In a recent article on The Huffington Post, Rev. Al Sharpton argues that it is unfair to place the responsibilility of fixing our budgets on the backs of workers. With states and municipalities facing massive budget shortfalls, labor unions and workers are at risk of having the financial benefits they fought hard to secure taken away. Local governments are asking more and more workers to give up raises, take demotions and rework retirement agreements in order to make up for economic shortfalls caused by Wall Street shenanigans. In his piece on The Huffington Post, Sharpton calls out these demands as completely unfair in his essay, 'Workers Are Paying for the Crimes of Others':

As if the tightness of the economy wasn't evident enough in other areas of our lives, now we will have to be even more careful when considering clothing purchases. Brace yourselves fashionistas and dapper gentlemen: Those of you who plan on shopping for clothing this spring can expect to feel an extra squeeze on your wallets at cash registers everywhere, according to a recent Huffington Post article. Yes, the world economy is recovering and the demand for goods is rising, but a spike in the costs of labor and raw materials is putting a financial strain on manufacturers and retailers - and they are passing it on to us. Here are the details:

Over at Business Insider, a somewhat conservative Wall Street-oriented site, they're talking about bootylicious rapper Nicki Minaj. Yes that's right. Why, do you ask?

Because the 26-year-old rap phenomenon's debut CD, 'Pink Friday,' has done an unlikely thing by climbing up to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts. In today's music business, a rise like that for a newbie is a rarity, which calls attention to what is happening under all those wigs: Nicki Minaj's brain is a business savvy thing.

The article lists six keys to Minaj's explosive rise that all brand-conscious individuals should put to use, suggesting that you:

1. "Light up the Twitterverse" (because Lindsay Lohan was talking to over a million people when she tweeted about Nicki),
2. "Work that 'SNL' appearance for all its worth" (and work it she did), and
3. Utilize "Enemies in high places" for self-promotion (because Lil' Kim has reportedly been on the attack, and plans to keep talking about her).

While the health care industry experiences a workforce shortage, concern is growing over the country's capacity to produce enough new entrants. A recent report by The Center for American Progress (CAP) addresses this issue, looking at the role of for-profit colleges in training the health care workforce -- an area of particular interest to the black community, since African Americans account for a large percentage of most for-profit colleges' student populations. With their pattern of recruiting under-served demographics of students, for-profit colleges are a significant point of access into the health care field for students of color. At the same time, there are issues:

For-profit colleges concentrate on educating students primarily in lower-paying, lower-skilled health support fields. With so many students of color in their student bodies, that means many minority students will end up in support positions such as medical assistants rather than as registered nurses.