Does the government hamper our financial success? According to a new poll from the Pew Economic Mobility Project, most Americans think the answer is yes.

Americans are down in the dumps about their personal finances, but still think the American dream is alive and kicking. more

"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created by Congress last year as part of financial reform, has broad authority to ban unfair or abusive practices in financial products and services. Protecting checking account holders from unreasonable fees and other costly traps should be one of the agency’s first priorities when it opens for business in July.

 While you are opening that new checking account, don’t forget to read the accompanying 111 pages of legal fine print that go along with it.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for new regulations to require banks to clearly and briefly describe checking account fees now buried in applications that can be more than 100 pages long.

"According to a new study, checking accounts at the nation's ten largest banks come with a median length of 111 pages of disclosure documents. Getting to the bottom of all of your account's requirements, fee schedules, addendums, and other terms and conditions is like reading a short novel—a horrendously boring, annoyingly legalistic, and purposely confusing novel.

The state funds that pay pension and health-care benefits to retired teachers, corrections officers and millions of other public workers faced a cumulative shortfall of at least $1.26 trillion at the end of fiscal 2009, according to a new report. more