So last Friday, we received the following mass communique from Vice-President Joe Biden entitled "We Want Our Money Back":

Yesterday, President Obama announced our proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on the country's largest banks:

"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed. And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people...We want our money back, and we're going to get it."

The fee would recover every penny loaned to Wall Street during the financial crisis and stop the reckless abuses and excesses that nearly caused the collapse of our financial system in the first place.

But the banking industry -- among the most powerful lobbies in Washington -- is already launching attacks to stop Congress from enacting the proposal.

Barack and I aren't backing down. But to win, we'll need the American people to add their voice right away.

And here's our response to it:

Dear Joe, Barack and the current administration should of thought about this before handing billions over to the banks with basically no strings attached. Now the banks have you and the country by the proverbial nuts.

We can't comprehend why if the Fed is lending what amounts to almost free money to the banks, we the consumer are getting paid on average 1% in interest for them to hold our money only to have them take that 1% back via ridiculous banking and ATM fees. The playing field between bank and consumer really needs to be leveled so that it is a win-win situation for both.

The nice-guy regime is over. You cannot please everyone. We really need to get our shit together as a country. There is too much intellectual capital on your All-Star team to not win the trophy for our country.

Get it together or in another three years, there will surely be trades made to assure our country a Championship for the people. Don't let Massachusetts be the beginning of the end for your team.

Not to jock Jay, but we are thoroughly impressed with the way he handled this interview. Is it any wonder he's where he's at today? He truly deserves all the success he's attained...a true inspiration for all those out there getting their hustle on. STAY FOCUSED!!! Blueprint 3 in stores on 09/11/09. For more info visit: www.jay-z.com

WHOSE BARRIO? is an emotionally charged look at the changes in Manhattan’s Spanish Harlem as real estate speculation pushes rents and property values past the point of affordability for most area residents. By interviewing long-time East Harlemites and new arrivals, and digging deep into the flavor of a neighborhood long regarded as a cultural homeland for Latinos and other ethnic groups, the film reveals a complex web of individual and community interests. Directed and produced by Ed Morales and Laura Rivera, WHOSE BARRIO? is having its world premiere at the New York International Latino Film Festival on August 2, 2009.

They producers are seeking: Salsa – Fania style songs; Mambo – Palladium years style songs; Danzon; Danza and Puerto Rican Folk Conjunto.

For more info or to submit your music contact: Ed Morales, 347-271-4615, 646-342-2100, emorale@optonline.net

By Juleyka Lantigua

As you may know, taxpayers are about to own 60% of General Motors. So here’s our chance to get exactly what we want in our favorite mode of transportation. Personally, I am looking forward to annual meetings in which I can discuss my wish list at length with fellow stockholders.

A driver for over fifteen years, I have accumulated a list of improvements that I believe will make all our driving experiences more pleasurable. Feel free to add your own thoughts, fellow shareholder.

1.    How about 100 miles per gallon. We’ve been to the Moon and sent rovers Mars, but still can’t figure this one out?
2.    Standard built-in navigation systems for all models. Why should the rich be the only ones who don’t get lost anymore?
3.    Volume and tuning buttons standard on all steering wheels. The number of accidents avoided will stagger you.
4.    Remote control key for every car. There’s no reason a 2-cent battery in a plastic case should be turned into a luxury item.
5.    Different sounds for different warnings. Door open = three bells. Key in ignition = 4 pings. Headlights still on = 2 knocks. Those are just suggestions, but you get the point.
6.    Power-controlled seats on the driver and passenger seats; sometimes the driver is the passenger, and that’s an unpleasant surprise.
7.    Value retention, for real.
8.    Built-in technology that melds our techie lifestyles (iPods, cell phones, etc.)
9.    Roadside assistance service modeled after On-Star, connecting the car directly to the manufacturer and sharing performance data automatically, to keep you safe and the car running smoothly.
10.    Lastly: car designed so sleekly they make you want to get in and go fast.

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Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the world.

By Juleyka Lantigua
The more I hear, read, and witness the reaction of many (mostly conservative) white people to the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the worse I feel for white people in general.

You know the feeling. That nagging sense of collective embarrassment (C.E.) some of us brown/black folks feel whenever “one of us” does something so outrageously unimaginable that we shrug our shoulders and brace for impact.

Examples:
    A Latino mayor of huge city admitting to cheating on his wife.
    A certain Black civil rights icon threatening to castrate a presidential candidate.
    A Black star athlete shooting himself in a club after strapping his gun to his sweatpants.
    A first Latino governor who can’t get confirmed for Cabinet because he’s so corrupt.

I don’t know for sure if white people ever get a serious outbreak of C.E., but I bet plenty of them are feeling a little rash-y right about now. The likes of Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Bill O'Reilly and their ilk have spent the last week chomping at Judge Sotomayor, and trying to best each other for bottom-feeder status.

Among their most ignorant claims:
    She’s an immigrant fluent in “illegal speak.”
    She’s a racist who thinks she’s better than a white man.
    Her menstrual cycles will impact court rulings.
    She does not know the real America.

I’m not accusing all white people of sharing these incendiary views, not by far. But what I am aware of is that the rest of us non-whites are watching and listening carefully, because deep down in places we don’t talk about, we live with the fear that to some extent many more white folks see us in such radically warped ways as to render some of these statements .0000000001% true in their worldviews.

And that’s why I feel bad for white people right now. I feel bad for them because an almost measurable degree of doubt has been introduced to their relationships with the rest of us, because they have all become somewhat suspect in our eyes—just a tiny bit—because the most vociferous and dangerously ignorant among them have unleashed the type of venom that clouds the air for years.

I hope I’m wrong about this, and that this is merely a fleeting manifestation of some deep-set paranoia the immigrant, Bronx-bred, educated Latina in me harbors in a forgotten crevice in her mind.

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Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the world.

By Juleyka Lantigua

Despite all the depressing news about the evaporating worth of money, the imploding world economy and the impending doom about to befall us, right now is exactly the time to make one important financial investment: improving your personal finance knowhow.

My recommendation is a $16 investment in Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties, a book that changed my life when someone recommended it to me a decade ago. Like many of you out there, I grew up in a working class household (in the South Bronx) where we got by paycheck to paycheck. Those circumstances made for very pragmatic money managing principles: if you don’t have cash in hand, you can’t afford it. If you want something extra nice, start saving today. Those solid principles form a sturdy foundation for building financial stability and wealth, but without the right tools and knowledge, you won’t reap the benefits of living in the most advanced capitalistic system in history.

Stocks, bonds, insurance, compound interest and all such financial terms, did not enter my vocabulary until I was considerably in debt and headed straight for a financial abyss. In a moronic and robotic way, I was just making monthly payments and trying to avoid the dreaded collections calls, while making decent salaries and living well beyond my means.

Then I read this exceptional primer and began a serious overhaul of my financial life. Today, I’m no millionaire, but I am leaps and bounds ahead of where I would be—in terms of managing my debt, saving for retirement, and making smarter money decisions—than I would have ever been without this guide.The author, Beth Kobliner, is a contributor to the New York Times, and a former staff writer for Money magazine and financial columnist for Glamour. Her no-nonsense, jargon-free approach will decode the otherwise intimidating worlds of real estate, investment portfolios, savings plans and much more.Maybe you’re all set when it comes to managing your money. Congratulations. Now help out your sibling or friend who’s still struggling: buy them this book.

Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner, 2009 edition, paperback, $16 

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Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the world.

By Juleyka Lantigua

Since AmeriCorps was founded by President Clinton in 1993, 540,000 members have served with thousands of nonprofit organizations, public agencies and faith-based organizations nationwide. Among many other things, members tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, clean parks and streams, and recruit, train and manage community volunteers, and coordinate after-school programs.

In exchange, volunteers receive a very modest monetary award they can use towards college or qualified student loans. During their term of service, volunteers are also provided training, student loan deferment, health care, and in about half the cases, a modest annual living allowance.

The bill that President Obama just signed contains a few important changes: it increases volunteers to 250,000 from 75,000 annually, and bumps the education allowance to match the amount given by a Pell education grant ($5,350). The areas of service will also be expanded to include education, veterans’ affairs, health care, and renewable energy.

More needs to be done, though.

According to AmeriCorps, 46 percent of members embark on careers in education, social work, public safety, government and military service. A way to modernize the volunteer organization is to create strong mentorship opportunities for volunteers to interact with high-level managers, executives and elected officials who can help them envision and shape careers in those fields.

But to fully mature AmeriCorps we need to create tangible career tracks that lead to lasting professions in service, civic entrepreneurship, and elected office. President Obama is a perfect example of how community-level experience can form a solid foundation for a life in service and leadership.

We should provide the same opportunity to others.

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Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the world.

By Juleyka Lantigua

Inspired by the current Facebook craze that compels people to tell everyone stuff no one really needs (or wants) to know, I decided to put together 25 random things you may want to know.

1.    While Latinos make up 13.5% of the U.S. population, they account for only 7% of the bachelor’s degrees. Only one in four college-age Latinos is actually in college.
2.    The estimated circulation of newspapers targeting Latinos is 16M.
3.    Latinos have a combined buying power of over $452B.
4.    JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, SunTrust, HSBC and Citizens Bank all have indicated they will stop issuing student loans to students who attend community colleges.
5.    About 6.2M students attend community colleges, adding up to 40% of all undergraduates.
6.    Latinos make up 13.5% of the U.S. population but 19% of new HIV infections each year.
7.    An estimated 28% of Latino students drop out of high school, compared to 7% of white students and 13% of Black students.
8.    Nearly 50M adults (ages 20-74)—or 27% of the adult population—are obese.
9.    Overall, more than 108M adults, or 61% of the adult population are either obese or overweight.
10.  Ethnic minorities are 50% more likely than whites to live in communities with hazardous waste facilities.
11.  Close to 90 municipalities in 27 states have drafted—and a handful have enacted into law—ordinances that prohibit landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants.
12.  Among them are: Farmers Branch, Texas, Palm Bay, Fla., Valley Park, Mo., Riverside, N.J., and Hazleton, Pa.
13.  13.9M people (including 4.7M children) belong to families in which the head of the household is an undocumented immigrant.
14.   There are more than 1.5M adopted children in the United States, accounting for 2% of all U.S. children.
15.   An adoption law in Florida requires that, before putting a child up for adoption, a pregnant woman publish in a newspaper the names of partners, their physical descriptions, and locations where conception may have taken place if she does not know the father’s identity.
16.   Florida, which ranks fourth nationwide in adoptions, is the only state with such a law.
17.   In Florida, a woman does not need to consult the biological father to get an abortion.
18.   By law, more than 100 New York City agencies must offer assistance, documentation, interpretation and publications in six foreign languages: Spanish, Russian, Italian, French Creole, Korean and Chinese.
19.   170 languages are spoken in New York City.
20.   In L.A. County, at least 224 languages have been identified, with publications being produced in about 180 of them.
21.   Miami is probably the most truly bilingual city in the entire U.S., with 58.5% of the county’s 2.4M residents speaking Spanish.
22.   31 percent of American adults—63M people—know someone who has used a dating website.
23.   About 15% of—30M—know someone who has been in a long-term relationship or married someone he or she met online.
24.   58 percent of Latino consumers own a desktop computer.
25.   More than 16M Latinos are online.

Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the country.

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Note: All pop-up content embedded into articles are selected by our site editors and not individual contributors. They are purely for informational and contextual purposes and do not constitute an endorsement by individual contributors to the República Update.

Matt Taibbi has a very interesting take on the economic crisis in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine entitled “The Big Takeover where he goes on to say  that the global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power and how Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution."

The article's opening line "It's over — we're officially, royally fucked," hooked us right in.

Thanks to Christophe for the lead.

More after the [ JUMP ]

By Juleyka Lantigua
Happy Women’s History Month. We’re making it as we live and breathe.

Starting with First Lady Michelle Obama, prominent intelligent, educated and powerful black and brown women will inspire, validate, reassure and motivate young women who have lacked viable role models in key areas like politics, corporate America and social leadership.

As simple as it may seem, the example of a woman of color serving as a Senator, in a cabinet position or on a board of directors has an immediate mirror effect.

Countless little girls can easily see themselves in women like Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Avon CEO Andrea Jung, PepsiCo Chairwoman Indra K. Nooyi or U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. The usual “when I grow up I want to” can now be filled in with “serve on the President’s Cabinet,” “lead a Fortune 500 company,” “work in international relations.”

Growing up in the South Bronx in the 1980’s I rarely saw important Latina and black politicians or public servants to inspire me to follow in their footsteps. My aspirations were set by watching successful men, and dreaming of one day being “a female something.” I thought that succeeding as a woman would make me an exception in male professions, almost regardless of the field. I thought about being a female lawyer, a female pilot, a female writer, a female university president, even a female Supreme Court judge.

That’s no longer the case.

Today, little girls everywhere will not need to think it’s exceptional that they can be corporate leaders, members of Congress, secretary of something, or hold a high post in the White House. Seeing women like EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Cecilia Muñoz, who heads the White House office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett opens up layers and layers of possibility.

On the corporate side, women of color represent 13.4 percent of the U.S. workforce, with more than five million holding managerial and professional positions. But in the Fortune 500 companies we only account for 1.7 percent of corporate officers and top earners (the five highest-paid employees in a company), according to Catalyst, a research firm.

Leaders like Xerox President Ursula Burns and former MTV President Christina Norman ignite curious young minds to explore the possibility of one day assuming those posts. They also give mothers and fathers role models to point to when their daughter comes home eager to reach for the stars.

So, during this women’s history month, please share these examples — or some of your own — with the young girls in your life.

Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the country.

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Note: All pop-up content embedded into articles are selected by our site editors and not individual contributors. They are purely for informational and contextual purposes and do not constitute an endorsement by individual contributors to the República Update.