Welcome to "SpotLight"...with Denise Richardson & Jim Malmberg

Emmy Award winning journalist, Author, filmmaker and "News Dissector" Danny Schechter talks about his latest book Plunder and the results of his investigation of the subprime scandal and economic calamity. Danny Schechter has spent decades as a "truth teller" in the media as an independent filmmaker with the award-winning independent company Globalvision. He won an Emmy Award for his work on the news magazine 20/20. His Documentary, In Debt We Trust, America Before the Bubble Bursts -predicted the current credit squeeze -long before it became reality. If you are concerned about our economy -and want to know the truth -and what caused this current crises...this is a show you won't want to miss!

Michael Fertik, CEO and Founder of ReputationDefender.com talks about how online actions can affect your life for a very long time. Parents, teachers, Employers, job-seekers, College applicants and even daters have raised serious and legitimate concerns about how to deal with "online" reputations, cyberbullying and what you can do about it!

Curtis Arnold, founder of the popular website cardratings.com, and now Author, has been educating consumers about credit cards since 1998 and has been featured by hundreds of media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, The New York Times, USA Today & The Today Show. Curtis talks about his new book and provides tips on how best to utilize credit card offers and who has the best offers!

Last week, Congress passed the $700 Billion bailout bill for the economy. So far, it hasn't worked. What's more, some of the most important things that could have been included in it to protect homeowners and taxpayer were not. We'll be talking with Ira Rheingold, Executive Director & General Counsel of the National Association of Consumer Advocates about the bill, what was left out of it, and what it means to you.

If you own a home, there is always the possibility that you could lose it in a natural or man-made disaster. Learn what you need to know about how to deal with your insurance company and what options are open to you. Our guest on this show will be Glenn Nahmias, a Public Adjuster with Metro Adjusters in Los Angeles.

In this segment of Spotlight, we are going to discuss the events of the past week on Wall Street, the government's intervention in some of those events and what it means to you. Phone ins are welcome.

Our guest this week is Kristy Welsh, Author of Good Credit is Sexy and Founder of creditinfocenter.com, one of the few great online consumer credit forums where consumers can find answers, validation and camaraderie when it comes to credit and debt concerns.

Mike Farrell, Author, Activist & Actor, and Gordon Hanson, Director of the Center on Pacific Economies and Professor of Economics at UCSD will share their views on the human and economic costs of illegal immigration. Additional guest, Carmen Chavez, Immigration Attorney and Executive Director of Casa Cornelia Law Center CCLC a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm discusses the impact of immigration law and policy on the community.(casacornelia.org)

There is a lot of information floating around about the tax policies that each of the presidential candidates would like to implement but much of what is on the internet is inaccurate. We'll explore each of the candidates proposals and give you enough information to determine how they will impact you personally. Our guest for the show will be Dustin Stamper from the National Tax Office of Grant Thornton, LLP.

Abusive lending practices are hurting Americans. Sarah Byrnes from Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL.org) and Ira Rheingold, Executive Director and General Counsel of National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA.net) discuss their collaborative effort calling for re-regulation of abusive credit and lending industry practices. Find out what you can do to help -and what "tricks and traps" to beware of!