Darrick Hamilton and baby bonds:
… Hamilton developed the idea a dozen years ago, proposing to give each baby born in the U.S. a trust fund established and guaranteed by the federal government. The goal is to narrow the vast inequalities that exist at the moment of birth, particularly those related to the wide and persistent racial wealth gap. …
I’m glad to see that some states are already funding baby bonds, a step in the right direction.
Unfortunately, justice is not on the table and I have yet to read about any efforts to bring JUSTICE for the people.
… Hamilton isn’t religious, but he can still sound like the Quakers who educated him. “I’m for economic justice, or justice more broadly. I pursue justice as a matter of faith,” he says. “I’ll go back to my theology: Do it because it’s the right thing to do.” He doesn’t want it to be as difficult for others as it was for his parents to set their child up for success. “If I had that choice, I would not have given up their life in order to have the access I had,” he says. “That drives me, because I saw the pain firsthand and I don’t want people to experience it. I think it’s profoundly unjust.”
It doesn’t matter how much money you give to people when the corporations can steal, defraud, misrepresent and deceive with impunity.
Even highly educated people are incapable of finding justice in American courts.
Whoever hires the best liar wins. Obviously, the corporations have the best liars because they have the money to pay them.
While I understand the right to lie in criminal cases, I really do not understand why corporations are allowed to lie in civil proceedings.
We have very few consumer attorneys and they are cherry-picking for the easiest and quickest settlements, primarily for their legal fees. While consumer attorneys may have been initially enthusiastic about fighting the corporations, they quickly learn that they simply can’t AFFORD to fight the corporations. And that’s especially so because most judges despise consumers. The corporations mastered the skills of lying in courts and withholding information.
Most judges LOVE the corporations and DESPISE the people.
Judges are overworked with hundreds of cases and if they ruled FOR consumers, many MILLIONS of lawsuits would be filed by wronged consumers.
Is it desirable to give money to people who are then exploited by corporations with impunity?
Much has been written about flawed algorithms utilized by corporations, but credit scores are still utilized to charge 20+ % interest on consumer credit cards despite the absence of ANY derogatory information on credit reports.
The companies like Fair Isaac and the credit bureaus creating these flawed credit scores enjoy the same immunity vaccine makers have, but there is NO government fund for restitution.
Credit bureaus systematically refuse to correct false information with impunity. In the extremely rare case that a consumer sues, the best outcome is usually the correction of the false information. There is no compensation for the stress of having to file a lawsuit, having to learn the law, having to waste hundreds or thousands of hours learning the law and court procedures. Many consumers who tried ended up in the hospital or dead due to litigation stress.
Class actions are another huge racket.
Many millions go to huge law firms. I recently got two checks for about $20 for credit bureau Experian’s incorrect credit reporting.
It is beyond absurd.
Filing complaints with government agencies is usually a giant waste of time as they generally do NOTHING.
Even in consumer-friendly states like California the attorney general outright refused to investigate a “debt relief” company that kept the thousands of dollars each consumer paid them instead of paying off the creditors as the consumers expected.
Many companies providing consumer services such as phone, internet, TV, etc. require mandatory arbitration and you can’t even file a small claims suit against them. They lie and lie and lie … with impunity.
What happened to Elizabeth Warren?
She kicked ass around 2008, actively exposing illegal debt collection practices.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s statutory damages of $1,000 have NOT been increased since its creation, I think in the 70s. Many judges award only a few hundred dollars.
Unreal.
I know of nothing senator Warren did to enhance the FDCPA.
The BBBs work for the corporations.
A few years ago I attended a telephonic BBB mediation hearing with clients.
The mediator initially stated that she knew nothing about the complaint against the solar leasing company Sunnova. A few minutes later, the mediator told my clients how difficult it would be for them to prevail in court, clearly attempting to intimidate and bully my clients into accepting that Sunnova owed them nothing.
If I hadn’t attended, Sunnova would not have installed several additional solar panels. However, my clients had to pay my fees for preparing the solar system production analysis, assisting with filing the BBB complaint, and attending the mediation hearing. How is THAT justice?
Notably, I had to agree that the mediation proceeding was CONFIDENTIAL and I didn’t have the time and money to expose the BBB racket.
There is no “win” for the people even when they prevail and I stopped providing consulting services in 2016 because there is no justice for Americans.
It is rarely worth the stress and aggravation to pursue justice in an American court.
I have yet to find any person of influence such as Hamilton or a legislator actively working on creating JUSTICE for ALL — and especially for the disadvantaged.
When these kids get their baby bond money, much will be transferred to corrupt corporations and schools that don’t provide the education and future income they promise.
No amount of money will fix inequality when much of the funds are promptly transferred to the corporations.
