However, a bad credit score is not a life sentence, said Ted Daniels, founder and president of the Society for Financial Education and Professional Development.

CNN: College can be a crash course in debt

Some pay-day lenders reportedly threaten to use the criminal justice system to prosecute delinquent borrowers for writing bad cheques, a crime that carries a jail sentence in many states.

ECONOMIST: Consumer finance: Pay dirt | The

While the prison sentence (duration) for Ring was not that bad compared to the average federal prison term of 9 years, any prison time, or any conviction for that matter, for Ring sends a terrible message for lobbyists, and also for nearly every business person out there who is looking to entertain clients.

FORBES: A Lobbyist's Appeal For Common Sense - The Case of Kevin Ring

My Mom had received a bad mammogram, and my sixteen-year-old mind immediately saw it as a death sentence.

FORBES: Life After Death - The Business of Bouncing Back

When her sentence was reduced, she was sent to Australia on the second fleet, where conditions were so bad that 25% of its convicts died on the voyage.

BBC: Australia��s penal colony roots

The quotes around problem in the previous sentence are a reminder that a temporary trade deficits or surpluses are not per se a good or bad thing.

FORBES: We Need Demand, Not Protectionism