Published Friday, February 3, 2012 @ 4:13 pm

You’ve read the headlines. You’ve heard the network commentators. Despite the reported recent economic recovery, post-recessionary American is marked by a new, and troubling, era of economic inequality.

One of the major reasons for the widening gaps between rich and poor is that minimum wage remains at $7.25, the same rate as it was in 2009, despite dramatic rises in the cost of living.…

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Published Sunday, January 22, 2012 @ 9:08 am

The best holiday gift may have been a private sector hiring surge in December 2011, as employers gifted the American job market with 325,000 new workers. At the same time as a the rise in public sector jobs, claims for unemployment benefits fell, raising high hopes that recent labor market woes are over and a new year may mark a new era in employment optimism.…

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Published Wednesday, January 11, 2012 @ 6:30 pm

We talk a lot about the dangers of using credit cards, the nation’s plastic pariah that contributes to many living beyond their means, causes people to pay incredibly high interest, and in more cases than we care to share, leads a lot of folks to file for bankruptcy.

And so for the many thousands of you who were hoping to pay off credit cards quickly and easily as your New Year’s resolution, we have some bad news.…

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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 @ 7:11 pm

Or, at least that’s what older workers believe.

According to a new survey from AARP, older workers say economy worse than last year. Nearly two thirds of workers in the 50+ age group first surveyed by AARP’s Public Policy Institute in 2010 said things had gotten worse by the time the senior lobbying powerhouse followed up in August.…

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Published Sunday, October 23, 2011 @ 8:16 am

With news this month that almost 40 percent of Americans belive unemployment is the biggest issue facing the country—a figure that leapt from 29 percent between August and September 2011—it’s clear that folks are beginning to believe that joblessness more than “the economy” as a whole is the nation’s most important problem as well as a primary concern for them as part of a larger pool of citizens just struggling to get by in post-recessionary America.…

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Published Thursday, October 13, 2011 @ 8:10 am

…unions?

That’s right.

Forget federal stimulus or tax cuts for the wealthy or even a new, formal jobs plan. Because according to a new analysis of Census data from the Center for American Progress, a boost in incomes of the union members by just one-tenth, “would increase middle-class incomes by $1,479 per year — even for those who aren’t members.”

In fact, according to the study, the rise in income is higher than if the unemployment rate dropped by four percentage points—a scenario that would increase middle class incomes by only $772 per household.…

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Published Wednesday, October 5, 2011 @ 3:53 pm

You might think when city officials need to cut personnel costs, they start by letting public employees go.  But according to a new article from The Huffington Post, “firing people isn’t the first thing they look to do: it’s the third.” Ranking the reduction methods, HuffPost evaluates the eight top ways that city officials are dealing with budgetary woes—according to the National League of Cities—including:

(8) Reduce Pension Benefits
A full 18% of cities facing increasingly thin budgets cut back on pension benefits to shore up spending costs in 2011.…

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Published Sunday, September 25, 2011 @ 3:20 pm

Last week, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America said it would cut about=a35,000 jobs and reduce annual expenses by $5 billion, as it struggles with costs from its 2008 takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp and a nearly 50 percent drop in share price this year.

The layoffs could have huge ripple effects for the North Carolina economy.…

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Published Monday, September 19, 2011 @ 10:00 am

President Barack Obama, who submitted his American Jobs Act to Congress earlier this week—including bills that aim to use a combination of spending and tax cuts to spur job growth—seems to be on the pulse of a larger political issue.

Though the unemployment rate has been high for months, it’s never been more clear that joblessness is the primary concern for nearly a majority of average American voters.…

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Published Tuesday, September 13, 2011 @ 1:21 pm

When President Obama released his eagerly anticipated $45 billion jobs plan last week, many economists were quick to criticize the efficacy of the strategy’s payroll tax cuts.

But many small business owners across the country are praising the plan, saying that these exact incentives would allow them to immediately hire a number of workers they’ve been needing for months, if not years, but formerly had no way of subsidizing.…

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Published Monday, August 15, 2011 @ 6:20 am

U.S. Credit Downgrade Ramps Up Fears of Another Recession

Standard and Poor’s recent downgrade of U.S. government debt is capturing headlines across the country and around the world. And with the major agency’s actions to cut the United States government’s top credit rating, financial experts and commentators are finding themselves increasingly concerned that the American economy is headed back into another economic downturn.…

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Published Monday, July 25, 2011 @ 11:28 am

Local Businessman Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (And You Can Too)

A North Carolina businessman recently filed sought the safe havens of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy after being hit with two civil complaints in the past year, based on a recent story by the Johnston County’s The Herald. According to the paper, “The Dueas filed for bankruptcy protection on April 29 – about two weeks after a Smithfield cardiologist sued Jody Duea.…

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Published Friday, June 3, 2011 @ 2:52 pm

Just released unemployment numbers in North Carolina are showing some promising signs of post-recessionary economic improvement. Unemployment officially dropped in 93 of 100 North Carolina counties from last month’s figures.The state’s adjusted unemployment rate is at 10.1%, with 36 counties at that level and the number of workers who found jobs in February up by16,500.…

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Published Wednesday, June 1, 2011 @ 2:49 pm

Tens of thousands of jobless North Carolinians are wondering when the stalemate will end between a Republican-led state legislature and the Democratic governor—both wanting to pass a state budget, but with little to agree on other than that.

According to a new article from Arthur Delaney, entitled “North Carolina Unemployment Standoff Drags Endlessly,” a reporter who has been watching the now more-than-a month-long budget boondoggle play out in front of both local and national media outlets, the disagreements between the legislative and executive branches is unchanged this week despite attempts at concessions on both sides.…

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Published Friday, May 27, 2011 @ 3:45 pm

If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans working for state and local governments or other agencies, you may be one of the many wondering why so many so-called “financial experts” are saying the economic recovery is all around us. For you, it likely feels like the same old lingering economic malaise—especially as news emerges that your job may be on the chopping block in 2011, with even more cuts slated for 2012.…

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Published Tuesday, May 24, 2011 @ 3:48 pm

For those of you who live in North Carolina, does this story sound familiar?

Charlotte’s John Allison, 37, told HuffPost the [political] stalemate [over jobless benefits] reminds him of a game of chicken, except “the person controlling the car’s not even in it.” “It’s a remote control game of chicken and I’m tied in the seat,” he said.…

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Published Tuesday, May 3, 2011 @ 9:29 am

As we’ve been reporting, thousands of North Carolinians were on course to lose their unemployment benefits as North Carolina lawmakers failed to revise the calculations used to determine when these payouts from the Extended Benefits program could be distributed. These same benefits were then placed in limbo when the Governor vetoed a bill in which Republican legislators in the North Carolina General Assembly attached budget cuts to the state’s eligibility for these federal benefits.…

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Published Thursday, April 21, 2011 @ 5:44 pm

As we reported just last week, 37,000 North Carolinians were on course to lose their unemployment benefits as North Carolina lawmakers failed to revise the calculations used to determine when these payouts from the Extended Benefits program could be distributed.

This week, however, the legislative actions were more purposeful as Republican legislators in the North Carolina General Assembly attached budget cuts to a bill maintaining the state’s eligibility for these federal benefits.…

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Published Thursday, April 21, 2011 @ 4:37 pm

Apparently the lingering economic malaise has its limits: according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added 216,000 new jobs last month. This good news appears to support recent claims that the labor market recovery, as Bloomberg put it, is finally “gaining traction”.

But according to a new report from The Huffington Post, those who have been lucky enough to find work, any work, are also often finding their former standard of living to be completely out of reach.…

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Published Tuesday, April 12, 2011 @ 7:34 am

Just this month it was announced that about 37,000 North Carolinians would suddenly lose their unemployment benefits. This news emerged as at least eight other states avoided a similar fate by changing the calculations used to determine when these benefits could be distributed.

But according to Bloomberg Businessweek, the same revisions weren’t considered in the Tar Heel State.…

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Published Sunday, April 10, 2011 @ 3:45 pm

Not that long ago, green industries like ethanol producers were on par to make a ton of greenbacks, capitalizing on the needs of a public clamoring for cleaner and less costly alternatives to fossil fuels and rising gasoline prizes. But fast forward to 2011, a time when corn prices have more than doubled while ethanol prices refused to keep pace proportionally with these rises in corn prices.…

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Published Saturday, January 22, 2011 @ 7:22 pm

While unexpected circumstances and scenarios often cause American debtors to consider the bankruptcy option, a disability, often combining mounting medical costs with a sudden loss of an otherwise dependable income, can make for an especially strong case for seeking the benefits of bankruptcy. The good news is a personal bankruptcy is an often safe solution for eliminating some (or all) of the associated debts from a disability.…

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Published Thursday, January 13, 2011 @ 7:21 am

Following three months of positive growth in what had been an extended period of recession-era unemployment numbers, business hiring slowed in the latter part of 2010, causing national unemployment figures rose to a staggering 9.8%. But North Carolina experts say our state appears to be bucking the proverbial trend with signs of slow economic improvements signaling signs of hope in the local job market.…

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Published Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 2:20 pm

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.…

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Published Tuesday, June 15, 2010 @ 2:13 pm

As has been widely reported, whether you feel the country’s moving toward a great recovery or still floundering in a great recession is still largely determined by where you live and whether you can find a job there. And along with the highest rates of unemployment in a generation, current economic conditions are also typified by astronomical levels of long-term unemployment.…

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Published Thursday, April 8, 2010 @ 3:19 pm

While the current economic forecast is considered by economists to be less dismal than in past months, many of the same economists are predicting unemployment will stay high over the next several years—noting that recession-scarred employers are likely to stay conservative in their hiring practices even as recession-scarred citizens continue their search for a dwindling number of jobs.…

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Published Sunday, January 24, 2010 @ 6:34 pm

A January 22 government report announced that unemployment rates rose in 43 states in December 2009, painting an all too bleak portrait of the job market—even as the economy continues to grow—and leaving many unemployed Americans bankruptcy bound.  This jump in joblessness marked a sharp turn from November 2009’s numbers, when 36 states had actually reported their unemployment rates fell.…

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Published Monday, January 4, 2010 @ 12:08 pm

In states like North Carolina—composed largely of rural areas dotted with farmland and abutting the ripe fishing grounds of the Atlantic—Chapter 12 bankruptcy can be exceptionally helpful to working farming and fishing families who might otherwise be bankruptcy bound.

In part one of the four-part series, entitled Chapter 12 Bankruptcy, we introduced the concept of Chapter 12, provided a brief overview of the special rights related to this protection, and shared who (or in some cases, “what”) qualifies as a family farm or family fisherman under the Bankruptcy Code.…

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