Website helps youth say "NO" to debt

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

A new health and financial site focused towards young adults from ages 18-34, gives resources and information that they won’t learn in school.

Anna Greenburg, the Senior Vice President of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, said that younger people are suffering worse from the economic situation than older people except in regard to retirement and investment income because they don’t have any.

“Even though this recession is affecting everybody the way it affects young people has the potential impact to affect what their financial lives look like 20, 30 and 40 years from now.”

Greenburg also said that younger people are facing the highest unemployment rate out of every group.

“You got sort of a double whammy with younger people. Their both more likely to be unemployed, more likely to work part time and if you work part time, more likely to have your hours cut back and your wages cut.”

In the study “Young People: Trying to Weather a Recession” conducted by Greenburg Quinlan Rosner Research and Qvisory.org, 19% of young adults say they are unemployed or looking for work compared to only 7% of adults ages 30 and over.

The study also found that in 2008, 37% of young people reported having more than $5,000 in debt, excluding amounts from mortgages and student loans.

A new website called Qvisory.org, that was launched in October 2008, is hoping to provide resources and information for young adults that they are not learning in the classrooms.

Gina Glantz, the Qvisory Treasurer said that America’s younger generation is in jeopardy.

“They don’t feel well represented in the halls of power and they like most Americans have grown to distrust their financial institution.”

Glantz said that now more than ever young adults need guidance because they are suffering the most.

“They need trusted resources and a navigation system to help them secure their health and financial well being and have a chance at the American dream.”

Qvisory is a non-profit organization that has a $36 per year membership fee that includes services like the distribution of pre-paid cards, a COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) information center, a low-cost dental insurance program, a combination of employee assistance programs, and free telephone and online services.

“There is a no more important time for young people to find the resources and information they need to survive the situation they find themselves in,” concluded Glantz.

Unemployment high in March, Officials say

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

A day after President Barack Obama's budget was passed by a Congress boiling with partisanship, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing unemployment at its highest since 1983. There are now 13.2 million Americans out of work.

The pouring rain in Washington mirrored the sobered mood in the room, as the Joint Economic Committee heard the testimony of Keith Hall, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

March was one of the worst Months on record for unemployment, and when asked outright, Hall told the committee that there were no "bright spots" in the report.

National unemployment climbed to 8.5 percent in March, rising from the level of 8.1 percent in February and 7.6 percent in January.

Hall said that two-thirds of the job loss has happened in the past 5 months. Every state is in recession for the first time in 30 years, according to Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).

Official unemployment numbers do not encompass underemployed Americans or those who have officially left the workforce. It is reported that 16 percent of the country is out of work or underemployed. One in four of those unemployed have been out of work for more than six months, and of those, half have been looking for work for over a year, Hall said.

Maloney highlighted that last month, 8,000 jobs were lost in the news publishing industry. Those losses total 70,000 job cuts since Dec. 2007, Hall said, adding that most job losses have been see in the manufacturing, construction, and temporary services industries. The only area to see any growth in March was the Healthcare industry, Hall said.

Ranking Committee member Senator Sam Brownback (R-KA) noted that the impact of the ongoing recession was not severe for almost a year after it began in December 2007. Brownback attributed recent dramatic jumps in job losses over the past five months to the lockup in the credit markets and the government bailouts that followed.

The Federal Reserve believes that unemployment will peak at 8.8 percent this year, but Ranking House Committee Member Kevin Brady (R-TX) said that the unemployment rate is already higher than what the administration anticipated for 2009. Brady said that the Obama Administration's "optimistic assumptions" would not get the country out of its current mess.

President Obama’s Economic Stimulus package was passed by Congress earlier this year, and saw an unprecedented amount of money placed into public works meant to put people back to work. Obama has pledged the legislation will save or create three to four million jobs over the next two years.

Read the report here: Bureau of Labor Statistics Report

Official: The Great Depression is history

Bank runs and soup lines that once stretched around the neighborhood during the Great Depression of the 1930s remain atypical today, even during the worst economic crisis of the last 70 years. “The current economic recession is unquestionably severe, it pales in comparison with what our parents and grandparents experienced in the 1930s,” said Christina D. Romer, the Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. Even at the worst point in the current recession, unemployment has only reached 8.1 percent, which stands in stark contrast to the nearly 25 percent seen during the 1930s. Therefore, Romer believes, that no matter how severe the economic recession is presently, America is no where close to entering another depression.


Romer attributed the cause of the current recession to modern innovations such as derivatives, which led to a direct relationship between asset prices and severe stress in financial institutions. “A reliance on such insecure and volatile assets caused the failure of financial institutions, which led a drying up of credit, which America so desperately needs,” said Romer.


Additionally, Romer complimented the Obama administration for passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and called it the “biggest and boldest countercyclical fiscal action in history.” Also, Romer noted the lack of bank runs and attributed this to the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, which was created as part of the New Deal.


Remaining optimistic, Romer stated that due to the quick and well-conceived response of the Obama Administration, “there is every reason to believe that we will weather this trial and come through stronger than before.” Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) echoed such beliefs, when he exclaimed that “the United States recovered from the Great Depression and we will recover from today’s recession.”

Whistleblowers Welcome

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

Deputy Director of the FBI, John Pistole, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, the Honorable Neil Barofsky and Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita Glavin from the Criminal division testified before a full room at a Senate Judiciary Hearing today, to discuss "The Need for Increased Fraud Enforcement in the Wake of the Economic Downturn."

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) said: "This is not a partisan issue...we want to strengthen fraud enforcement, the Justice Department, the FBI, the Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and even the Postal Inspection Service."

"One thing I learned as a prosecutor...you can have all the laws of the world in the books but if you don't have the resources to enforce the laws, and actually go out there after people who have broken the laws, they are meaningless."

"We do know that banks and private mortgage companies relaxed their standards for loans, proving ever riskier mortgage and less and less due diligence, it's almost like open the door and saying, 'Hey, come on in fraud is welcome'," Senator Leahy continued.

Also discussed at the hearing were the measures on how to tackle fraud now and in the future in relation to the economic crisis, catching criminal activity, and the Madoff scandal.

With regard to whistleblowers there seemed to be a unanimous agreement by the witnesses, that whistleblowers are an important tool in tackling fraud.

John Pistole said: "Anybody who has credible information, that can help either predicate or enhance investigation we look forward to working with."

Rita Glavin stated that "The Department has enjoyed tremendous success from working with whistleblowers...we have obtained essentially $10 billion in the past 10 years...the Department believes that whistleblowers, who are often insiders, can serve a vital function in our law enforcement efforts in exposing potential fraud in connection with government programs."

Neil Barofsky announced at the hearing that the TARP program encourages people to contact their hotline which can be found on their website if they have any information on fraud. TARP has hired a lawyer to follow all hotline enquiry leads. Barofsky said he would rather they went through 99 false lines of enquiry in order to avoid missing that one real piece of information.

Asked by Senator Edward Kaufman (D-Del) what were the most obvious fraud cases that TARP would move on quickly in order to attempt to get the most number of prosecutions, Neil Barofsky said: "Going after licensed professionals...focussing on exclusively the gatekeepers; the lawyers, the appraisers, the licensed mortgage brokers...making examples of those and letting their colleagues know that criminal behavior in these types of mortgage frauds is unacceptable, because they have the most to lose."

America in a ditch

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service


"Today's numbers underline the need to act, and to act now." said Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) at a Joint Economic Committee hearing today.

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the unemployment rate has risen from 7.2 to 7.6 percent and according to other figures released, 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007, including the nearly 600,000 jobs lost in January only.

Senator Robert P. Casey (D-PA) was particularly alarmed from the minority unemployment statistics expressing that, "As bad as this recession has been overall for all Americans it has had a particularly disproportionate adverse effect on African Americans and Latinos." Since the start of the recession, December, 2007, the unemployment rate for African-Americans has gone from 8.9 to 12.6 percent and for Latino's it has risen from 6.2 to 9.7 percent.

The sectors of education and healthcare have maintained relative stability and there has been a job growth seen in those areas. There was a rise in jobs in education and that area has gained 39,000 jobs and in healthcare there has been a growth of 19,000 jobs. In the past three months the motor vehicle and parts industry has lost 75,000 jobs in the major auto producing states.

Chairwoman Maloney ended her opening statement by discussing the economic recovery package. "Alarm bells are sounding and our economic recovery package must make its way to the President as soon as possible. The current economic crisis requires bold solutions that address the magnitude of our economic woes, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will do just that." she said.