Beginning January One, Bank of America will be charging customers $5 a month to use their debit cards. Back in 2009, small businesses banded together to fight back against ever escalating fees levied by the banks. This was a monumental win for small businesses- these fees amounted to a $16Billion a year transfer of wealthContinue reading “Bank of America to Charge Fee to Use… Your Money”
Tag Archives: Main Street Alliance
Small Businesses Applaud Paid Sick Days Vote in Seattle
Last week, the Seattle City Council, in a historic voted, passed a new city-wide standard ensuring that workers will have access to paid sick days. The vote tally was a resounding 8-1, a testament to the broad support the proposal garnered from key stakeholders in the community – including local small business owners.
Small Businesses Oppose Mandatory E-Verify as Job-Killer
Ahead of a scheduled mark-up of H.R. 2885, a proposal that would mandate the use of the controversial E-Verify employment verification system by every employer in the country, small business owner David Borris, owner of Hel’s Kitchen Catering in Northbrook, IL spoke at a press event outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on September 14Continue reading “Small Businesses Oppose Mandatory E-Verify as Job-Killer”
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Lacks Director: Small Businesses Economy Suffers
More than a year after the passage of the financial reform, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau still doesn’t have a director at the helm. Robert Cordray, former Ohio Attorney General, awaits confirmation, now stalled by Senate Republicans more interested in abetting the banks and gutting the bureau than in protecting consumers. This is bad notContinue reading “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Lacks Director: Small Businesses Economy Suffers”
Rate Review Victory for Consumers, Small Businesses
New rules for health insurance rate increases took effect on September 1st. By giving consumers access to more information about why insurers are raising their rates – and whether experts deem the increases reasonable – the new rules aim to put downward pressure on health insurance premiums.
Association Health Plans: Good or Bad for Small Business?
Changes are finally coming to states’ health insurance marketplaces. For small businesses, these changes can’t come soon enough. New rules prohibiting discrimination and strengthening oversight of rate increases will protect small businesses from rate shocks. A guaranteed essential benefits package will provide assurance of a minimum level of coverage. And new state insurance exchanges willContinue reading “Association Health Plans: Good or Bad for Small Business?”
E-verify Hurts Local Economies
Main Street Alliance members Edgar Andrade of Bushwick, Brooklyn and Jim Houser of Portland, Oregon were joined on a press call Wednesday by Mayor Paul Bridges of Uvalda, GA to address the drastic ramifications of state-based, enforcement-only immigration laws. These laws are being enacted in states across the country, starting in Arizona and spreading toContinue reading “E-verify Hurts Local Economies”
Main Street Takes on Wall Street…And Wins!
Big bank lobbyists have been putting on a full-court press in Washington, D.C. to roll back components of the financial overhaul passed last year and free Wall Street to go back to the “business as usual” that led to the financial crisis in 2008. The bankers are gunning for the new Consumer Protection Bureau andContinue reading “Main Street Takes on Wall Street…And Wins!”
Direct from Main Street: Maine Small Business Views on Credit and Lending
This report shares the findings of a survey of Maine small businesses, focusing on their experiences with credit and their reactions to one current proposal to support small business and economic growth: the creation of a state bank. This report contributes to the discussion of such a proposal by sharing the perspectives of Maine’s MainContinue reading “Direct from Main Street: Maine Small Business Views on Credit and Lending”
Health Rights Organizing Project Plans Next Steps Toward Equitable Health Care
Nearly a year after the passage of health care reform, the Alliance for a Just Society convened members of its Health Rights Organizing Project, a national collaboration of grassroots community organizations working on health care, to reflect on that victory and to develop next steps in the long march towards an equitable health care system.Continue reading “Health Rights Organizing Project Plans Next Steps Toward Equitable Health Care”