banks

A new kind of bank is sweeping across India. And it’s missing one standard feature.

Ram Ram bank offers no interest or loans. It has no security gates, guards or locks. Which is fine because it also has no money. But around 5,000 customers still flock to the bank to make some invaluable deposits. Instead of their hard earned cash people write the name “Ram” on pieces of paper. “Ram” is short for Ramayana, the protagonist in an Indian myth. The bank even provides notebook and paper since some customers make thousands of deposits a day.  read more »

The pundits have finally found a name for our pain.

No one wants to call our troubles a depression because that is such a frightening thought. And in fact it is too big a leap. After all, unemployment may be pushing 10 percent, but not nearly as bad as the 20-30-40 percent out of work during the Great Depression. The Dow Jones may be off some 50 percent, but values were down 80 percent back in 1930. And government has a better handle on the problem than President Herbert Hoover ever did.  read more »