Marketplace Money for Friday, August 6, 2010

Segments From This Episode

• FHA loans are about one-third of U.S. mortgages

  by Marketplace Staff

  Federal Housing Administration home loans used to be just a sliver of the nation's housing market, but now it's one-third. The FHA loans may have helped what would've been an even more stagnant housing market, but federal mortgages may not be sustainable.

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• What were you thinking?: Expensive shampoos

  by Marketplace Staff

  Tess Vigeland talks to Marketplace's web producer Dalasie Michaelis on why he spends so much on shampoo and also to marketing Professor Erica Okada about her theory on why Dalasie and other consumers decide to opt for an expensive bottle versus a cheaper one.

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• Should government help support homeownership with subsidies?

  by Marketplace Staff

  Tess Vigeland speaks to economist Dean Baker and former secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros about government subsidies for homeownership.

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• Getting personal: Where to park extra money

  by Marketplace Staff

  Tess Vigeland and Marketplace's economics editor Chris Farrell talk to callers who are deciding where to place their extra money — savings, debt or a mortgage payment?

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• Trying to become a ‘Cornbread Millionaire’

  by Marketplace Staff

  Tess Vigeland talks to Beverly Davis of Cornbread Millionaire about Davis trying to save her foreclosed home by selling cornbread mix, bumper stickers and a cookbook.

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• Living off the land at ‘Fort Awesome’

  by Sean Cole

  In the first of our series, Money Changes Everything, reporter Sean Cole follows the story of four recession-struck friends who embark on a mission to build "Fort Awesome" and live off the land on a $550 parcel in the Texas desert purchased on eBay

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