In this interview, I speak with Michel Martin, host of "Tell Me More with Michel Martin," an NPR show that covers issues that affect the African American community. As we talk, we discuss the government's recent decision to increase the minimum wage and ask the following questions:
Who is affected?
Does it make sense to increase the minimum wage during a recession?
Exactly how many people earn the minimum wage in America?
Does the minimum wage increase hurt small businesses?
Are minorities and women adversely affected by minimum wage policies?
Click below to listen!
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. He is also the author of "Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Assets with Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good." To have Dr Boyce commentary delivered directly to your email, please click here.
Six Horror Stories of Mortgage Modification
Sue Wright, Las Vegas, Nev.
Real estate agent Sue Wright was one of the earliest homeowners to apply for the FDIC's mortgage modification plan to help insolvent IndyMac's at-risk borrowers keep their homes. But because she was current on her mortgage payments, the bank said it couldn't help her and advised her to stop making payments for two months. She did that and called back right after her second payment was overdue. She was given a plan with a reduced interest rate and told to make the new payments for three months and the modification would become permanent. But after doing that, she received a letter from the bank telling her the modification was off; the investors wouldn't approve it.
Full Story: The Crazy Part Is ...
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
A. G. Chancey, Longwood, Fla.
Chancey has been trying to arrange a mortgage workout since August 2008, when she was only two months behind on payments. Today, after dozens of phone calls to her lender, she's made progress. But she's now five months behind. She has been in the home for 23 years, but family health problems, divorce and economic factors have conspired against her and she's never been able to substantially pay down the loan. She tried to apply for a mortgage workout, but no one ever seemed to know her status.
Full Story: She May Get Good News Yet
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Raul Medina, Moorestown, N.J.
No good deed goes unpunished, they say, and Amber and Joe Tardiff might be forced to agree. When Joe's good friend and partner in a landscaping business, Raul Medina, was left a parapalgegic by an auto accident, the Tardiffs took on the Good Samaritan task of dealing with Medina's mortgage issues. Medina, who's also a minister, owns two properties, his residence and one he bought for a Moorestown, N.J., church to provide shelter for the homeless. But after seven months of roadblocks, wrong numbers, voice mails to people who no longer work for the company, they were told that the lender does not offer any loan modifications.
Full Story: His Only Options Now
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Richard and Pati Kays, Stuart, Fla.
"He's 83 and I'm 73, with separate assets, stuck in the mortgage mess. We're not quite in foreclosure but in distress over the inability to sell or refinance," says Pati Kays. Pati married husband Richard seven years ago. He's a retired high-steel construction man. She's a retired attorney who owns five cottages she rents out. Richard was supplementing his pension and social security with the rent from a mortgaged duplex he owns. Not any more. His adjustable rate mortgage reset, and his payment on the $430K mortgage went from $1,750 a month to $2,750. The rent he now receives is only $1,800 a month. Trying to head off problems, Richard called his lender to ask for a workout.
Full Story: Why He's in a Bind
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Ron Nash, Carlsbad, Calif.
Ron Nash is not someone who's shy about pushing to get what he wants; he's a motivational speaker, headhunter and author of "How to Find Your Dream Job; Even in a Recession." But when it came to obtaining a mortgage workout, he wasn't getting anywhere -- even after months of trying. He finally wrote a letter to the president of his lender to try to resolve the issue. The results were very gratifying -- at first. After that, however, and after he was asked to send in all his paperwork for the fifth time, he didn't hear from them again for six months. Then, recently, he finally got a call back with a loan workout offer.
Full Story: Why He Chose to Walk Away
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Ken Mobley, Tampa, Fla.
Ken Mobley had some of his best earnings years ever in the mid-2000s, as an advertising sales representative for a media company. But with newspaper ad revenues in decline, he was "reorganized" by his company and now sells ads to mom-and-pop businesses. He called his lender last fall hoping for a hardship consideration and asking for a two-month postponement of his mortgage payments. He wanted to have them added to the end of his mortgage. Mobley says his credit rating was excellent, and he was merely trying to free up some cash for the holidays. The effort failed.
Full Story: His Catch-22
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Comments: (3)
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By: aamilah9 on 7/23/2009 9:01PM
i think that this is the perfect time to introduce an increase in minimum wage, because inflation is low, and we've seen that all of the supply-side solutions the republicans have pushed for the last few years have been miserable failures. the housing bubble is the perfect example of this.
we need some consumer spending. that's what ends recessions. i think that if the government offers support to small and midsize companies the way it bailed out major corporations, Black and women owned businesses will be better able to absorb the shock without contributing to the unemployment problem, especially since smaller companies might not have the benfits burdens that larger companies have.
i don't think that Black people, or American workers in general, will be hugely affected by a minimum wage increase, because i can't remember the last time wages were consistent with the cost of living in this country. that's where the solutions to the economic crisis lie.
people only need paychecks to buy their basic needs: food, clothing, shelter, medicine (and by extension, education, because it also increases spending power). if the government balanced the costs of these with wage earnings, artificial strategies like minimum wage might not be so important.
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By: Lee on 7/24/2009 12:28PM
Could someone get this disgusting black man off of AOL. Please.
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By: Tachea on 7/25/2009 8:23AM
Its the perfect time, everyone can use a little more money.
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