Since the financial crisis on Wall Street, consumers have been finding their way to the local doorsteps of credit unions instead of corporate banks – and they are realizing that the doors are always open. While banks continue to feed from the pockets of their customers with mounting checking fees, debit fees, hidden fees, and … Continue reading
The Reality of Unemployment in the Youth Unemployed persons are typically defined by the Department of Labor as people who are not employed but are actively seeking a job. When the Department of Labor measures youth unemployment they take measurements in April and gather numbers through July. April is the beginning of hiring for the … Continue reading
For those in the D.C. metro area, this month has been pretty normal. Employees were furloughed. The government shut down. Partisan bickering continued. The city was placed on high alert after a failed attempt to break through White House security, which led to a car chase down Constitution Avenue. Congressmen realized their approval ratings would … Continue reading
Achieving financial independence has become more difficult for youths in the United States as the length of time necessary to complete education increases and the economy continues to recover from the Great Recession. The typical achievement indicators of adulthood, such as the completion of education and full time employment, as well as the social indicators … Continue reading
Banking is based on a relationship of implicit trust in which consumers trust the bank to safeguard their money and provide instant access to funds while banks trust that consumers will retain a certain portion of their funds within the institution for use as lending capital. In order for a bank to retain solvency, it … Continue reading
In response to the 2008 crash of the housing market, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 created the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) to serve as government conservator of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks; and injected $188 billion in taxpayer funds to bailout the agencies collectively known as … Continue reading
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Many states have implemented minimum wages that are higher than that. But, in most places around the country, the minimum wage is not enough to support a family’s basic needs. This is where the debate over implementing a “living wage” comes into play. The living wage, as the … Continue reading
Last Tuesday, President Obama delivered a speech in Chattanooga, Tennessee, outlining his long awaited corporate tax reform. The speech called for a revenue-neutral corporate tax reform that lowers the top corporate tax from 35% to 28% for the majority of businesses. Manufacturers’ tax rate will top-out at 25%. President Obama made a statement that the … Continue reading
The US economy has been showing signs of recovery in the last year, adding 195,000 jobs in June alone, as the labor market advanced despite huge federal spending cuts and tax increases. This may sound nice at first, but the underlying truth to various “recovery” statistics is that the majority of new jobs added are … Continue reading
Power is a funny thing in Washington. It can certainly be argued that real power in Washington lies beneath the dome of the Capitol, or within the iron gates of the White House, or even in the chambers underneath the basketball hoops of the top floor of the Supreme Court building. But perhaps the most … Continue reading
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