There is a new movie out about my hometown and it has Durham all wrong.

Main Street uses Durham as a setting for a story about a group of people trying to make it in a struggling town. Here are a few ways that the script sets up Durham:

• “This city,” says a voice over in the preview, “like many in America, has come to a (more…)

1. Greece is not as a big of a problem as some might think. For one, the GDP of Greece is only the size of Rhode Island and most of its sovereign debt is held by European investors. It is also (more…)

In testimony before Congress on Thursday, the Deputy Comptroller of the Currency asserted the OCC’s support of more short-term small dollar loans by their national banks.

Barry Wides (who is a nice guy) spent most of his time extolling efforts by member banks to provide credit through secured credit cards, overdrafts, and short-term installment loans.

Poor people are exactly the ones that banks are moving off their rolls lately with (more…)

The American Community Survey’s report chronicling where brainy college graduates have moved to in the last ten years seems to mirror reports on where the housing market has remained stable.

Any list of good housing markets will include Raleigh and Austin. These areas are gaining in population. They came into the decade with low-priced housing. They have an ideal mix of (more…)

The Federal Reserve will hold the first of three public meetings to give the public a chance to comment on the acquisition of ING by Capital One.

Interest in the deal is so great that the Fed is taking the unusual step of holding the first meeting in a DC hotel. Seven panels, each made up of at least five commenters, fill the schedule. The hearings include testimony from Cap One and ING. Consumer advocates will speak against approval, but the Fed will hear support from the deal from many community development groups that have received grants from the two financial entities.

Advocates face a strategic dilemma: should they oppose the deal or instead ask for the Fed to give the merger the merger their blessing, albeit with conditions? Such an arrangement would require Cap One to develop a plan to make investments and grants to nonprofits and CDCs.

The deal would create an institution with over $300 billion in deposits. That is only a few billion less than Citigroup. The deal challenges the intention of Dodd-Frank to wind down the concentration of just a few big banks. This deal presages a fifth member of the Too Big to Fail club.