The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

Think high unemployment concerns have passed? Well, according to the Labor Department, these concerns are just as pressing as ever, with a paltry number of jobs added in May to keep up with the growing demand of an expanding labor force.

As Reuters is reporting, “Employment rose far less than expected in May to record its weakest reading since September, while the jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent as high energy prices and the effects of Japan’s earthquake bogged down the economy. Nonfarm payrolls increased 54,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, with private employment rising 83,000, the least amount since June.…

Think the economic downturn is now only a temporary concern? Well, according to an authority on the history of financial crises—Carmen M. Reinhart, an economist at the University of Maryland—this country’s economy could suffer from super-slow growth and staggering unemployment for a full decade or more. This seemingly unending economic malaise remains a direct result of the collapse of the housing market and the economic turmoil that began some three years ago.

As a recent New York Times report explained, Ms. Reinhart’s paper (co-written with her husband, Vincent R. Reinhart, a former director of monetary affairs at the Federal Reserve) drew upon research she conducted with the Harvard economist Kenneth S.…

In previous posts we’ve mentioned the findings of Third World America, Arianna Huffington’s new book taking an up-close-and-person and personal look at those hardest hit by the ongoing economic crisis: individuals, families and even whole communities.

In the process of capturing this unwelcome slice of American life, Huffington’s own news and information website The Huffington Post has “mapped the areas hardest hit by home foreclosure, unemployment and bankruptcy this year.”

To give you an idea of the depth and scope of the damage done by the financial meltdown, here’s an overview of how hard people are being in hit throughout a state like North Carolina.…

Facing foreclosure.

Escalating medical costs.

High interest credit crunch.

Rising unemployment.

And that’s just January 2010.

While times are admittedly tough for everyone—with the poor getting poorer and even the recently rich and famous falling on hard times—a truly unique phenomenon of the recent global recession and continual economic downturn is how catastrophic it’s been for our country’s middle class, driving many in the majority further and “further from the American Dream” and, in some cases, “directly into poverty.”

As The Huffington Post reported this week in Laura Bassett’s insightful article “Middle Class No More, Families Struggle to Fight off Homelessness,” those in power are not blind to the desperate bind of average Americans: “President Obama, in his remarks to Senate Democrats on [February 3], pointed out that the middle class was hurting even before the recession.…

In discussing the issues surrounding the current economy, the term “mortgage meltdown” is now officially as tired a wordplay as assemblages like “From Wall Street to Main Street,” “Where’s my bailout?” and “It’s a crisis of confidence.” Beyond these catchphrases, you might still be wondering: What is really behind this recession?

In a nutshell, big banks created a huge demand for mortgage backed securities. Mortgage securities are basically your mortgage, packaged with a bunch of other people’s mortgages, which are then sold on the open market to investment banks who pay for the package based on the quality of loans included.…