Tag: Blackstone

Barclays sells credit card debt to Blackstone: Profiting from Poverty

Barclays (BARC.L), opens new tab has agreed to sell about $1.1 billion of credit card debt in the United States to Blackstone. Banks globally have been making greater use of credit risk transfers to shed risk from loan portfolios, Reuters has reported, with investors sharing the risk of losses. (See Corporate home buyouts: homelessness, mortgage & rent crisis rising) Barclays’ investment…

Blackstone Group company employed children employed children to clean slaughterhouses in U.S. (Packers Sanitation Services / PSSI)

Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), based in Kieler, Wisconsin, has paid 1.5 million U.S. dollars in civil money penalties after a DOL investigation found that the company “employed at least 102 children — from 13 to 17 years of age — in hazardous occupations and had them working overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states,” a statement read.

Children were working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws, and head splitters, according to the investigation, which began in August 2022.

The sanctions smoke screen: ongoing business partnerships the press missed

You don’t want to call sanctions a hoax because they legitimately put compliance pressure on our businesses and people. But do they put any pressure on the actual targets? It’s part of our news cycle and even our language to think so. After all, what is a “sanction” if not a punishment for breaking the rules? In a move that…

Corporate home buyouts: homelessness, mortgage & rent crisis rising

Firms now control a significant portion of the rental market in the United States and Canada, raising rents in the service of turning profits. They also continue to receive tax breaks and subsidies. When the US federal government forecloses on homes due to residents’ inability to pay their mortgage, for instance, the homes are then resold to investment firms at…