Latest from Tracey Samuelson

• Oct 25, 2017

  How restrictions on class action lawsuits affect the arbitration industry

  A vote by the U.S. Senate last night allowing banks to keep using mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts with consumers — rather than allowing class action lawsuits —essentially preserves the status quo. You might think that more fine print in more and more contracts would mean a lot more arbitration and a bonanza for […]

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• Oct 23, 2017

  CDOs — collateralized debt obligations — helped trigger the 2008 housing crisis. Now CLOs are on the rise. Should we be worried?

  In the wake of the financial crisis, we all learned a lot of fear-inducing acronyms, like CDOs – collateralized debt obligations – which helped trigger the housing meltdown. So news that volumes of a similar sounding investment – CLO or collateralized loan obligations – had hit $247 billion in first nine months of this year, […]

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• Oct 11, 2017

  Trump enters NAFTA round threatening withdraw

  The fourth round of NAFTA negotiation talks begin today in Arlington, Virginia. President Trump reiterated threats to pull out of the deal in an interview with Forbes Magazine published Tuesday just as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on his way to D.C. to meet with him. Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned Trump against […]

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• Oct 9, 2017

  When it comes to immigration, family ties may no longer bind

  The White House sent Congress a letter yesterday, outlining what it wants in immigration reform. The list of White House wants was long. Just a few items: ending funding for so-called sanctuary cities, the completion of construction of President Trump’s wall along the Mexican border, and reducing the number of refugees the U.S. admits each […]

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• Oct 6, 2017

  As workers flow into Puerto Rico, residents try to leave

  

  A recent United Airlines flight carried volunteer workers into Puerto Rico and evacuated residents who wanted to leave.

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• Oct 2, 2017

  Are we about to see a showdown between Congress and the Fed?

  The Federal Reserve Bank’s message for a while now has been, broadly speaking, “the economy’s doing pretty well.” The central bank has also said it’s time to phase out the extraordinary support that it put in place during the financial crisis, like ultra-low interest rates. As the unemployment rate has dropped, there are real worries […]

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• Sep 28, 2017

  It may be touted as a tax plan for the middle class, but there are a whole lot of benefits for the rich, too

  President Trump and his team have repeatedly said over the last few weeks that their tax bill won’t include tax cuts for the wealthy. It’s a promise the president repeated yesterday and that his economic adviser, Gary Cohn, echoed this morning on “Good Morning America.” But how true is that claim? Click the audio player […]

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• Sep 26, 2017

  Already vulnerable Puerto Rico struggles to recover from hurricanes

  President Donald Trump today said he’ll head to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday to survey damage from Hurricane Maria. Some 3.5 million residents in Puerto Rico remain without power. Food and water are scarce in the territories, and everything about the recovery is more complicated because the islands have vulnerable infrastructure.  […]

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• Sep 25, 2017

  Desperately needed: details on the federal tax plan

  

  The president is scheduled to talk more about it on Wednesday.

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• Sep 23, 2017

  More bad news for Uber. This time from London.

  Uber has a new fire to put out. The city of London said today that when Uber’s license to operate expires at the end of the month, it’s bye bye Uber. There won’t be a renewal. The company has been trying to recover from a long list of woes, which include — but are not […]

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