December 2008 Archives

The Oxford Press

By Kim Weigel

December 19, 2008

More and more residents are facing financial issues due to rising energy prices and the sagging housing market. The 2000 U.S. Census reported 44 percent of individuals and 19 percent of families residing in Oxford fall below the federal poverty level.

But there is a program to help Oxford residents -- Empower One.

As a partner agency of the United Way of Oxford, Ohio, and Vicinity, Supports to Encourage Low-income Families collaborated with the Oxford Family Resource Center to establish Empower One, a holistic case management program, in 2002.

New Haven Register (Connecticut)

By Brian McCready

December 18, 2008

Dec. 18--MILFORD -- Ten years ago, Ryder Park mobile home residents were given eviction notices, and now many of those same residents are on the verge of owning the park.

Ryder Park Residents' Association attorney Charles Needle of Bridgeport said sometime this winter, the 174 families residing at Ryder Woods are scheduled to purchase their 50-acre Cascade Boulevard site for $4.9 million.

"We're on the brink of getting the financing," Needle said. "This will enable the residents to purchase the park, and to be the owners of the park. From Day One, they always wanted to own and control their rents and their own destiny."

The Washington Post

By Steven Pearlstein

December 19, 2008

One of the great design flaws of our social and economic ecosystem is that the times when we are most in need of the services provided by the nonprofit sector are precisely the times when it is most difficult for the rest of us to help them out.

We are now in one of those unfortunate periods, particularly as it relates to corporate charitable activity. In almost every industry, profits are falling, money is tight and many of the local companies that have taken the philanthropic lead in recent years have been sold, are in receivership or are struggling just to keep their own heads above water.

All the more reason, then, to celebrate those companies and their employees that have continued to contribute their time, money and ingenuity to local charitable causes.

Forbes.com

By Erin Conroy

December 18, 2008

Q: I'm considering buying savings bonds as holiday gifts for my nieces and nephews. Are they a safe and worthwhile investment?

A: Savings bonds are guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury Department and safe from today's financial turmoil. While it may seem old-fashioned, giving savings bonds is a good way to teach kids about investing and could give them something to look forward to once they're older.

The New York Times

By Sam Dillon

December 16, 2008

CHICAGO -- It was the morning after the presidential election, and Matthew Melmed, executive director of Zero to Three, a national organization devoted to early childhood education, could barely contain his exultation.

Mr. Melmed fired off an e-mail message to his board and staff, reminding them of President-elect Barack Obama's interest in the care and education of the very young and congratulating Mr. Obama for campaigning on a "comprehensive platform for early childhood."

The New York Times

By Sam Roberts

December 17, 2008

The number of black children being raised by two parents appears to be edging higher than at any time in a generation, at nearly 40 percent, according to newly released census data.

Demographers said such a trend might be partly attributable to the growing proportion of immigrants in the nation's black population. It may have been driven, too, by the values of an emerging black middle class, a trend that could be jeopardized by the current economic meltdown.

The New York Times

By Abby Aguirre

December 16, 2008

After rising at 4 a.m., Angel Malave has a cup of coffee, then makes his way to the train stop from his apartment in the Pelham Parkway neighborhood in the Bronx. More than an hour later -- the ride requires him to take three trains -- he is at a corner in Mott Haven, still in the Bronx, where he waits for the vans driven by men looking for workers.

Some days Mr. Malave, 33, waits for hours without being offered a job. But most days, a van will take him and about six other workers to a location not far away, usually in Queens, where the driver hands each of them a tall stack of fliers. They are told to leave at least one flier at every residence on an assigned route.

Detroit Free Press (IDA)

December 16, 2008

Three years ago Michael McCrary was in need of a home. He and his wife, Shedricka, had three children younger than 5 and a baby on the way, but McCrary was struggling to come up with a down payment on a house.

Today the 34-year-old and his family live in a three-bedroom ranch house in Detroit, thanks to some help from United Way.

The Washington Post

By Amy Goldstein

December 17, 2008

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- For the first time since welfare was redefined a dozen years ago, weaning millions of poor Americans from monthly government checks, the deteriorating economy is causing a surge in welfare rolls in a growing number of states.

The swelling caseloads pose the first hard test of the premise behind transforming the old system of welfare, once considered an open-ended right, into a finite program built to provide short-term cash assistance and steer people quickly into jobs.

The Washington Post

By Darryl Fears

December 16, 2008

On a crisp spring day, Ron Morgan walked into the D.C. Housing Authority, desperate, almost homeless and hoping to find a place to live with an affordable monthly rent. His name was placed on a list for a rent subsidy voucher and he was told to wait.

Morgan lost his low-paying job and waited. He was kicked out of an apartment but kept waiting. He slept on his sisters' couches and floors and waited some more. Finally, after moving in and out of shelters and finding a bed in a Single Room Occupancy program, Morgan was contacted by the authority and given a voucher -- 10 years after applying.

The Los Angeles Times

By Jordan Rau

December 16, 2008

The state's healthcare program for the working poor received a temporary reprieve Monday when First 5 California's board voted to provide $16.8 million to avert imminent enrollment restrictions that were expected to leave 162,000 children without medical coverage in the next six months.

The money will allow the Healthy Families Program to continue enrolling children through the end of the fiscal year in June instead of capping enrollment, as state officials planned to do Wednesday.

The New York Times

By Robert Skidelsky

December 14, 2008

Among the most astonishing statements to be made by any policymaker in recent years was Alan Greenspan's admission this autumn that the regime of deregulation he oversaw as chairman of the Federal Reserve was based on a "flaw": he had overestimated the ability of a free market to self-correct and had missed the self-destructive power of deregulated mortgage lending. The "whole intellectual edifice," he said, "collapsed in the summer of last year."

What was this "intellectual edifice"? As so often with policymakers, you need to tease out their beliefs from their policies. Greenspan must have believed something like the "efficient-market hypothesis," which holds that financial markets always price assets correctly. Given that markets are efficient, they would need only the lightest regulation. Government officials who control the money supply have only one task -- to keep prices roughly stable.

The Connecticut Post (ROC USA)

By Frank Juliano

December 13, 2008

MILFORD -- Residents of the Ryder Woods mobile home park are poised to become something they've never been before: landowners.

A closing could be held in as soon as a month on the $5.4 million purchase of the Cascade Boulevard park from developer John Ceruzzi, officials said. ROC USA, a New Hampshire company whose acronym stands for "Resident Owned Communities,'' is providing the financing, said Charles Needle, attorney for the residents association.

The Washington Post

By Michelle Singletary

December 14, 2008

When the Color of Money Military Challenge began earlier this year, George Colon was not happy.

Not about the thousands of dollars in credit card debt he and his wife had accumulated, and not thrilled about exposing his financial mistakes to readers nationwide.

But George and his wife, Kim, newlyweds when they started the challenge, nonetheless wanted help so badly that they agreed to open their books to me and enlist in my financial boot camp.

The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- Lobbying for green energy has become a red hot business here.

From electric cars to "green" roofs, companies that produce renewable fuels and energy-efficient products have snapped up Washington lobbyists at a rapid clip to get a helping hand from the federal government.

Nearly 300 green companies and industry groups have signed up Washington lobbying firms seeking tax breaks, research grants, contracts and other government business during the current two-year session of Congress, according to disclosure forms reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. That is an eightfold increase from the previous session.

The New York Times

By M.P. Dunleavey

December 13, 2008

As people contemplate their own economic straits, the not-so-funny line you often hear these days is: "O.K., where is my bailout?"

Few of us will ever get the financial breaks now being given to big companies, but there is a groundswell among financial professionals and policy makers to provide another sort of remedy.

As the economy sputters -- and the news of crazy mortgages, escalating foreclosures and personal debt mounts -- there is a growing impetus to give millions of Americans something they badly need: financial advice.

Merrill Lynch to Finance Resident Owned Communities

December 11, 2008

$10mm Line of Credit to ROC USA Capital will boost resident ownership of manufactured home communities in US

CFED, The Ford Foundation, NCB Capital Impact, NeighborWorks America, and New Hampshire Community Loan Fund have also invested $7MM in new social enterprise.

CONCORD, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merrill Lynch Community Development Company, LLC announced the opening of a $10mm Line of Credit with ROC USA™ Capital.

ROC USA Capital makes commercial loans to the owners of manufactured or "mobile" homes who have formed a resident corporation to purchase their manufactured home community (or "mobile home parks").

For Workers, Medical Bills Add to Pain as Firms Fail Article
By: Ianthe Jeanne Dugan
December 6, 2008

When Archway & Mother's Cookie Co. told employees in an October letter it would "go out of business immediately," some workers frantically sought medical care while they believed their insurance would still cover the costs.

In Ashland, Ohio, a pregnant employee had labor induced before her due date. Another worker bought a $6,000 insulin pump for her diabetic daughter. "I called my doctor at home and said, 'I need to have my gallbladder removed this weekend,'" recalls Janet Esbenshade, a 37-year-old mother of two who lost her job packing cookies.

Those employees and many others ended up saddled with huge medical bills anyway. Archway was self-insured -- and when it filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 6, there wasn't enough money in its coffers to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of outstanding health-care claims along with all its other debts.

Payday lending taking a toll on working poor
By: Steve Blow
December 6, 2008

By the time Bill Hunt came to her aid, the woman had already paid $150 in interest on a $250 loan - in just six weeks' time.

To a ruthless, leg-breaking loan shark?

No, it was just one of the many payday loan shops that have sprung up in strip shopping centers across the state.

Self-respecting loan sharks probably wouldn't dare demand the interest rate these cheery storefronts get.

And by calling them "fees" instead of interest, the businesses manage to operate outside of state lending regulations.

Adding insult to injury, many of the payday lenders are set up under Texas law as credit counseling services.

Here's some credit counseling: Don't go near a payday loan store.

'Peer' Loans Ease the Credit Crunch
By: Bao Ong
December 6, 2008

This year, Greg Young resorted to something he's never done before.

The 45-year-old, who lost his job in February working for a mall developer, never depended on family or friends for money. But his father-in-law offered to help, so Mr. Young agreed -- but with a twist.

Mr. Young, who lives in Carmel, Ind., tapped Virgin Money USA to set up a "peer-to-peer" loan. He joined a growing number of people unable to secure loans from banks and those hoping to find better interest rates. Borrowers in this slumping economy say the peer-to-peer loans are more accessible and organized than ever before.

"If you're out of a job, you can't go to a bank for a loan. You can have equity in your home, but you can't go there anymore, either," he says. "What are you going to do?"

Gone are the days of a simple handshake deal and dancing around lending money to family and friends.

A financial journey

By: Brent Hunsberger

December 7, 2008

There's a lot of uncertainty out there. About the economy. The stock market. What Santa won't bring.

This new column.

And taxes. But we'll get to that.