You are not logged in.
Pages: 1
By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared skeptical of the payday lending industry's challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure in a case that President Joe Biden's administration has said imperils an agency set up to curb predatory lending after the 2008 global financial crisis.
The justices heard arguments in the administration's appeal of a lower court's ruling that the CFPB's funding mechanism, established when Congress passed Democratic-backed legislation in 2010 creating the agency, violated a constitutional provision giving lawmakers the power of the purse. The agency, which enforces consumer financial laws, draws money each year from the U.S. Federal Reserve rather than budgets passed by Congress.
It was the first of several cases the justices are tackling during their new nine-month term, which began on Monday, that could curb the power of federal agencies.
Questions posed by the court's three liberal justices and at least two of the six conservative justices - Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - signaled doubt over the argument by the challengers that the CFPB's funding design violates the U.S. Constitution's "appropriations clause," which vests spending authority in Congress.
Kavanaugh pushed back against the assertion that the structure unlawfully lets the agency determine its own funding without a meaningful limit set by Congress.
"Congress could change it tomorrow. And there's nothing perpetual or permanent or about this," Kavanaugh said.
Barrett expressed reservations about how the challengers - two payday lending trade groups - would rectify the funding issue.
"I think we're all struggling to figure out, then, what's the standard that you would use," Barrett told Noel Francisco, who argued for the challengers, adding: "How do you decide how much is too much or how specific is specific enough?"
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, arguing for Biden's administration, called the funding mechanism lawful and said Congress has used a "materially identical" structure for other financial regulators including the Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
'EXACTING CONTROL'
The court's conservative majority has rolled back the power of U.S. agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency in recent years. Some of the conservative justices on Tuesday echoed the industry concerns about the CFPB.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas asked whether the agency's setup "eviscerates the kind of exacting control that Congress usually exercises in the appropriations process."
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts called Prelogar's view of congressional appropriations power "aggressive," and said such a stance could undermine the constitutional separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government when both are controlled by the same party.
"In that situation, you can see Congress empowering the president in a way that might seem unusual to the framers" of the Constitution, Roberts added.
The liberal justices pressed the challengers on the repercussions of deeming the CFPB's funding structure unconstitutional.
"It sure seems that on your view, the Federal Reserve would also be unconstitutional," liberal Justice Elena Kagan said.
Payday loans are short-term and high-interest loans typically due on the borrower's next payday after the loan is made, with the annual percentage rate usually steep - 390% or more, according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
The CFPB was established by legislation signed by Democratic former President Barack Obama to curb the type of predatory lending that contributed to the financial crisis. The agency has delivered $16 billion of relief to consumers as a result of its 300-plus enforcement actions from 2012-22 including a $3.7 billion settlement last year with Wells Fargo.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled that the CFPB's funding structure violated the appropriations clause. The 5th Circuit also invalidated a CFPB regulation opposed by payday lenders that stops them from trying to charge a borrower's bank account after two unsuccessful attempts due to insufficient funds.
Many conservatives and their Republican allies see the CFPB as part of an unwieldy "administrative state," the network of agencies responsible for the array of federal regulations affecting businesses and individuals.
Its supporters have urged the justices to uphold the CFPB's funding mechanism, saying that a ruling against the agency would leave consumers vulnerable to deceptive and abusive practices, and could place its existing rules on shaky legal ground.
A ruling is expected by the end of June.
(Reporting by John Kruzel and Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)
Visit my site ... 32degreeslv.s3.amazonaws.com
But recent surveys in the UK have exposed startling rates of period poverty in one of the world's richest countries and sparked a national conversation.
With a contraceptive implant that made her bleed at least 25 days out of every 28, the problem was particularly acute for Krengel.
Related: Calculate how period poverty would impact you
Krengel rationed her menstrual products, wearing a single sanitary pad for up to 20 hours (instead of the recommended three or four), inserting a contraceptive diaphragm to catch the blood or simply free bleeding (using nothing at all).
Throwing away her old jeans later, she noticed that "all of them had this red stain running down the seam, because I would just be free bleeding at least two or three days every week."
Like countless girls and women around the world who miss days of school or work every month because they can't access the products they need, Krengel found herself spending more time at home, worried about going out.
Menstrual products and other toiletries in Krengel's bathroom. Photo: Sarah Tilotta for CNN
'The first thing under the bus'
At the time, Krengel, her partner and their two daughters -- one of whom was just a few months old -- were living in Norwich, a small city 100 miles northeast of London.
Switching between two different types of welfare, the family's housing benefit was paused and they were told to reapply. But there was a months-long backlog: "We were left without any money to pay rent for a very long time," Krengel recalls.
They turned to high-interest payday loans and friends and family to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.
When they had no money for food, Krengel's brother-in-law did an online grocery shop. When her two-year-old daughter had no winter coat, Krengel's sister went out and bought one.
But when she had no menstrual products, no one knew and so no one helped.
"Any time someone was offering to help us financially, I would say, 'go buy something for the kids.'"
And it was often a choice between spending £1 ($1.30) on a packet of sanitary pads or putting food on the table, she says.
"You can make dinner for four people for £1," she says. "That seemed so much more important than something that was only for me."
Menstrual products are "the first thing that goes under the bus when you're poor."
'Tip of the iceberg'
Ten percent of girls and women aged between 14 and 21 surveyed in 2017 by children's charity Plan International UK said they had experienced being unable to afford sanitary products. Four in ten said they had used toilet paper because they had struggled to afford sanitary wear.
The research was triggered by media reports last March that some schoolgirls in Leeds, a city in northern England, were missing up to a week of school every month because they could not afford menstrual products. Others were regularly using tissue paper or socks instead of pads or tampons.
"We know of a few hundred cases (of girls unable to afford menstrual products)," says Sharon White, head of the UK's School and Public Health Nurses Association. "But that's the tip of the iceberg."
And it's a problem that can impact women of any age. Many UK food banks now offer non-food items such as menstrual products and the demand for them is growing significantly, explains Alison Inglis-Jones, trustee and volunteer at the Trussell Trust, which runs more than 420 food banks across the country.
A protest in London last December called for an end to period poverty in the UK. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
"I've seen people coming in using newspaper, tissues or socks," she says. "One woman was taking paper out of a public library and using that."
"If you can't afford food you can't afford sanitary protection," says Tina Leslie from Freedom4Girls, the charity that first flagged the issue among UK schoolgirls last year. "The problem is the same here as it is in Kenya."
And poverty is on the rise in many more developed countries, partly due to a decade of spending cuts.
Current trends show that the long-term policy of austerity in the UK, largely implemented by Conservative-led governments of the last eight years, has impacted women more significantly than men -- and women of menstruating age most of all.
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, many of them are mothers claiming child benefit and other forms of family welfare and therefore account for a big proportion of welfare payments -- that means they are hardest hit when payouts are cut.
But for many girls and women globally, financial poverty is compounded by the stigma around menstruation that leads women to "hand off tampons to each other like we're doing a drug deal," as Krengel puts it.
"Two massively stigmatized experiences -- menstruation and poverty -- intersect to create this bizarre and horrible form of poverty," she says.
She, like many others, believes both must be addressed simultaneously to have any long-lasting impact.
Tackling the taboo
Since Plan International released their UK study, long-running campaigns tackling the issue have been picking up more interest than ever before -- and new ones have sprung up too.
A protest in central London last December was a watershed moment for those campaigns, marking the first time the issue hit mainstream headlines in the UK.
The rally outside Downing Street, the official residence of Prime Minister Theresa May, attracted celebrities including British models Daisy Lowe and Adwoa Aboah and hundreds of demonstrators, some sporting tampon jewelry and vagina-related paraphernalia.
Hundreds turned out in London last December to protest against period poverty. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
Related: It's time for women and girls to speak about their periods
Many protesters told CNN they were shocked to learn that period poverty was a UK problem.
"It's disgraceful that our society's even having this problem and disgraceful that we should feel ashamed for talking about it," 18-year-old Suzie Murray said at the rally.
Chella Quint, who runs a campaign called Period Positive, encouraging shame-free conversations about menstruation, has only recently freed herself from that psychological trap.
"There were times when I couldn't financially afford menstrual products and that was worrying, and there were other times when I couldn't socially and culturally afford it, because I was afraid to say anything," she says.
Not having loads of toys as a child "didn't harm me forever I don't think," Quint explains. "But the embodied shame around feeling negative about periods -- that definitely has."
Rachel Krengel makes a similar point. "I think there's a part of every menstruator on this planet who is still a 12-year-old who's just spotted blood on their crotch and is so desperately ashamed of that."
Demonstrators at the December protest in London. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
'It's so easy to fix'
With so much attention currently focused on women's issues and gender inequality, Krengel believes now is the time to push for change.
She wants to see free provision of menstrual products in all UK schools. By her calculation it would cost £11 ($14) per child per year.
"It's so easy to fix," she says. "It's a nothing amount of money."
A petition started by Krengel and other members of the London-based feminist activist group Fourth Wave is calling on British Prime Minister Theresa May to introduce free menstrual products in all UK schools. It has gathered more than 135,000 signatures to date.
Scotland is set to do just that. In August, the Scottish government set aside £5.2 million ($6.8 million) to provide free sanitary products in schools, colleges and universities across the country.
Wales has also set aside £1 million ($1.3 million) for a similar project.
Related: When pads are a luxury, getting your period means missing out on life
The UK's Labour Party -- the largest opposition party -- has pledged to spend £10 million ($13 million) to provide free sanitary products in secondary schools, homeless shelters and food banks. Smaller parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Women's Equality Party, have made similar pledges.
In a debate in the House of Commons in June, Minister for Women Victoria Atkins said there was "no significant evidence" that period poverty was having an impact on school attendance.
"For (the government) to do something about it now would mean an acknowledgement that child poverty has soared over the last seven years," Krengel says. "It would be an admission of what austerity has done to our society."
Krengel with her daughters, Kitty, 9, (left) and Millie, 8. Photo: Sarah Tilotta for CNN
Along with free provision of pads or tampons, campaigners are calling for better education about periods in schools.
Krengel says that if these national conversations had been happening when she was struggling with period poverty in secret, it might have helped. She hopes people like her are feeling "a bit less alone now."
Krengel, who no longer experiences period poverty herself, says that if these national conversations had been happening when she was struggling in secret, it might have helped. She hopes people like her are feeling "a bit less alone now."
But while "not feeling alone is great, it has limited usefulness," she says. "What we need is some actual change. We need some action."
Clarification: This story has been updated to better reflect that activist Rachel Krengel no longer experiences period poverty herself and has organized a petition calling for free menstrual products in all UK schools.
Here is my web site: https://cloudstacks.objects-us-east-1.d … index.html
By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared skeptical of the payday lending industry's challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure in a case that President Joe Biden's administration has said imperils an agency set up to curb predatory lending after the 2008 global financial crisis.
The justices heard arguments in the administration's appeal of a lower court's ruling that the CFPB's funding mechanism, established when Congress passed Democratic-backed legislation in 2010 creating the agency, violated a constitutional provision giving lawmakers the power of the purse. The agency, which enforces consumer financial laws, draws money each year from the U.S. Federal Reserve rather than budgets passed by Congress.
It was the first of several cases the justices are tackling during their new nine-month term, which began on Monday, that could curb the power of federal agencies.
Questions posed by the court's three liberal justices and at least two of the six conservative justices - Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - signaled doubt over the argument by the challengers that the CFPB's funding design violates the U.S. Constitution's "appropriations clause," which vests spending authority in Congress.
Kavanaugh pushed back against the assertion that the structure unlawfully lets the agency determine its own funding without a meaningful limit set by Congress.
"Congress could change it tomorrow. And there's nothing perpetual or permanent or about this," Kavanaugh said.
Barrett expressed reservations about how the challengers - two payday lending trade groups - would rectify the funding issue.
"I think we're all struggling to figure out, then, what's the standard that you would use," Barrett told Noel Francisco, who argued for the challengers, adding: "How do you decide how much is too much or how specific is specific enough?"
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, arguing for Biden's administration, called the funding mechanism lawful and said Congress has used a "materially identical" structure for other financial regulators including the Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
'EXACTING CONTROL'
The court's conservative majority has rolled back the power of U.S. agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency in recent years. Some of the conservative justices on Tuesday echoed the industry concerns about the CFPB.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas asked whether the agency's setup "eviscerates the kind of exacting control that Congress usually exercises in the appropriations process."
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts called Prelogar's view of congressional appropriations power "aggressive," and said such a stance could undermine the constitutional separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government when both are controlled by the same party.
"In that situation, you can see Congress empowering the president in a way that might seem unusual to the framers" of the Constitution, Roberts added.
The liberal justices pressed the challengers on the repercussions of deeming the CFPB's funding structure unconstitutional.
"It sure seems that on your view, the Federal Reserve would also be unconstitutional," liberal Justice Elena Kagan said.
Payday loans are short-term and high-interest loans typically due on the borrower's next payday after the loan is made, with the annual percentage rate usually steep - 390% or more, according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
The CFPB was established by legislation signed by Democratic former President Barack Obama to curb the type of predatory lending that contributed to the financial crisis. The agency has delivered $16 billion of relief to consumers as a result of its 300-plus enforcement actions from 2012-22 including a $3.7 billion settlement last year with Wells Fargo.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled that the CFPB's funding structure violated the appropriations clause. The 5th Circuit also invalidated a CFPB regulation opposed by payday lenders that stops them from trying to charge a borrower's bank account after two unsuccessful attempts due to insufficient funds.
Many conservatives and their Republican allies see the CFPB as part of an unwieldy "administrative state," the network of agencies responsible for the array of federal regulations affecting businesses and individuals.
Its supporters have urged the justices to uphold the CFPB's funding mechanism, saying that a ruling against the agency would leave consumers vulnerable to deceptive and abusive practices, and could place its existing rules on shaky legal ground.
A ruling is expected by the end of June.
(Reporting by John Kruzel and Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)
Feel free to surf to my web site - https://cloudstacks.sos-ch-dk-2.exo.io
But recent surveys in the UK have exposed startling rates of period poverty in one of the world's richest countries and sparked a national conversation.
With a contraceptive implant that made her bleed at least 25 days out of every 28, the problem was particularly acute for Krengel.
Related: Calculate how period poverty would impact you
Krengel rationed her menstrual products, wearing a single sanitary pad for up to 20 hours (instead of the recommended three or four), inserting a contraceptive diaphragm to catch the blood or simply free bleeding (using nothing at all).
Throwing away her old jeans later, she noticed that "all of them had this red stain running down the seam, because I would just be free bleeding at least two or three days every week."
Like countless girls and women around the world who miss days of school or work every month because they can't access the products they need, Krengel found herself spending more time at home, worried about going out.
Menstrual products and other toiletries in Krengel's bathroom. Photo: Sarah Tilotta for CNN
'The first thing under the bus'
At the time, Krengel, her partner and their two daughters -- one of whom was just a few months old -- were living in Norwich, a small city 100 miles northeast of London.
Switching between two different types of welfare, the family's housing benefit was paused and they were told to reapply. But there was a months-long backlog: "We were left without any money to pay rent for a very long time," Krengel recalls.
They turned to high-interest payday loans and friends and family to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.
When they had no money for food, Krengel's brother-in-law did an online grocery shop. When her two-year-old daughter had no winter coat, Krengel's sister went out and bought one.
But when she had no menstrual products, no one knew and so no one helped.
"Any time someone was offering to help us financially, I would say, 'go buy something for the kids.'"
And it was often a choice between spending £1 ($1.30) on a packet of sanitary pads or putting food on the table, she says.
"You can make dinner for four people for £1," she says. "That seemed so much more important than something that was only for me."
Menstrual products are "the first thing that goes under the bus when you're poor."
'Tip of the iceberg'
Ten percent of girls and women aged between 14 and 21 surveyed in 2017 by children's charity Plan International UK said they had experienced being unable to afford sanitary products. Four in ten said they had used toilet paper because they had struggled to afford sanitary wear.
The research was triggered by media reports last March that some schoolgirls in Leeds, a city in northern England, were missing up to a week of school every month because they could not afford menstrual products. Others were regularly using tissue paper or socks instead of pads or tampons.
"We know of a few hundred cases (of girls unable to afford menstrual products)," says Sharon White, head of the UK's School and Public Health Nurses Association. "But that's the tip of the iceberg."
And it's a problem that can impact women of any age. Many UK food banks now offer non-food items such as menstrual products and the demand for them is growing significantly, explains Alison Inglis-Jones, trustee and volunteer at the Trussell Trust, which runs more than 420 food banks across the country.
A protest in London last December called for an end to period poverty in the UK. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
"I've seen people coming in using newspaper, tissues or socks," she says. "One woman was taking paper out of a public library and using that."
"If you can't afford food you can't afford sanitary protection," says Tina Leslie from Freedom4Girls, the charity that first flagged the issue among UK schoolgirls last year. "The problem is the same here as it is in Kenya."
And poverty is on the rise in many more developed countries, partly due to a decade of spending cuts.
Current trends show that the long-term policy of austerity in the UK, largely implemented by Conservative-led governments of the last eight years, has impacted women more significantly than men -- and women of menstruating age most of all.
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, many of them are mothers claiming child benefit and other forms of family welfare and therefore account for a big proportion of welfare payments -- that means they are hardest hit when payouts are cut.
But for many girls and women globally, financial poverty is compounded by the stigma around menstruation that leads women to "hand off tampons to each other like we're doing a drug deal," as Krengel puts it.
"Two massively stigmatized experiences -- menstruation and poverty -- intersect to create this bizarre and horrible form of poverty," she says.
She, like many others, believes both must be addressed simultaneously to have any long-lasting impact.
Tackling the taboo
Since Plan International released their UK study, long-running campaigns tackling the issue have been picking up more interest than ever before -- and new ones have sprung up too.
A protest in central London last December was a watershed moment for those campaigns, marking the first time the issue hit mainstream headlines in the UK.
The rally outside Downing Street, the official residence of Prime Minister Theresa May, attracted celebrities including British models Daisy Lowe and Adwoa Aboah and hundreds of demonstrators, some sporting tampon jewelry and vagina-related paraphernalia.
Hundreds turned out in London last December to protest against period poverty. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
Related: It's time for women and girls to speak about their periods
Many protesters told CNN they were shocked to learn that period poverty was a UK problem.
"It's disgraceful that our society's even having this problem and disgraceful that we should feel ashamed for talking about it," 18-year-old Suzie Murray said at the rally.
Chella Quint, who runs a campaign called Period Positive, encouraging shame-free conversations about menstruation, has only recently freed herself from that psychological trap.
"There were times when I couldn't financially afford menstrual products and that was worrying, and there were other times when I couldn't socially and culturally afford it, because I was afraid to say anything," she says.
Not having loads of toys as a child "didn't harm me forever I don't think," Quint explains. "But the embodied shame around feeling negative about periods -- that definitely has."
Rachel Krengel makes a similar point. "I think there's a part of every menstruator on this planet who is still a 12-year-old who's just spotted blood on their crotch and is so desperately ashamed of that."
Demonstrators at the December protest in London. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
'It's so easy to fix'
With so much attention currently focused on women's issues and gender inequality, Krengel believes now is the time to push for change.
She wants to see free provision of menstrual products in all UK schools. By her calculation it would cost £11 ($14) per child per year.
"It's so easy to fix," she says. "It's a nothing amount of money."
A petition started by Krengel and other members of the London-based feminist activist group Fourth Wave is calling on British Prime Minister Theresa May to introduce free menstrual products in all UK schools. It has gathered more than 135,000 signatures to date.
Scotland is set to do just that. In August, the Scottish government set aside £5.2 million ($6.8 million) to provide free sanitary products in schools, colleges and universities across the country.
Wales has also set aside £1 million ($1.3 million) for a similar project.
Related: When pads are a luxury, getting your period means missing out on life
The UK's Labour Party -- the largest opposition party -- has pledged to spend £10 million ($13 million) to provide free sanitary products in secondary schools, homeless shelters and food banks. Smaller parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Women's Equality Party, have made similar pledges.
In a debate in the House of Commons in June, Minister for Women Victoria Atkins said there was "no significant evidence" that period poverty was having an impact on school attendance.
"For (the government) to do something about it now would mean an acknowledgement that child poverty has soared over the last seven years," Krengel says. "It would be an admission of what austerity has done to our society."
Krengel with her daughters, Kitty, 9, (left) and Millie, 8. Photo: Sarah Tilotta for CNN
Along with free provision of pads or tampons, campaigners are calling for better education about periods in schools.
Krengel says that if these national conversations had been happening when she was struggling with period poverty in secret, it might have helped. She hopes people like her are feeling "a bit less alone now."
Krengel, who no longer experiences period poverty herself, says that if these national conversations had been happening when she was struggling in secret, it might have helped. She hopes people like her are feeling "a bit less alone now."
But while "not feeling alone is great, it has limited usefulness," she says. "What we need is some actual change. We need some action."
Clarification: This story has been updated to better reflect that activist Rachel Krengel no longer experiences period poverty herself and has organized a petition calling for free menstrual products in all UK schools.
Here is my page :: https://storage.googleapis.com/
But recent surveys in the UK have exposed startling rates of period poverty in one of the world's richest countries and sparked a national conversation.
With a contraceptive implant that made her bleed at least 25 days out of every 28, the problem was particularly acute for Krengel.
Related: Calculate how period poverty would impact you
Krengel rationed her menstrual products, wearing a single sanitary pad for up to 20 hours (instead of the recommended three or four), inserting a contraceptive diaphragm to catch the blood or simply free bleeding (using nothing at all).
Throwing away her old jeans later, she noticed that "all of them had this red stain running down the seam, because I would just be free bleeding at least two or three days every week."
Like countless girls and women around the world who miss days of school or work every month because they can't access the products they need, Krengel found herself spending more time at home, worried about going out.
Menstrual products and other toiletries in Krengel's bathroom. Photo: Sarah Tilotta for CNN
'The first thing under the bus'
At the time, Krengel, her partner and their two daughters -- one of whom was just a few months old -- were living in Norwich, a small city 100 miles northeast of London.
Switching between two different types of welfare, the family's housing benefit was paused and they were told to reapply. But there was a months-long backlog: "We were left without any money to pay rent for a very long time," Krengel recalls.
They turned to high-interest payday loans and friends and family to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.
When they had no money for food, Krengel's brother-in-law did an online grocery shop. When her two-year-old daughter had no winter coat, Krengel's sister went out and bought one.
But when she had no menstrual products, no one knew and so no one helped.
"Any time someone was offering to help us financially, I would say, 'go buy something for the kids.'"
And it was often a choice between spending £1 ($1.30) on a packet of sanitary pads or putting food on the table, she says.
"You can make dinner for four people for £1," she says. "That seemed so much more important than something that was only for me."
Menstrual products are "the first thing that goes under the bus when you're poor."
'Tip of the iceberg'
Ten percent of girls and women aged between 14 and 21 surveyed in 2017 by children's charity Plan International UK said they had experienced being unable to afford sanitary products. Four in ten said they had used toilet paper because they had struggled to afford sanitary wear.
The research was triggered by media reports last March that some schoolgirls in Leeds, a city in northern England, were missing up to a week of school every month because they could not afford menstrual products. Others were regularly using tissue paper or socks instead of pads or tampons.
"We know of a few hundred cases (of girls unable to afford menstrual products)," says Sharon White, head of the UK's School and Public Health Nurses Association. "But that's the tip of the iceberg."
And it's a problem that can impact women of any age. Many UK food banks now offer non-food items such as menstrual products and the demand for them is growing significantly, explains Alison Inglis-Jones, trustee and volunteer at the Trussell Trust, which runs more than 420 food banks across the country.
A protest in London last December called for an end to period poverty in the UK. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
"I've seen people coming in using newspaper, tissues or socks," she says. "One woman was taking paper out of a public library and using that."
"If you can't afford food you can't afford sanitary protection," says Tina Leslie from Freedom4Girls, the charity that first flagged the issue among UK schoolgirls last year. "The problem is the same here as it is in Kenya."
And poverty is on the rise in many more developed countries, partly due to a decade of spending cuts.
Current trends show that the long-term policy of austerity in the UK, largely implemented by Conservative-led governments of the last eight years, has impacted women more significantly than men -- and women of menstruating age most of all.
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, many of them are mothers claiming child benefit and other forms of family welfare and therefore account for a big proportion of welfare payments -- that means they are hardest hit when payouts are cut.
But for many girls and women globally, financial poverty is compounded by the stigma around menstruation that leads women to "hand off tampons to each other like we're doing a drug deal," as Krengel puts it.
"Two massively stigmatized experiences -- menstruation and poverty -- intersect to create this bizarre and horrible form of poverty," she says.
She, like many others, believes both must be addressed simultaneously to have any long-lasting impact.
Tackling the taboo
Since Plan International released their UK study, long-running campaigns tackling the issue have been picking up more interest than ever before -- and new ones have sprung up too.
A protest in central London last December was a watershed moment for those campaigns, marking the first time the issue hit mainstream headlines in the UK.
The rally outside Downing Street, the official residence of Prime Minister Theresa May, attracted celebrities including British models Daisy Lowe and Adwoa Aboah and hundreds of demonstrators, some sporting tampon jewelry and vagina-related paraphernalia.
Hundreds turned out in London last December to protest against period poverty. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
Related: It's time for women and girls to speak about their periods
Many protesters told CNN they were shocked to learn that period poverty was a UK problem.
"It's disgraceful that our society's even having this problem and disgraceful that we should feel ashamed for talking about it," 18-year-old Suzie Murray said at the rally.
Chella Quint, who runs a campaign called Period Positive, encouraging shame-free conversations about menstruation, has only recently freed herself from that psychological trap.
"There were times when I couldn't financially afford menstrual products and that was worrying, and there were other times when I couldn't socially and culturally afford it, because I was afraid to say anything," she says.
Not having loads of toys as a child "didn't harm me forever I don't think," Quint explains. "But the embodied shame around feeling negative about periods -- that definitely has."
Rachel Krengel makes a similar point. "I think there's a part of every menstruator on this planet who is still a 12-year-old who's just spotted blood on their crotch and is so desperately ashamed of that."
Demonstrators at the December protest in London. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
'It's so easy to fix'
With so much attention currently focused on women's issues and gender inequality, Krengel believes now is the time to push for change.
She wants to see free provision of menstrual products in all UK schools. By her calculation it would cost £11 ($14) per child per year.
"It's so easy to fix," she says. "It's a nothing amount of money."
A petition started by Krengel and other members of the London-based feminist activist group Fourth Wave is calling on British Prime Minister Theresa May to introduce free menstrual products in all UK schools. It has gathered more than 135,000 signatures to date.
Scotland is set to do just that. In August, the Scottish government set aside £5.2 million ($6.8 million) to provide free sanitary products in schools, colleges and universities across the country.
Wales has also set aside £1 million ($1.3 million) for a similar project.
Related: When pads are a luxury, getting your period means missing out on life
The UK's Labour Party -- the largest opposition party -- has pledged to spend £10 million ($13 million) to provide free sanitary products in secondary schools, homeless shelters and food banks. Smaller parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Women's Equality Party, have made similar pledges.
In a debate in the House of Commons in June, Minister for Women Victoria Atkins said there was "no significant evidence" that period poverty was having an impact on school attendance.
"For (the government) to do something about it now would mean an acknowledgement that child poverty has soared over the last seven years," Krengel says. "It would be an admission of what austerity has done to our society."
Krengel with her daughters, Kitty, 9, (left) and Millie, 8. Photo: Sarah Tilotta for CNN
Along with free provision of pads or tampons, campaigners are calling for better education about periods in schools.
Krengel says that if these national conversations had been happening when she was struggling with period poverty in secret, it might have helped. She hopes people like her are feeling "a bit less alone now."
Krengel, who no longer experiences period poverty herself, says that if these national conversations had been happening when she was struggling in secret, it might have helped. She hopes people like her are feeling "a bit less alone now."
But while "not feeling alone is great, it has limited usefulness," she says. "What we need is some actual change. We need some action."
Clarification: This story has been updated to better reflect that activist Rachel Krengel no longer experiences period poverty herself and has organized a petition calling for free menstrual products in all UK schools.
my web-site :: https://cloudstacks.objects-us-east-1.dream.io/
But recent surveys in the UK have exposed startling rates of period poverty in one of the world's richest countries and sparked a national conversation.
With a contraceptive implant that made her bleed at least 25 days out of every 28, the problem was particularly acute for Krengel.
Related: Calculate how period poverty would impact you
Krengel rationed her menstrual products, wearing a single sanitary pad for up to 20 hours (instead of the recommended three or four), inserting a contraceptive diaphragm to catch the blood or simply free bleeding (using nothing at all).
Throwing away her old jeans later, she noticed that "all of them had this red stain running down the seam, because I would just be free bleeding at least two or three days every week."
Like countless girls and women around the world who miss days of school or work every month because they can't access the products they need, Krengel found herself spending more time at home, worried about going out.
Menstrual products and other toiletries in Krengel's bathroom. Photo: Sarah Tilotta for CNN
'The first thing under the bus'
At the time, Krengel, her partner and their two daughters -- one of whom was just a few months old -- were living in Norwich, a small city 100 miles northeast of London.
Switching between two different types of welfare, the family's housing benefit was paused and they were told to reapply. But there was a months-long backlog: "We were left without any money to pay rent for a very long time," Krengel recalls.
They turned to high-interest payday loans and friends and family to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.
When they had no money for food, Krengel's brother-in-law did an online grocery shop. When her two-year-old daughter had no winter coat, Krengel's sister went out and bought one.
But when she had no menstrual products, no one knew and so no one helped.
"Any time someone was offering to help us financially, I would say, 'go buy something for the kids.'"
And it was often a choice between spending £1 ($1.30) on a packet of sanitary pads or putting food on the table, she says.
"You can make dinner for four people for £1," she says. "That seemed so much more important than something that was only for me."
Menstrual products are "the first thing that goes under the bus when you're poor."
'Tip of the iceberg'
Ten percent of girls and women aged between 14 and 21 surveyed in 2017 by children's charity Plan International UK said they had experienced being unable to afford sanitary products. Four in ten said they had used toilet paper because they had struggled to afford sanitary wear.
The research was triggered by media reports last March that some schoolgirls in Leeds, a city in northern England, were missing up to a week of school every month because they could not afford menstrual products. Others were regularly using tissue paper or socks instead of pads or tampons.
"We know of a few hundred cases (of girls unable to afford menstrual products)," says Sharon White, head of the UK's School and Public Health Nurses Association. "But that's the tip of the iceberg."
And it's a problem that can impact women of any age. Many UK food banks now offer non-food items such as menstrual products and the demand for them is growing significantly, explains Alison Inglis-Jones, trustee and volunteer at the Trussell Trust, which runs more than 420 food banks across the country.
A protest in London last December called for an end to period poverty in the UK. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
"I've seen people coming in using newspaper, tissues or socks," she says. "One woman was taking paper out of a public library and using that."
"If you can't afford food you can't afford sanitary protection," says Tina Leslie from Freedom4Girls, the charity that first flagged the issue among UK schoolgirls last year. "The problem is the same here as it is in Kenya."
And poverty is on the rise in many more developed countries, partly due to a decade of spending cuts.
Current trends show that the long-term policy of austerity in the UK, largely implemented by Conservative-led governments of the last eight years, has impacted women more significantly than men -- and women of menstruating age most of all.
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, many of them are mothers claiming child benefit and other forms of family welfare and therefore account for a big proportion of welfare payments -- that means they are hardest hit when payouts are cut.
But for many girls and women globally, financial poverty is compounded by the stigma around menstruation that leads women to "hand off tampons to each other like we're doing a drug deal," as Krengel puts it.
"Two massively stigmatized experiences -- menstruation and poverty -- intersect to create this bizarre and horrible form of poverty," she says.
She, like many others, believes both must be addressed simultaneously to have any long-lasting impact.
Tackling the taboo
Since Plan International released their UK study, long-running campaigns tackling the issue have been picking up more interest than ever before -- and new ones have sprung up too.
A protest in central London last December was a watershed moment for those campaigns, marking the first time the issue hit mainstream headlines in the UK.
The rally outside Downing Street, the official residence of Prime Minister Theresa May, attracted celebrities including British models Daisy Lowe and Adwoa Aboah and hundreds of demonstrators, some sporting tampon jewelry and vagina-related paraphernalia.
Hundreds turned out in London last December to protest against period poverty. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
Related: It's time for women and girls to speak about their periods
Many protesters told CNN they were shocked to learn that period poverty was a UK problem.
"It's disgraceful that our society's even having this problem and disgraceful that we should feel ashamed for talking about it," 18-year-old Suzie Murray said at the rally.
Chella Quint, who runs a campaign called Period Positive, encouraging shame-free conversations about menstruation, has only recently freed herself from that psychological trap.
"There were times when I couldn't financially afford menstrual products and that was worrying, and there were other times when I couldn't socially and culturally afford it, because I was afraid to say anything," she says.
Not having loads of toys as a child "didn't harm me forever I don't think," Quint explains. "But the embodied shame around feeling negative about periods -- that definitely has."
Rachel Krengel makes a similar point. "I think there's a part of every menstruator on this planet who is still a 12-year-old who's just spotted blood on their crotch and is so desperately ashamed of that."
Demonstrators at the December protest in London. Photo: Judith Vonberg for CNN
'It's so easy to fix'
With so much attention currently focused on women's issues and gender inequality, Krengel believes now is the time to push for change.
She wants to see free provision of menstrual products in all UK schools. By her calculation it would cost £11 ($14) per child per year.
"It's so easy to fix," she says. "It's a nothing amount of money."
A petition started by Krengel and other members of the London-based feminist activist group Fourth Wave is calling on British Prime Minister Theresa May to introduce free menstrual products in all UK schools. It has gathered more than 135,000 signatures to date.
Scotland is set to do just that. In August, the Scottish government set aside £5.2 million ($6.8 million) to provide free sanitary products in schools, colleges and universities across the country.
Wales has also set aside £1 million ($1.3 million) for a similar project.
Related: When pads are a luxury, getting your period means missing out on life
The UK's Labour Party -- the largest opposition party -- has pledged to spend £10 million ($13 million) to provide free sanitary products in secondary schools, homeless shelters and food banks. Smaller parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Women's Equality Party, have made similar pledges.
In a debate in the House of Commons in June, Minister for Women Victoria Atkins said there was "no significant evidence" that period poverty was having an impact on school attendance.
"For (the government) to do something about it now would mean an acknowledgement that child poverty has soared over the last seven years," Krengel says. "It would be an admission of what austerity has done to our society."
Krengel with her daughters, Kitty, 9, (left) and Millie, 8. Photo: Sarah Tilotta for CNN
Along with free provision of pads or tampons, campaigners are calling for better education about periods in schools.
Krengel says that if these national conversations had been happening when she was struggling with period poverty in secret, it might have helped. She hopes people like her are feeling "a bit less alone now."
Krengel, who no longer experiences period poverty herself, says that if these national conversations had been happening when she was struggling in secret, it might have helped. She hopes people like her are feeling "a bit less alone now."
But while "not feeling alone is great, it has limited usefulness," she says. "What we need is some actual change. We need some action."
Clarification: This story has been updated to better reflect that activist Rachel Krengel no longer experiences period poverty herself and has organized a petition calling for free menstrual products in all UK schools.
Here is my web page; cloudos.us-southeast-1.linodeobjects.com
Do a search on that company and add the word complaints, or FTC...you will see a lot of information that will probably make you run the other way. This company
Read more
Loans
+6
How do you back a real estate mortgage?
Asked by Wiki User
Backing a real estate mortgage involves using the property as collateral for the loan, securing it until repayment.
my page github.com
The Albanese government says some nine million Australians will be better off under super law changes. Above, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher
Almost nine million Australian workers will soon be better off at retirement age as the government closes a superannuation loophole.
In a move Treasurer Jim Chalmers said would ensure millions of workers are better off, legislation will soon be introduced that would make it mandatory for employers to pay superannuation the same time they pay salary or wages from July 1, 2026.
The measures, first announced in the most recent Federal budget, aim to claw back billions of unpaid super to workers.
It's estimated workers were owed $3.4 billion worth of super in the 2019/20 financial year, according to the Australian Tax Office.
'The non-payment and underpayment of superannuation guarantee contributions by employers risks the retirement income of millions of employees,' a consultation paper on the changes said.
'Due to the current design of the superannuation guarantee system, many superannuation guarantee obligations remain unpaid for extended periods of time.'
Dr Chalmers and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said an estimated 8.9m Australians would have higher retirement savings if they received their super payments earlier and more frequently throughout their working lives.
They said that by switching to payday super, a 25-year-old earning the median income currently receiving their super payments quarterly and wages fortnightly could be around $6000 better off at retirement.
Australian workers are currently paid 11 per cent super, but the guarantee will reach 12 per cent by July 1, 2025.
As it currently stands, it is illegal to not pay workers the super guarantee, however, many employers only pay superannuation quarterly, rather than at payday.
Right now, if employers do not pay the correct entitlements to an employee by the quarterly payment date, they may be liable for the Superannuation Guarantee charge payable to the ATO.
But shortfalls in the current design of the system means that many obligations remain unpaid for extended periods of time, causing significant issues should employers enter liquidation without having paid their obligations.
Australian workers are often paid super quarterly - rather than on payday itself. That will change under Albanese government laws coming in 2026
Along with the super pay changes, the government is also looking to beef up the ATO to detect and recover super payments that have not been placed in the funds of workers.
'The ATO has noted that businesses often enter liquidation or bankruptcy before the underpayment is identified, limiting its ability to conduct effective compliance activities and recover unpaid superannuation,' the consultation paper said.
Consultation on the proposed changes will be open for industries to suggest improvements until November 3.
The government is also seeking feedback on how the choice of super funds by employees could be improved when a worker joins a company.
Design on the proposed laws will take place throughout much of 2024, following the consultation process.
My site https://github.com
Vince McMahon stands to make an incredible $2.5billion in the event of a WWE sale according to a new report.
McMahon returned to WWE in January, but having seemingly retired in July last year his reemergence to the company is said to help facilitate a sale of an asset he and his family have owned for over forty years.
Several big-name media conglomerates are interested in purchasing WWE, including Netflix, Disney, ESPN and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment fund. However, Comcast are still thought to be leading the bidding.
Once any sale is complete, the McMahon family and long-term employees of the company are set for a big payday loans, judging by the figures being reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
With WWE estimated to be sold for around $8billion, Vince McMahon could stand to make a healthy return of roughly $2.5billion if the company is sold. While his wife, who has served various role within WWE both on and off screen over the years could pocket $50.3million.
Vince McMahon could pocket $2.5billion if WWE is sold, with wife Linda netting $50 million
McMahon's daughter Stephanie and husband Paul 'Triple H' Levesque are set for big paydays
Keeping it the family, Vince and Linda's daughter Stephanie McMahon, will also be on the receiving end of a big outlay from the sale.
Up until last month, McMahon was chairwomen and Co-CEO of WWE, but resigned from the post in January following her father's return. Despite her departure, she will still see £170.8million coming her way.
While her husband, Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, who is currently Chief Content Officer and Head of Creative, will bring a further $8.3m into the household.
Then there's those figures outside of the McMahon's who will also benefit financially from the sale. With current CEO Nick Khan earning £13.8m, while long-term aid to Vince McMahon Kevin Dunne would receive $24.2m and current President and CFO Frank Riddick a further $10.9m.
There is still no official confirmation on the sale of WWE, however, earlier this month Khan did hint that any purchase wouldn't take long - seemingly acknowledging that wrestling's most famous name is on the market.
Several media companies are said to be interested in purchasing the famous wrestling name
WWE are set to air SmackDown live from London's O2 the night before Money in the Bank
Khan stated that any sale could be sorted in 'just three months' but also suggested to any incoming owners that the relationship with WWE's current TV deals in the US should continue.
Yesterday, WWE proved how much global pulling power the company has, by announcing that London's O2 will for the first time host a SmackDown event that will air live around the world.
Previously WWE have taped any Raw and SmackDown shows that have taken place in the UK and aired them in their normal slot on US TV. However, the June 30th show, will air live as the pre-cursor to the following night's Money in the Bank Premium Live Event at the same venue.
WWENetflix
Pages: 1