By Julia Glum, Money How has your life changed since February 2020? It’s no secret that the nation has been financially devastated by the coronavirus pandemic over the past year. But despite the widespread suffering, many Americans feel their finances are in good shape and will get better over the
By Steve Goldstein, Market Watch Global debt reaches $281 trillion Governments and countries accumulated more debt during the COVID-19 pandemic than they did during the 2008-09 financial crisis, a leading trade group said on Wednesday. The Institute of International Finance said global debt-to-GDP surged by 35 percentage points to over
By Katie Lobosco, CNN Washington (CNN) – President Joe Biden made it clear during Tuesday night’s CNN town hall that he disagrees with other members of his party who want to cancel $50,000 of student debt per borrower. “I will not make that happen,” Biden said after a member of
By Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Business Insider Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that US unemployment is about 10% — or nearly twice the officially recorded rate. That roughly equal to Great Recession levels more than a decade ago. The Fed chair made the remarks in a speech on strengthening
By Jeff Stein, Washington Post America’s federal debt is set to exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy this year for only the second time since the end of World War II, a reflection of the extraordinary emergency measures approved by Congress in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the
By Lorie Konish, CNBC Many Americans are eager to see more money from the federal government in the form of $1,400 stimulus checks. But another part of Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, changes to the child tax credit, could actually give qualifying families more money than the direct payments.
By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) – An estimated 11.4 million workers will lose their unemployment benefits between mid-March and mid-April unless Congress passes its next coronavirus relief package in coming weeks, a new study has found. Out-of-work Americans will start running out of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment
By Chris Arnold, OPB Homeowners who’ve lost their jobs or income say their lenders are demanding punishing terms if they take part in what’s supposed to be a government effort to help them. To avoid a wave of home loan defaults, Congress and regulators told lenders that they have to let
High school students, union activists & fast food workers marched in Manhattan’s Upper West Side to demand a $15 per hour federal minimum wage. – New York City – April 15, 2015 (Shutterstock) By Jeff Cox, CNBC Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, as President Joe
By Jessica Dickler, CNBC In times of financial distress, credit cards are one of the easiest ways to access cash. During the coronavirus crisis, more than half, or 51%, of adults with credit card debt — roughly 51 million people — added to their balances, according to a report by
