lending, there have been times when the people’s debt becomes a crisis. Here’s a look at the policy solutions governments have been using, starting in ancient Sumer.
Drugs, Sex, and Debt: It’s Time to Revamp “The Talk”
Let’s remove the shame from the conversation and help the next generation avoid the debilitating amounts of debt that keep us from buying houses or taking vacations.
“You Fly to the Edge of the Tar Sands, and … No Life”: A Montana Professor on the Issue of Our Time
University of Montana professor George Price on permaculture, race, and how he’s standing up to tar sands extraction.
Own a Home in Just Four Years? This Co-Op Program Keeps Workers in the Neighborhood
Nearly half of Evergreen’s worker-owners have purchased homes through the program.
Why We Did an Issue on Debt
Good debts? We know it sounds crazy. But there’s a quiet revolution brewing in how we move money around, and we want our readers to know about it.
I Learned More by Leading a Student-Debt Strike Than I Did at College
After graduating from Everest College with a bad education and no job prospects in sight, I refused to pay my student loans. Now I’m helping lead the first student-debt strike in America.
“Don’t Owe. Won’t Pay.” Everything You’ve Been Told About Debt Is Wrong
With the nation’s household debt burden at $11.85 trillion, even the most modest challenges to its legitimacy have revolutionary implications.
These Former Debt Collectors Decided to Ditch the Industry, Buy Up Medical Debt, and Forgive It
Jerry Ashton and Craig Antico spent decades hounding debtors to pay their bills—until an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street inspired them to find a way to pay struggling people's debts.
Infographic: The Real Reason You Have So Much Debt (It’s Not Crazy Spending)
$11.85 trillion in household debt has more to do with stagnant wages (and predatory banks) than shopping sprees.
Debt Collective Marches on New Orleans for Free Higher Ed
“It’s not about freeloading. It’s about what we’re willing to extend to each other as a society.”
Economic Growth Doesn’t Make a Wealthy Nation, Safety and Happiness Do
Economist Kate Raworth explains why economic growth shouldn't be the only measure of a nation's wealth.
Obama’s Push for Corporate Rule: A Moment of Opportunity
Call it populism versus corporatism or democracy versus corporate rule. Either way, it is a far more meaningful political division than two political parties debating big government versus small.
Why “Broad City” Is the Perfect Comedy for the Student Debt Generation
The Comedy Central show allows millennials of a specific demographic—and even those outside of it—to laugh at the situation the 1 percent has handed them.
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