Raising minimum wage is a hotly contested topic. The idea of putting a few extra dollars in the savings accounts of hardworking Americans currently earning minimum wage sounds good, but critics claim the resulting economic damage more than offsets the benefits for the people it tries to help, along with everyone else for that matter.

Minimum Wage in the United States

The minimum wage law was permanently adopted by the U.S. in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act in an effort to prevent businesses from exploiting impoverished workers. Basically, it prevents someone from running a sweatshop in the U.S., legally anyway.

Currently, the federal minimum wage in the U.S. is set at $7.25 with no official raises expected on the horizon. However, President Barack Obama has stated that he’d like to raise it to $9.50 by 2011 and index it with inflation.

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Finances are a major issue for a larger number of Americans now that more are categorized as living in poverty, according to new U.S. Census data. The report showed that the number increased to 14.3 percent in 2009 from 13.2 percent the previous year, which is the highest level seen since 1994.

43.6 Million Americans Living in Poverty

The Census Bureau’s data provided chilling information on the state of our economy:U there were 43.6 million Americans earning an income that placed them below the poverty line in 2009. Unfortunately, that’s just part of the story of the sad state of the American economy.

According to the Census report, the inflation-adjusted income of the median household (which would land in the middle of the populace) fell 4.8 percent between 2000 and 2009.

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Sometimes when you want to save money, it’s best to go shopping, at least when it comes making a CD comparison.

Because rates are so similar, it may seem like there’s not much difference when it comes to a CD comparison. But that isn’t necessarily so.

CD products are offered by different institutions — banks, credit unions and brokerage houses — and they are offered over different terms: short term, midterm and long term. The terms are usually divided into 12-month increments, but some banks offer specials like 11-month terms to first-time buyers. First find out what your local banks offers when you’re comparing CDs.

Online banks also offer competitive rates while allowing you to do your research from the privacy of your own home.

Planning ahead for better rates

Nobody knows when interest rates will go up again steadily, but one factor you can control is how long you hold your CD.

Most times, the longer the bank keeps your money, the higher your interest will be. Yo

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Beach Community Bank provides customers the outstanding Sandcastle savings account, which allows you to earn one of the highest savings rates around. Currently, this account offers an interest rate of 0.95% APY.

There is no minimum balance requirement to obtain this savings account interest rate, though you need $100 to open the account and $1,000 to waive the $5 quarterly fee. Additionally, three free debit transactions are allowed each month.

A group of local career bankers, Board of Directors and about 140 local investors founded the Beach Community Bank in 2001 in order to establish a community owned and operated financial institution. As of September 2009, the bank had grown to hold more than $693 million in total assets and over $600 million in total deposits.

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There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the 4.00% APY Reward Checking Account offered by Viewpoint Bank remains one of the best reward checking account deals in Texas. The bad news is that it’s not only limited to those who live and work in Texas. When this account first came out, we were told that it was being offered nationwide. Today, new accounts opened with the bank can only earn this APY if they’re opened in Texas.

However, if you can pass the stringent application process and get past the catches of this money in the bank deal, this is possibly the best checking account you can open this year. Earn 4.00% APY for balances of $50,000 maximum. Most banks offer lower top rates, and these checking account deals usually also have much lower cap balances, some even reaching as low as $25,000.

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Banks and credit unions are obviously trying to attract a lot of clients because checking account bonuses are everywhere. If you want the best checking account in the state, though, you might be interested in what the American Eagle Credit Union has to offer. A total of $100 bonus is in the bag if you do the following:

• You earn $25 if you apply for a Visa Check Card and use it immediately once it’s issued to you.
• You earn $25 if you make one direct deposit 30 days after you’ve opened the account.
• You earn $25 if you enroll in the account’s bill pay program and pay at least 3 bills within 30 days of opening the account.
• You earn another $25 just for doing all of these three.

What’s great about this checking account bonus is that the work required to earn it isn’t as stringent as the work required by the competition. Some bank

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One of the more interesting trends, from my point of view as a woman, is the interest that more women are taking in finances these days. However, in light of a recent I read about on Yahoo! Finance, I’m not sure they’re taking the right interest in finances. At the risk of generalizing, I’ve noticed in my (limited) experience that women are mainly interested in frugality and couponing — how to stretch the household budget each month. This isn’t a bad thing, but monthly budgeting isn’t the whole of a well-rounded financial education, either. (Clearly, men need a good financial education as well, but traditionally men are more likely to be confident in money matters than women are.)

Here is what a post, written by Laura Rowley, points out about women and finances:

“I think the great economic crisis was absolutely a wake-up call to them,” says Joan Cleveland, senior vice president at Prudential. “Women have a h

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The U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent after the economy shed jobs for the third straight month. Dropping 54,000 non-farm jobs, the losses were not great, but not as bad as economists originally predicted.

Job Losses Not So Bad

Despite the fact that the economy lost a lot of jobs in August, economists saw a grimmer future. Last month, they had predicted we would lose about 110,000, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.

According to the report, the real losses came from cutbacks in the government as more temporary workers were let go who were hired for the 2010 census. In the private sector, 67,000 jobs were added, but this was not enough to offset the losses.

Policymakers Need to Take Action

With unemployment remaining points within the peak of 10.2 percent that was reached in March 2009, it’s no wonder people are looking for policymakers to take more immediate action to get the economy up and running.

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Just recently, BBVA Compass and SmartyPig formed a partnership, and BBVA Compass seems to be taking full advantage of it. They just posted a new promo on SmatyPig’s main website, and this promo has to do with a $150 bonus for every checking account opened at BBVA Compass. This isn’t a bad deal at all of you’re looking for some immediate freebies just to enroll an account.

Just in case you want the word from the horse’s mouth, you can also check the promotion page. We’ve found out, though, that you don’t get your $150 right away. As in other checking account bonuses, you get the $150 bonus in parts when you:

• Enroll a Buy to Order Checking Account through the net
• Apply for a Direct Deposit account from your payroll, which earns you $75
• Enroll your account to the checking accounts Online Bill Pay, which earns you $25 a month, for three months. According t

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