Indebted - Debt and Race in America

By: Maurice BP-Weeks
  • Summary

  • A podcast about debt and race in America hosted by lifelong economic and racial justice organizer, Maurice BP-Weeks. Each episode tackles a different aspect of debt. It explores how debt works and why that spells bad news for Black people and our entire economy.
    © 2023 Convergence Magazine
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Episodes
  • Hope, Solutions, and Forgiveness with Senator Elizabeth Warren
    Nov 16 2023
    Welcome to the Season One finale of Indebted! Our episodes have focused on exposing how debt harms Black people and the entire economy—but people are fighting back. There are reasons to hope for a better, debt-free future. In this episode Maurice is joined by four heavy hitters in the fight against debt and its roots in systemic racism. They discuss the many approaches to tackling these problems, from education and legislation to policy advocacy and direct action. Guests this episode include: US Senator Elizabeth Warren Astra Taylor, co-founder of Debt Collective and author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart Louise Seamster, assistant professor of Sociology and African-American Studies at the University of Iowa Jhumpa Bhattacharya, co-founder and president of Maven Collaborative Support this show and others like it by becoming a Patreon supporter at Patreon.com/convergencemag
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • The Debt We Share
    Nov 9 2023
    While municipalities in America don't leverage debt in quite the same way an individual or family does (i.e. they can't put it all on a credit card or step into a payday lending office), they still find themselves needing to spend on long-term projects they can't afford through standard taxation. Enter municipal bonds, a type of loan that in ideal circumstances provides stable interest rates and payment schedules for the city and a secure investment for a diverse group of institutional lenders like banks and pension funds. A simplified explanation can make it sound like an easy win-win for all sides. But this isn't always the case. In this episode, Maurice explains the struggles Puerto Rico, Chicago, and Detroit have in common when it comes to municipal bonds and urban racial inequity. Joining him to further elaborate and help listeners better understand a purposefully complicated system is Saqib Bhatti. Along with Maurice, Saqib co-founded the Action Center on Race and the Economy
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    47 mins
  • Why Elon Musk Gets to Waste $13 Billion in Loans and You Don’t, with Charles Khan
    Nov 2 2023
    The "world's richest man," Elon Musk, purchased Twitter (since renamed X) for $44 billion in 2022. It's estimated he holds $13 billion of that amount as debt from bank and other loans, a sum the average working class person would obviously face severe repercussions for. He didn't have the liquid cash for the purchase and the company only generated $4 billion in revenue in 2022, but he was given loans to make the purchase anyway. The site's always been a long way from seeing a profit, and is in a worse position since Musk's takeover. There's no sign of it earning the revenue necessary to pay off the debts he has incurred. So what's the deal? Why is there a separate set of rules for the rich when it comes to debt? And how do we fight to make these rules more equitable and hold wealthy mega-debtors accountable? In this episode, Maurice talks with Charles Khan, an organizer with Hedge Clippers, a national campaign focused on unmasking the dark money schemes and strategies the billionai
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    32 mins

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