Published Tuesday, December 6, 2011 @ 12:32 pm

A couple of months ago we reported that North Carolina one of ten states with the largest employment gaps. That meant that as of this summer, the state of North Carolina would have needed to generate nearly 500,00 additional jobs in order to keep up with growing population numbers and old and new workers flooding the Tar Heel market in future months and years.…

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Published Monday, November 28, 2011 @ 10:11 pm

We’ve already heard a lot here about “The 99ers,” the long-term unemployed who have not only became a new byproduct of an unprecedented string of Congressional extensions to unemployment benefits, but who have also long-since exhausted the maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits available to them in many states in the wake of the recent economic downturn.…

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Published Sunday, September 4, 2011 @ 1:02 pm

About a year ago, we reported that North Carolina was at the “top of the heap,” when it came to being home to one of the ten best cities to find jobs. Despite the fact that millions of struggling Americans were still working hard to find employment, economists were heartened about prospects for growth in 2012 as industries increasingly reported better profits and adding new jobs.…

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Published Friday, March 4, 2011 @ 10:40 am

While millions of struggling Americans are considering all kinds of smart moves to make ends meet—taking on extra work, cutting corners in their household budgets, or even considering the benefits of bankruptcy—others may be considering literal moves from state to state as some prove to outweigh others in what they can offer on the job front.…

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Published Saturday, November 6, 2010 @ 12:32 pm

Many long-term unemployed have exhausted the maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits available. The group,  known as The 99ers is a byproduct of an unprecedented number of Congressional extensions to unemployment benefits in a lingering economic malaise.

Do you consider yourself a 99er? Out of work for nearly two years or more?…

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Published Friday, October 1, 2010 @ 4:33 pm

Back in May, we first chronicled the plight of unemployed men and women known as “The 99ers.” At the time, many of these long-term unemployed had exhausted the maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits available to them in many states. The group, inauspiciously dubbed “The 99ers” for the remarkable amount of time they went without a job and with benefits, represented the broader face of many jobless Americans from across the country, forced to hang on every tea leaf, smoke signal, and whimper from their representatives in Congress of a new string of jobless aid programs that were, as many experts believed, on par to ignore them completely.…

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Published Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 2:58 pm

More bad news for those facing tough financial times: mortgage foreclosures are likely to top the one million mark in 2010. As The Associated Press reported in the last week, “Nearly 528,000 homes were taken over by lenders in the first six months of the year, a rate that is on track to eclipse the more than 900,000 homes repossessed in 2009, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service.”

By comparison, according to RealtyTrac, in an average year the United States only sees about 100,000 homes in foreclosure.…

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Published Tuesday, June 1, 2010 @ 8:10 am

While millions of struggling Americans still working hard to find employment might disagree, economists are heartened about prospects for growth this year as industries increasingly report better profits and add new jobs.

In fact, job growth is said to be at its fastest pace in 10 months.  In recent surveys, American employers were found to have added 162,000 jobs in March 2010, the most in three years.…

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Published Thursday, May 6, 2010 @ 6:06 pm

It was easy to spend money a few years ago, somewhere around late 2005 and into 2006, when the economy was flying, anyone could get a loan and every house in the zip code was appreciating at eight percent a year.

Those who managed to avoid subprime loans and the desire to keep up with whatever the other side of the cul-de-sac was spending turned out to make it through the recession in decent shape, provided the unemployment crisis didn’t catch up with them.…

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Published Thursday, February 25, 2010 @ 3:09 pm

While many economists argue that the economy is steadily rebounding, whether you’re in a recession or recovery seems to largely depend on where you live, if you have a job, if you can pay your bills, or if you still have your home.

The Huffington Post reported this week that facing an economic meltdown in their personal lives, many formerly middle-class families have had to find “creative ways to cope with the sudden loss of their jobs and homes.” In her article, “Rattlesnake for Breakfast, Wedding rings on Craigslist: Families Cope With Falling Out of the Middle Class,” Laura Bassett describes how the American dream, for many, has turned into a surreal nightmare.…

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Published Tuesday, January 19, 2010 @ 3:02 pm

So you’re drowning in debt and desperate for a way out. A friend or relative asks if you’ve considered a 401k loan. “They’re quick, simple to qualify for, and here’s the best part: you’re paying the interest to yourself.” Sounds like a brilliant solution, right? Why pay 25% interest to a credit card company when you could be paying 6% interest to yourself?…

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Published Tuesday, January 19, 2010 @ 2:48 am

The holidays are now officially over. The New Year has begun in earnest. And ‘tis the season for tax time. If you believe you’re bankruptcy bound in 2010, that definitely means it’s also time to get your 2009 returns in order.

Thinking About Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?

Chapter 13 bankruptcy helps restructure your debt into a more manageable payment plan—allowing you to pay back what you owe over time, often at a percentage of the cost.…

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Published Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 4:40 pm

Student loans are the source of many an American’s debt woes, especially in today’s down economy. If you have ever looked into discharging your student loan debt through a bankruptcy filing, you have discovered that, while not impossible, discharging student loans in bankruptcy is extraordinarily difficult.

Student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy unless continued payment of those loans poses an “undue hardship” under Bankruptcy Code Section 523(a)(8).…

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