Jan 07 Strategic Default: Immoral or Not? By Paul Solman Rounding out our series today, those of you considering strategic default might find particular encouragement from the web chat with law professor Brent White of the University of Arizona, who thinks it is both legally and morally okay. Continue reading
Jan 06 Who Do You Hurt When You Walk Away? By Paul Solman More from the strategic default debate today. Economist Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago, also in our original story, argues there are damaging spillover effects ("negative externalities") when homeowners strategically default. "By walking away, not only do you… Continue reading
Jan 05 Strategic Default: Right or Wrong? By Paul Solman We've been concentrating on the housing crisis over the past several days here on the Business Desk. For the rest of the week we'll be focusing on the issue of strategic default. If you're an underwater homeowner who can afford… Continue reading
Dec 31 Alyssa Katz: How Government Is Failing the Homeowner By Paul Solman We last spoke with journalist and author Alyssa Katz back in October 2009. She had just finished writing "Our Lot," a book on the history of America's housing market. "The issue is that the investors and investment… Continue reading
Dec 29 Robert the Robot, the Mechanical Man By Paul Solman Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's today's query: Name: Jose Question: In Virginia we have a non-judicial foreclosure process. The… Continue reading
Dec 28 The Loan Mod Squad: A Request to Business Desk Readers By Paul Solman Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's today's query: Name: Toby Hanna Question: I purchased a house in 2006. A year… Continue reading
Dec 27 The American Dream Deferred: What Befell our Strategic Defaulters? By Paul Solman We've devoted a lot of attention to the foreclosure crisis that is threatening the homes of so many Americans, and to various ways they've sought help: non-profit third parties; the government's loan modification program, HAMP. But… Continue reading
Dec 16 Will the U.S. Follow Europe’s Austerity Lead? By Paul Solman Paul Solman answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Thursday's query: Name: Sharon McDonnell Question: Paul, I apologize if I missed a step in the… Continue reading
Dec 08 Looking To the Past To See the Future: More Anxiety May Await Us By Elizabeth Shell Name: Sophia Shelko Question: What does the future hold for people that have lost or have been victims of this economic crisis? An example: those who faced foreclosures of their homes and had their credit ruined. Paul Solman: If the… Continue reading
Jun 04 Watch Financial Crisis Does Little to Dim Graduates’ Wall Street Aspirations As part of his continuing coverage making sense of the economy, Paul Solman talks to Harvard economist Ben Friedman about the college graduates who continue to flock to Wall Street, three years into the financial crisis. Continue watching