By: Tony Collins As it is true for most professions, the passing of time comes with the introduction of new methods and techniques. It is just as nice to find a doctor who will perform house calls, as it is to find a barber who still uses a straight razor to give a shave. Master barber, Oscar Johnson has been cutting hair, professionally, for 50 years. He considers the use of the straight razor not as an ol ...

By James Clingman NNPA Columnist A recent report by Jason Jenkins, Investment U Research, shows that private prisons are earning even more money via warehousing prisoners and by establishing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) with the land upon which their prisons are built.  Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group, the two largest private prison firms, own 75 percent of the for-profit prison ...

One of the worst ironies of the nagging economic recession is that consumers with the fewest financial resources have lost the most. Now, a new report finds that payday loans not only strip much-needed income from low-income families, but harms the economic viability of the communities where they operate, draining nearly $1 billion a year. Written by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development (In ...

Sean “Diddy” Combs ranks No. 1 on this year’s Forbes Five, the magazine’s list of hip-hop’s wealthiest artists, with an estimated net worth of $580 million. The bulk of the Bad Boy Records founder’s wealth comes from non-musical ventures, namely his deal with Diageo’s Ciroc. The agreement entitles him to eight-figure annual payouts and a nine-figure windfall if the brand is ever sold—and Ciroc’s value has n ...

By Raynard Jackson NNPA Columnist Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, released his long awaited report last week called the Growth and Opportunity Project.  It is basically a post mortem of last November’s election results and lessons learned. The report stated the obvious: The Republican Party had problems with key demographic groups such as Blacks and Hispanics. To address this ...

By James Clingman Falling off the Fiscal Cliff Will we jump from the cliff?  Congress and the president will determine whether we fall, jump, or back away from the cliff.  While I trust they will get together and make the right decision, I think we should be prepared for the worst case scenario.  How do we prepare?  First of all, learn what the fiscal cliff and its implications are for your personal economy ...

By Marian Wright Edelman NNPA Columnist Americans committed to keep moving forward turned out in record numbers to vote in the battleground states. But we won’t be able to go forward until Congress sits down and makes the hard decisions to create a just budget that invests in children, our poorest group of Americans, and creates jobs for their struggling parents while making sure those who have benefited fr ...

By Cheryl Pearson-McNeil NNPA Columnist Last year, when my favorite bookstore closed its doors forever, I actually sat in the car and shed a tear. Not as many tears when the record store closed. And I haven’t even stepped foot into a brick and mortar travel agency in more than 10 years. But, has anyone noticed that these once stable sources for browsing, longing and dreaming have gone by the wayside? What? ...

By Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist According to a new report, since 2009, 36 million Americans have attended college without earning a degree. Consequently, 850,000 individual private loans valued at more than $8 billion are now in default. With high and variable interest rates, these loans can cost students more in repayment than the actual cost of tuition. From 2005 to 2011 alone, private student loan deb ...

By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist The problem with having a deadline at the end of the week, is that you miss the opportunity to weigh in on things, such as an election, that happens on a Tuesday.  It is almost torture when you consider the possibilities  face us on November 7 and beyond.  I am hoping that President Obama can pull it off, but I am cognizant of the numbers that suggest that Willard is nipp ...