The Smithian

One small bounced check or an overdraft of a few dollars is enough to get you blacklisted, barred from being able to open a bank account...one million lower-income Americans are in exactly this situation. There are companies whose business it is to gather information on the various financial transgressions people commit. The banks pay a fee to subscribe to this information—which was originally being collected to help banks identify serial fraudsters—and if your name comes up, too many banks will simply tell you, thanks, but no thanks, and turn your business away.

Last week, the President...talked about the need to repair the country’s infrastructure. Where better to start than in Detroit? By the standards of the banking and auto bailouts, the sums involved are small: the banks received seven hundred billion dollars; the auto companies eighty billion. Already, there are hopeful signs. The auto industry has turned a profit and repaid much of the federal monies. And hipsters and artisans aren’t the only ones moving in: firms such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield; Quicken Loans, an online-mortgage lender; GalaxE.Solutions, a tech firm; and the insurance company Title Source have also recently arrived. Americans of all ages are increasingly eager to live in urban environments: a smaller, rebuilt Detroit could eventually thrive. “I speak of new cities and new people,” Obama said last week, quoting Carl Sandburg. Here’s an opportunity to turn words into deeds.

This month, the Kardashian sisters...launched the Kardashian Kard, a prepaid MasterCard aimed at teens and their parents, who can track spending habits via cellphone using the product. Not so fast, though, says Connecticut Attorney General (and Senator-elect) Richard Blumenthal, who says the card is laden with “pernicious and predatory fees… designed to promptly diminish value in every transaction.” He’s ordered a review of the Kard’s practices in his state.