Drive through a low-income neighborhood and you're likely to see streets lined with pawnshops, check cashers, rent-to-own stores, payday and tax refund lenders, auto title pawns, and buy-here-pay-here used car lots. We're awash in "alternative financial services" directed at the poor and those with credit problems. Howard Karger describes this world as an economic Wild West, where just about any financial scheme that's not patently illegal is tolerated. Taking...

With one immigrant’s story, two authors analyze America’s immigration system and suggest better, more human policies.

The Accidental American calls for a bold new approach to immigration: a free international flow of labor to match globalization’s free flow of capital. After all, corporations are encouraged to move anywhere in the world they can maximize their earnings. People shouldn’t have to risk

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To try to solve their toughest problems, people either push for what they want at all costs or try to completely avoid conflict. Adam Kahane argues that these two seemingly contradictory approaches are each a reflection of two distinct, fundamental drives: power, the single-minded desire to achieve one's solitary purpose; and love, the drive towards unity. They are inextricable parts of human nature, so to achieve lasting change you have to able to...

Offers practical steps for women to bring their passion, brains, and background to the power tables and make life better for themselves, their company or organization and global society. Combines compelling research, international experience, and fascinating personal stories with solid advice. Tarr-Whelan has extensive background as a business woman, a government official, a non-profit leader, and a nurse. A few "first women" are making key decisions...

Synopsis: Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights. Was the Boston Tea Party the first WTO-style protest against transnational corporations? Did Supreme Court sell out America's citizens in the nineteenth century, with consequences lasting to this day? Is there a way for American citizens to recover democracy of, by, and for the people? Thom Hartmann takes on these most difficult questions and tells a startling...

Right now, the number of people living on $2 or less a day is more than the entire population of the world in 1950. These 2.7 billion people are not just the world's greatest challenge; they represent an extraordinary market opportunity. By learning how to serve them ethically and effectively, businesses can earn handsome profits while helping to solve one of the world's most intractable problems. The key is what Paul Polak and Mal Warwick call Zero-Based...

Provides the definitive window into key concepts that have formed the backdrop of our democracy: the nature of revolution, stewardship of power, liberty, and the ever-present danger of factions and tyranny. Most contemporary historians celebrate Jefferson's victory over Adams in 1800--which Jefferson firmly maintained was "as real a revolution...as that of 1776--as the beginning of the two-party system, but Sisson believes it is entirely the wrong...

"This book has a simple message for business leaders: you help yourselves by helping the poor. Instead of feeling as if the economy is working against them, the poor need to feel they have a stake in it so they will buy your products and put money in the bank. Supporting poor people's efforts to move into the middle class is the only way to enrich everyone, rich and poor alike"--