Filed under: College Finance With student loan debt at a trillion dollars and rising, it’s hardly surprising that more and more students are searching for creative ways to finance their college educations. But while extreme measures, like renting out one’s face for advertising or majoring in petroleum engineering have their merits, they aren’t quite the broad-based solutions that millions of students and recent graduates need. Most tuition proposals, like President Obama’s college incentive plan and FixUC’s innovative…

Filed under: Economy , Real Estate A recent Federal Housing Finance Agency report on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac confirms that the two government-sponsored enterprises now own some 200,000 single-family homes. Originally designed to be facilitators of the national mortgage market, these companies came by their massive real estate portfolio by foreclosing on properties whose owners had fallen behind on their mortgages. But they’re not thrilled about it, and you shouldn’t be, either

Filed under: Economy A gauge of consumers’ financial insecurity that correlates with the outcome of presidential reelection races declined in March for the third straight month, signaling better odds for Barack Obama in November. The Money Anxiety Index measures several economic factors associated with Americans’ level of financial stress. “We use GDP, unemployment, spending, savings, a whole array of economic indicators,” Dr

Filed under: Economy In most years, for most presidents, the State of the Union is something of a chore, an annual address that the chief executive is constitutionally obliged to make to Congress. But tonight’s speech is — or, at least, could be — something more. For President Obama, looking ahead to a potentially tough reelection fight, the State of the Union could be a springboard to his last campaign, a moment when he can outline what he has achieved over the past three years and give a glimpse of his vision…

Filed under: Economy , Taxes Taxes. We resent paying them, yet, for the most part, they do fund things most of us would rather not do without, such as schools, roads, firefighters, courts, and police. It’s natural to wonder what we’re buying with our money