Chext is a site that enables the user to enter transactions and track their bank balance via SMS. People sharing a bank account can also get updates when money is spent from the account by the other person.
[more inside]
posted by reenum
on Sep 19, 2011 -
30 comments
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. In a few hours, I will destroy the Greek economy. Unless, that is, you give me the sum of...
one trillion dollars!
(SLNYT, but with this much money I can afford to look frumpy)
posted by anigbrowl
on May 10, 2010 -
61 comments
Betting Against the American Dream. In 2005, just as Wall Street started to get cold feet about the housing market, the
Magnetar hedge fund helped create a new wave of billion-dollar mortgage-backed securities, pushed bankers to include riskier sub-prime mortgages, and then shorted the securities, making millions when the bubble finally burst. Traders on both sides of the deals pocketed enormous fees even if their banks went under when the securities failed.
Pulitzer Prize-winning ProPublica,
This American Life, and NPR's
Planet Money track down some of the big winners in the housing/financial crisis. No time to read or listen? It seemed so much like a scheme from
The Producers, they even recorded
a show tune to explain it all. (
Previously,
2,
3)
posted by straight
on Apr 15, 2010 -
30 comments
A software engineer blogs about the
inept and insecure way in which a bank asks customers to file a claim when they're the victim of fraudulent transactions. Dozens of customers chime in with similar experiences, over the course of months. The bank in question contributes nothing to the conversation, and the system remains both
insecure and broken today [that last link is probably blocked by your browser or operating system, but don't worry - the form on the page doesn't work anyway].
posted by subpixel
on Nov 25, 2009 -
28 comments
Swiss private bank Wegelin says goodbye and good riddance to America. Swiss private bank Wegelin
announced two weeks ago that it is to stop doing business in the United States. The St Gallen-based bank, Switzerland's oldest, said the decision had been taken in response to stricter measures introduced in the US against tax dodgers and planned changes to estate tax, which would make some non-US citizens liable to tax if they inherited US securities.
In
a letter to investors it said Swiss banks were likely to find themselves in an untenable position, as they would be expected to know which clients were liable to pay US tax – "an impossible undertaking", given the lack of clear definitions in the matter.
posted by DreamerFi
on Sep 2, 2009 -
88 comments
Confused about the banking crisis? Confused by banks in general?
This American Life's latest show
Bad Bank (
streaming, mp3) is a highly informative (and entertaining) overview of how banks work, and what problems they--and we all--face in this current crisis. Produced by another great NPR show,
Planet Money.
posted by zardoz
on Mar 2, 2009 -
23 comments
iBank? 25 billion in cash and short-term securities. No long-term debt. Why Apple should get into the banking sector, pronto.
posted by leotrotsky
on Jan 23, 2009 -
49 comments
Politicians and
citizens alike are struggling with the decision to bail out the under-performing American automakers. But
what will happen to the cities and towns of the Midwest if the automakers fail?
Flint, Michigan provides an interesting template. In the 1960s and 70s, Flint had a population of 200,000 and was home to some 80,000 autoworkers. Today, after many
plant closures, relocations, and worker buyouts, only 8,000 autoworkers remain. So,
what are we to do with cities like Flint? There have been lots of ideas, like
demolishing dilapidated houses, renovating brownfield sites like
Chevy-in-the-Hole [pdf], downtown business
renovation, and increasing community participation by
giving ownership of vacant lots to local homeowners.
[more inside]
posted by billysumday
on Dec 5, 2008 -
54 comments
