This week we’ve been asking listeners to suggest ideas on how to fix the economy. So far we’ve talked about raising inflation and boosting housing prices. Today we're talking about capping the total compensation that CEOs earn — including salary, benefits and bonuses — at $5 million. Any additional money would go back to the company, hopefully creating more jobs. Who would step up to do this? Perhaps Warren Buffett, in light of his recent op-ed for The New York Times.

As riots and unrest continue to spread throughout England, some say they began with youths who are unhappy with the economic climate there. Throughout the U.K., there is a growing sense that many young people are going to face more difficult financial times than their parents' generation did. The future will bring fewer job opportunities and lower pensions, which will mature at a later date and come at a greater personal cost. Overall, there’s a feeling that politicians are inept to fix the nation’s economic problems.

We’ve been told repeatedly over the past several months that if the government fails to raise the debt ceiling by August 2, there could be dire consequences for the world economy. But many Americans are wondering: what does this have to do with us and our personal finances? If the government defaults on its debt, how will it affect our personal debt and investments?

Love them or hate them, the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform have released their draft proposals to slow the quickly growing national debt. Many politicians say the ideas will never, ever be approved by any future Congress. With proposals that call for major cuts in domestic and military spending, bumping the age to qualify for (decreased) Social Security benefits, and a simplified but much broader tax base with fewer exemptions, the plan is guaranteed to be unpopular among politicians and voters alike. But as unpalatable as these notions are to politicians, is it time to start getting serious about painful cuts?    

This month, the latest rules in the federal credit card overhaul come into effect. Credit card issuers, however, are already finding creative loopholes. Go check your mailbox: There's a good chance you have a letter from your credit card company or bank telling you about new rules and "improved" new features on your account. Some of those were actually mandated by Congress; others are workarounds to earn more money on new fees. 

We want to help you find out what new fees and charges consumers have to watch out for now that the credit card overhaul is taking effect. Tell us what your card company is asking you to sign up for. Or how they are pitching their new features. Send us pictures of the letters even. Or, tell us any stories for paying too much or getting overcharged by a credit card company. 

 

President Obama signed the CARD Act back in May 2009, but the new regulations on credit card issuers took until today to come into effect. The law was designed to protect consumers from many of the hidden fees, rate changes and small print traps that cost Americans $15 billion each year, but some aspects of the bill changed along the way. Now that it's here, how will it affect your monthly statements?

Is $100 million too much for one year for one Citigroup trader? That's what the White House pay czar may decide as he starts his compensation review at bailed-out financial firms. But Citi is arguing that its energy trader deserves the money. Takeaway friend and finance expert Alvin Hall looks at the bank's argument. And we speak to two people with an opinion: Matt Spaulding is a small business owner in Atlanta; and Judy Coughlin is a clerical worker in Lowell whose union just voted for a pay freeze.

Watch a Fox Business News report on Citigroup's push for compensation.

It’s become a familiar story. People who pay their credit cards on time every month are seeing their interest rates go up, their monthly due dates changed without warning, and are watching all sorts of new fees pop up on their monthly statements. Well, President Obama (and Sen. Chris Dodd) is fed up with those stories. Yesterday the President met with representatives of the credit card industry at the White House and recited the many ways he would like to see their business model change.

Here at The Takeaway we've been asking our listeners to call in with their stories of credit card woes and the occasional victory. We turn now to two of our listeners to tell their story and make their suggestions on how they'd improve the credit card industry. We are also joined by The Takeaway's personal finance guru Alvin Hall for his take on the President's makeover of the credit industry.

Takeaway contributor and personal finance whiz Alvin Hall has been helping homeowners dissect the Obama administration's housing plan. Earlier we heard from Pamela Zombeck, a homeowner in Salem, Massachusetts who was struggling to pay her mortgage. Now we sic Alvin on a more complicated situation: the speculator, the guys who bought homes as investments and now have a lot to lose as mortgage payments escalate and housing prices fall. Scott Mintz of Los Angeles bought four homes and has a lot of questions for Alvin.

Click here for Part One

The Obama administration has released the details of its housing plan, which is meant to be a finger in the dam for the tidal wave of homes facing foreclosure throughout the U.S. Yesterday the administration launched their website, that will help struggling homeowners determine their eligibility for assistance. We can do one better than that. Joining us is Takeaway contributor and financial adviser Alvin Hall who is here to help homeowner Pamela Zombeck in Salem, Massachusetts sort through it all.

Click here for part two

Yesterday President Obama unveiled his $275 billion plan to help millions of homeowners refinance their mortgages or avoid foreclosure. President Obama's plan claims to be simple, but it's not. Luckily we have Alvin Hall, personal finance adviser and Takeaway contributor, who has been up all night reading through the plan. Also joining us for his first-hand account is Carlos Saenz, a homeowner struggling to pay his mortgage in Orlando, Florida.

Our current economic crisis isn’t the first crisis in history or even in recent memory and it most likely won’t be the last. But can events of the past teach us something this time around? To help answer that question, we are joined by Carmen Reinhart, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland and co-author of the forthcoming book “This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly.”

Wall Street executives are getting plenty of criticism for handing out $18 billion in bonuses to themselves last year. But maybe there's a way to put bonuses to good use—by paying them to regulators who help keep the system in check. Andrew Ross Sorkin, chief mergers and acquisitions reporter for the New York Times, joins Adaora and Alvin Hall to talk about the idea of rewarding watchdogs with cold, hard cash.

For more information, read Andrew Ross Sorkin's column, What if Watchdogs Got Bonuses? in the New York Times.

As interest rates for mortgage loans continue to drop, homeowners are looking to refinance and lock in lower long term rates. But most applicants are getting turned down. Takeaway contributor Alvin Hall joins host Adaora Udoji to talk about whether it's a good time to try and refinance and how to go about the process in a tough lending market.

Ten years ago today, four New York City police officers shot at Amadou Diallo 41 times, hitting him with 19 bullets. Diallo, a 22-year old immigrant from West Africa was unarmed. The officers, all charged with second-degree murder, were eventually acquitted. One of the many unanswered questions surrounding the Diallo shooting is: If Amadou Diallo were an unarmed white man would he have been shot at? That’s a question that Joshua Correll has been trying to answer since 2002. Correll is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. His primary line of research uses videogame simulation of police encounters to examine racial bias in shoot/don't-shoot decisions. He joins us to discuss his results.

A day after President Obama announced he would stand by his man, Tom Daschle, the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department, has withdrawn his name for consideration. His abrupt decision left everyone from reporters to the Obama administration scrambling. In the end, President Obama made the media rounds last night taking full responsibility for the situation. For more we turn to Todd Zwillich of Capitol News Connection in Washington, D.C.

Congress is currently debating the possibility of bankruptcy reform, a measure that may come too late to save companies such as GM, but what about the little guy who is being crushed by personal debt? Does the legal insulation meant to protect the American worker still function in this economic climate? Does filing for bankruptcy in our current economy offer relief? Alvin Hall joins Adaora and Todd with some advice that might make you pause before considering declaring bankruptcy.

Financial educator and author Alvin Hall took your questions on personal finance and debt on Friday, November 21, 2008.

Submit your questions about debt for financial consultant Alvin Hall and join us at thetakeaway.org at 1 p.m. Eastern for a live Q&A.

"You could walk through any store in Manhattan right now and you could bowl down the main aisle. There aren't any people." — Financial consultant Alvin Hall