Sunday, May 20, 2012

Borrowing Spree



I recently came across an article by Kathleen Madigan on the Wall Street Journal website (online.wsj.com) titled Good and Bad in Credit Card Binge. Madigan’s article is about the recent phenomenon of March Madness in the financial world, where this past March consumers went on a ‘borrowing spree’ adding $21.4 billion in borrowing for the month (Madigan 2012). This borrowing spree was this largest since November of 2001 and Madigan’s article explores possible causes for such an enormous change. Madigan use the half-full, half-empty analogy to describe consumer’s stance on the economy and their own personal finances. The ‘good-side’ of the credit card debt increase is that it shows the strengthening of the economy. People are more comfortable now using credit to make purchases because they feel confident that they will have enough money to cover the tab. These people have recovered from the recession of the previous years and they look at the glass half-full. On the other hand, the half-empty view on consumer debt escalation in March 2012 is bad. These consumers are borrowing just to stay above water. Madigan notes that average hourly pay increased only 0.5% in the first four months of 2012, while gas prices have jumped 8.8% and overall goods have inflated almost 1% (Madigan 2012). I imagine that most people are using their credit cards just to maintain their lifestyle. This increase in borrowing is not a sign of increasing stability in the economy because unemployment is still at an all-time high. Until foreclosures and unemployment are problems of the past I don’t think it will be possible to pin-point the motives and incentives of consumers borrowing trends.


Please check out the Kathleen Madigan’s Wall Street Journal article at:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/05/09/good-and-bad-in-credit-card-binge/?KEYWORDS=debt

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Black Hair



There is a lot of tension in the Black community around issues and opinions on hair. I noticed early on in my life that there is a stigma associated with women who wear hair extensions. By definition found on m-w.com, a 'stigma' is an identifying mark or characteristic - your brand essentially. Most women would agree that hair is an important part of our appearance; hair is our identifying mark. Black women are known to have exceptionally ‘high maintenance hair’ requiring frequent visits to a hair stylist. The controversy is around Black women wearing hair extensions and straightening their hair versus natural and not straightened.
Some people believe that wearing hair weaves and wigs or somehow altering the hairs natural texture is a form of self-hate. Asian and European nationalities have straight hair and Black hair is in the curly to kinky texture range. To some, false hair is associated with fakeness and comes off like the wearer is pretending to be something else. By not wearing your hair natural it sends the message that your natural hair is inferior, but I disagree. There is a long history of women and even men from all backgrounds that have worn wigs and changed the ‘natural’ color of their hair. Our hair is a statement of our personality. Hair is important to all women regardless of race.
We come in contact with hair advertisements for all races on television, on the radio, and in magazines every day. I have always been experimental when it came to my hair. I wear braids, twists, straightened, extensions, different styles, and different textures. But I have noticed in the media that there is a lack of representation of Black women who wear natural styles, such as locks and afros. Most of the Black women you see on television wear weaves. I can agree that long straight hair is a symbol of beauty in our society but natural African hair is beautiful as well. I would love to see both hair perspectives represented equally in the media to help erase this stigma.