SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010
KLMNO THE COLOR OF MONEY The year’s Top 10 personal finance stories color from G1
War II. The news was met with lots of sneers. Technically, the re- cession may be over, but the fi- nancial suffering continues.
3President Obama signed into lawthe most sweeping
overhaul of financial regulation in decades. Part of the land- mark legislation includes the creation of the independent Con- sumer Financial Protection Bu- reau, a watchdog agency whose mission is to protect consumers from the abusive lending practic- es that contributed to the crisis. The government also has new powers to seize troubled finan- cial firms.
enced a dramatic drop in prices, declining more than 5 percent in a matter of minutes, only to re- cover a short time later. “The whipsawing prices resulted in in- vestors selling at losses during the decline and undermined con- fidence in the markets,” wrote the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a joint report.
4Flash Crash. OnMay 6, the financial markets experi- 5
Foreclosure-Gate.Major lenders halted foreclosure
sales nationwide after reports that mortgage loan servicers signed thousands of foreclosure documents without verifying the information. The practice, known as “robo-signing,” led to a joint investigation by all 50 state attorneys general.
6 Major phases of the Credit CARD Actwent into effect.
Among other things, credit issu- ers can no longer push you over your card’s credit limit with fees or interest charges. Issuers can’t charge interest on the fees. Adults younger than 21 can’t get credit unless they can prove they have the income to pay the debt or have a co-signer.
7 Newfederal rules took ef-
fect aimed at reining in shady debt-settlement
companies. Debt-settlement companies now have to make specific disclosures to potential customers—how long it will take to get results, how much the service will cost and the poten- tial negative consequences that could result from seeking debt relief.
8 Introduction of an online clock showing the billions
in student loan debt that is be- ing amassed. The Student Loan Debt Clock
atwww.finaid.org/ studentdebtclock keeps a run- ning tally of outstanding federal and private student loans. In June, the total debt on student loans exceeded debt on credit cards for the first time.
9 Social Security turned 75. Despite the fact that Social
Security has kept many people from slipping below the poverty line, we are still debating wheth- er it’s a worthy social program. Notably this year, formerU.S. senator Alan K. Simpson, co- chairman of Obama’s bipartisan debt commission, got in trouble for saying this about Social Secu- rity: “We’ve reached a point now where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits!”
10 Velma Hart.Hart be- came the symbol of mid-
dle- and higher-income folks un- happy with the lack of economic progress by Obama and his ad- ministration.Hart expressed to the president during a town hall meeting inWashington her fears about the economy, and this turned her into an instant media darling.Her quote for the history books: “The financial recession has taken an enormous toll on my
family.My husband and I joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot- dogs-and-beans era of our lives. But quite frankly, it’s starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we’re headed again. And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to an- swer this honestly: Is thismy newreality?” Two months later,Hart was let
go as the chief financial officer forAmVets, a nonprofitMary- land-based veteran services orga- nization. Turns out her fears were justified.
Readers can write to Michelle Singletary at TheWashington Post, 1150 15th St.NW,Washington, D.C. 20071. Her e-mail address is
singletarym@washpost.com. Questions are welcomed, but because of the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible.
KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES KIICHIRO SATO/ASSOCIATED PRESS WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES
EZ EE
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MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST
HENNY RAY ABRAMS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clockwise from top: President Obama signs into lawthe most ambitious overhaul of financial regulation in generations, accompanied by, from left, Vice President Biden;House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); Senate Majority LeaderHarry M. Reid (D-Nev.);
Rep.MaxineWaters (D-Calif.); Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) in July; trader Steven Rickard reacts to the financial markets’ Flash Crash, a dramatic drop and recovery onMay 6; shown on the board at theNewYork Stock Exchange, theDowJones industrial average ended the day down 347.80 points; Pelosi cuts a cake marking the 75th anniversary of the Social Security Act;VelmaHart became a media darling when she expressed her fears about the economy to Obama at a town hall meeting inWashington: “The financial recession has taken an enormous toll onmy
family.My husband and I joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot-dogs- and-beans era of our lives. But quite frankly, it’s starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we’re headed again. And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly: Is thismy newreality?” Two months later, she lost her job as chief financial officer at a nonprofit veterans services organization.
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