Household debt rose $241 billion in the third quarter of 2013. Analysts at the New York Fed say the 2.1 percent increase was the largest jump since 2007. The debt was primarily mortgage debt and new car loans, which is seen as a sign that consumers are gaining confidence in an improving economy. However, student-loan...Read More

Sustained high unemployment has permanently changed our economy, and the middle class must change to keep up. This situation is not entirely new; for example, unemployment peaked at 10.8% in 1982. But then, the jobless could count on unemployment benefits and other government benefits to tide them over. The unemployment rate quickly went back down...Read More

Florida has more long-term unemployed workers than almost any other state in the country. A recent report gave more identity to the long-term unemployed, or those who have been jobless for more than 26 weeks. In Florida, Alaska, California, Illinois, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, between 46% and 60% of the jobless...Read More

Assume that you and your neighbor disagree over the ownership of a house, and you file a lawsuit to quiet title. Before the case is heard, the house burns down. What happens at the court date? Most courts have refused to enter a decision in this situation, explaining that the point is now moot because...Read More

A major mortgage lender is returning to the subprime market. Since the mortgage collapse in 2008, skittish banks have only loaned money to the most credit-worthy consumers. Now, faced with a major revenue loss as mortgage lending volume declines overall, Wells Fargo may be loaning money to consumers with credit scores as low as 600....Read More

Consumer bankruptcy filings are expected to remain high in certain parts of the country. Although the filing rate is expected to decline overall in 2014, consumers in areas dominated by high unemployment and a poor housing market are expected to keep filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in large numbers. Meanwhile, more and more Chapter 7 bankruptcies...Read More

President Harry Truman once wished for a one-armed economist. The reason? Seemingly all his economic advisors consistently said “on the one hand X, but on the other hand Y.” Wage stagnation is a current case-in-point. It has become almost axiomatic to say that the middle-class is shrinking. One economist begs to differ, claiming that this...Read More

Home equity is exempt in Florida, although the amount of the exemption may be a matter of time. If you have a Home Equity Line of Credit, the actual debt may be wiped out but not the lien on your property What is a HELOC? Many people refer to a HELOC as a “home equity...Read More