The CFPA--A Bureaucracy to Benefit Women and Families

I recognize that some folks dislike the idea of a CFPA. Indeed, it may well feel like just another bureaucracy--and sometimes it seems that our country is awash in the doggone things. Why in the world would we want another one? I think there are many good reasons for a CFPA, and not the least of which is discussed in a paper I recently published in Journal of Family and Economic Issues ("Extreme Financial Strain: Emergent Chores Gender Inequality, and Emotional Distress").

Does a Tarnished Credit Report Equal an Untrustworthy Employee?

Last week, the NYT ran a piece describing how common it has become for employers to use the credit report as a screen device for job applicants ("Another Hurdle for the Jobless: Credit Inquiries"). In a nutshell, if your credit report shows too much debt, a bankruptcy, or a low credit score, employers don't want you.

Based on some of the employers' comments in the article, there seems to be a widespread belief that a tarnished credit report necessarily results from "bad decision making" and that it is evidence that an employee is "unreliable, unwise or too susceptible to temptation to steal."