Defense worker furlough notices to go out Friday

Department of Defense furloughs will force workers to stay at home on unpaid leave for 22 days, or one day each week, starting April 21 through Sept. 21.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney)

It will force workers to stay at home on unpaid leave for 22 days, or one day each week, starting April 21 through Sept. 21. It means a 20% pay cut for five months for most of the 800,000 civilian employees working for Defense. Officials on Tuesday couldn't say exactly how many notices are going out.

It would be the first time that defense employees receive direct notices about their furloughs, which are being triggered by forced spending cuts that hit the federal government on March 1. Earlier this month, some unions representing defense workers received notices with furlough details.

It will upend the lives of many employees, who will have to give up flexible work schedules during the furlough period, besides taking a pay cut.

In a Senate hearing Tuesday, NATO's top military commander Navy Admiral James G. Stavridis, told lawmakers he's worried about retaining his civilian workforce.

"We have these marvelous civilians who do extraordinary work, stand with us every single day, and yet they're facing the possibility for furloughs and 20% pay cut," Stavridis said. "Even on the family side, the impact on our children facing school day cuts and furloughs of their teachers is significant and part of this whole challenge for us."

Defense is part of the nation's 2.1 million civilian federal workforce facing furloughs, thanks to $85 billion in spending reductions that went into effect. They're part of a larger effort to trim $1.2 trillion from federal deficits over 10 years.

At least two dozen federal agencies, including the the Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, have already issued furlough notices.

Even the White House's budget office is not immune. Some 500 Office of Management and Budget employees have received furlough notices requiring up to 10 unpaid days off, between April 21 and Sept. 7, 2013, an OMB official confirmed.

The length of furloughs varies among agencies. Employees who work for the Federal Employee Workers Compensation Program will face no more than 3 days of furloughs.

Related: 5 federal workers: What job cuts mean to me

However, the harshest furloughs are reserved for Defense Department workers. That's because the Pentagon is the largest federal agency and has to slash the most from its budget -- $47 billion. Active military personnel aren't affected, so civilian workers get the raw end of the deal.

Employees are given between 7 and 15 days to respond to furloughs in writing and can even be represented by an attorney. But several federal workforce law experts have told CNNMoney that it would be very difficult for workers to contest a furlough.

Unions, which represent about a third of the federal workforce, say they're working with workers on figuring out their furlough days.

"We're trying to make furlough as painless as possible for the employees and not disrupt the agency mission," said Tim Kaufman, spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 650,000 federal government workers.

First Published: March 19, 2013: 2:30 PM ET

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Americans still doubtful about stocks, economy

A CNN/ORC poll shows most Americans don't think investing in stocks at this time is a good idea.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Asked if they thought it would be a good idea or bad idea to invest in stocks if they had $1,000 to spend, 55% of those surveyed said it would be a bad idea, while 43% thought it would be a good idea.

The poll of 1,021 adult Americans was conducted between March 15 and 17, a period immediately following a string of eight straight record high closes for the Dow Jones industrial average.

Continued doubts about the economy may be what's making Americans hesitant to jump into the market. Only 31% said they thought the economy was either good or very good, compared to 69% who described it as poor or very poor. That was a slight improvement from December, when 26% believed the economy was in good condition.

Besides the strong run for stocks, there has also been a drop in unemployment and further signs of a housing market recovery since December.

Related: Fear and Greed index shows less fear, more greed

Americans might also be worried that the bull market has made stocks overvalued. But even with the run-up, some experts, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, argue that stocks remain undervalued even at these levels.

The most recent figures on investing show that Americans have pulled money out of stocks in each of the two most recent weeks for which data is available, after pouring money into stocks the first seven weeks of the year.

First Published: March 19, 2013: 4:22 PM ET

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U.K. flies cash to Cyprus for soldiers

British government said it is "determined to do everything we can" to help members of U.K. military stationed in Cyprus deal with bank crisis.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

In a statement, U.K. defense officials said Tuesday that the money would be used to provide emergency loans in case cash machines and debit cards stop working on the Mediterranean island.

Banks in Cyprus have been shut since the weekend, when the Cyprus government agreed to impose an unprecedented tax on deposits to secure a €10 billion bailout from the European Union. That move prompted a run on cash machines.

"We're determined to do everything we can to minimize the impact of the Cyprus banking crisis on our people," the British government said.

Without an international rescue, the banking system in Cyprus is at risk of collapse under the weight of its exposure to losses on Greek debt.

Related: Cyprus rejects bank tax

A chaotic default by Cyprus -- which accounts for just 0.2% of EU GDP -- could lead to its exit from the 17-nation eurozone and cause financial instability across the currency area.

Earlier this week, U.K. Finance Minister George Osborne said the government would compensate any of the 3,250 British troops and government workers in Cyprus hit by the levy.

The defense ministry is also offering to redirect service member's pay for March and future months' salaries into U.K. bank accounts, rather than Cypriot accounts.

While the proposed one-off tax would hit bank accounts in Cyprus, the levy would not apply to overseas branches of Cypriot banks.

Britain, which has longstanding ties to Cyprus, maintains two military bases on the island, a key strategic location in the eastern Mediterranean.

First Published: March 19, 2013: 3:50 PM ET

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5 reasons Cyprus bailout matters

The firestorm of criticism for a European Union-mandated bank tax has left Cyprus scrambling to rescue the bailout.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

But the country's banks need rescuing and in return for European Union help, its heavily-indebted government is facing demands to impose a tax on bank customers. The result: After months of relative calm, the European debt crisis is once again generating headlines.

So what's so important about this bailout?

1. Bailout or bankruptcy: Without financial support from somewhere, Cyprus will be unable to meet its financial commitments. Why? The country's outsized banks have been crippled by losses on Greek debt, and it can't afford to bail them out on its own.

The country's debt-to-GDP ratio, currently around 87%, is on course to soar to an unsustainable 140% without a bailout. A messy default could lead to exit from the eurozone and revive fears about the viability of the currency area.

"A disorderly bankruptcy would have forced us to leave the euro and forced a devaluation," Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said Sunday.

Related: U.S. investors and the Cyprus mess

2. First-of-its-kind bank tax: By opting for the first time in a sovereign bailout to impose losses on bank depositors, the European Union has set a dangerous precedent that will anger savers and trouble investors. The tax has compromised a fundamental principle that professional investors -- shareholders and bondholders -- not depositors should feel the pain of a bank failure.

Any bank run at this point outside Cyprus seems unlikely. But the fact that a line has been crossed could make it harder for policymakers to prevent similar panic from spreading in the future should another eurozone state find itself needing a bailout.

3. European credibility: Imposition of the bank deposit levy risks undermining Europe's credibility in managing debt and bank crises.

Assurances that the measure is unique to Cyprus may ring hollow. Similar pledges were made when private holders of Greek government bonds were forced to accept losses as part of a bailout.

It could lead to a flight of capital to safer destinations within the eurozone and beyond. In turn, that could undo some of the improved sentiment toward peripheral eurozone countries that has been built on the back of painful economic restructuring and pledges of support from the European Central Bank.

4. More pressure on eurozone banks: Bank shares tumbled across Europe on Monday. Investors in eurozone banks, particularly in weaker countries, may demand a higher risk premium to hold those assets, pushing up banks' cost of funding.

That will add pressure to revenue and earnings, and some banks could lose access to wholesale funding altogether, noted analysts at Germany's Berenberg Bank.

And all this comes at a time when the region's banks are still struggling to repair their balance sheets and lending to weaker eurozone states remains throttled, reducing the chances for a return to growth. The International Monetary Fund said just last week that Europe's banks remain fragile.

5. Losses for Russia: Cyprus banking assets are about eight times the size of the economy, and foreign investors hold just under half of all deposits, which total around €70 billion. Russian companies and individuals have heavy exposure to banks in Cyprus.

Moody's reckons Russian corporate deposits are worth about $19 billion and any default could affect the servicing of bank debt in Russia.

Russian officials had been talking about extending the maturity of an existing €2.5 billion loan to Cyprus, and possibly reducing the interest rate. On Monday they said they were reconsidering that plan after the EU failed to include them in bailout discussions.

First Published: March 18, 2013: 11:56 AM ET

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Cyprus just a 'hiccup' for stock rally

Experts don't foresee the Cyprus bailout as a reason for a long-lasting pullback in the stock market.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"This is just a hiccup for stocks," said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at National Securities. "The market has been vulnerable to some kind of setback after the kind of run that it's had, so it just needs let some air out before resuming the rally."

Just last Thursday, the Dow sealed a 10-day winning streak, its longest in nearly two decades. The index also set new record highs for eight straight days. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 remains just 0.6% below its all-time closing high set in October 2007.

By the end of last week's run, the market appeared to be in a "tired rally," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co., noting that volume had been unusually low for a market advancing to record levels.

Related: 5 reasons Cyprus bailout matters

Rather than sending markets even lower, the Cyprus-fueled weakness will likely attract new buyers, said Selkin.

If Monday's action is any guide, that's already begun. The Dow started the day down more more than 100 points, but managed to briefly bounce into positive territory in the afternoon.

"There's no real competition for stocks right now," said Selkin. "The Federal Reserve is forcing investors to buy stocks by keeping interest rates so low. Cyprus will be forgotten in a day or two."

According to Dickson, stocks are in the late part of the middle stage of a multi-year bull market, which he says will continue with the support of the Fed and ongoing signs of the economic recovery.

"The housing market is improving [and] there's no slowdown in consumer spending, despite the payroll tax's hit on personal income," he said.

And even though stocks are trading near record levels, valuations remain reasonable and company balance sheets are strong, he added.

Though the broader rally should resume, Selkin said bank stocks could be vulnerable, given their recent strong gains and contagion fears stemming from Cyprus.

The S&P 500 Financial sector is up more than 12% this year, beating the broader index's 9% gain.

On the upside, Selkin expects technology stocks, including Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), to pick up steam. Tech stocks have been the biggest laggards this year, with the S&P 500 Technology index up just 4%.

First Published: March 18, 2013: 3:21 PM ET

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The weak women of 'Girls' - what would Sheryl Sandberg say?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

On her mega media blitz for her new book "Lean In," Sandberg argues that we're socializing our daughters to nurture and our boys to lead, that women grow up thinking men should be more powerful.

"Women internalize the negative messages we get throughout our lives -- the messages that say it's wrong to be outspoken, aggressive, more powerful than men -- and pull back," she wrote in an article for Time Magazine.

The final episode of the HBO hit series' second season, written by 26 year-old Lena Dunham and airing on Sunday night, played those messages over and over.

Related: Sandberg says speak up, believe in yourself, take risks

Hannah, the series' lead character played by Dunham, is paralyzed by stress and can't make her deadline for her new book deal.

So what's a girl to do but call her father for help? And get her shirtless ex-boyfriend Adam to run through the streets of Brooklyn to save her. Adam himself is not the picture of professional success, but him kicking down her door and sweeping her up into his sweaty, hulking biceps is enough to make Hannah feel secure.

The rescue-me theme didn't stop with Hannah. Marnie, a once aspiring art gallery girl who's been floundering since getting fired, desperately tried to get her ex-boyfriend back, the same guy she rejected time after time until he made it big with a smartphone app.

Nowhere in Marnie's plea to her ex was there a mention of her finding a new career. All she wanted was to make him "snacks every day."

HBO's "Girls" has been wildly successful and widely called the voice of a certain set of twenty-somethings. (HBO is owned by CNNMoney parent company Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500).) For the season to end tied up in the happily ever after bow, where happily means safe and protected by stronger and more successful men, gives a voice to the stereotypes Sandberg worries about.

"Throughout my career, I was told over and over about inequalities in the workplace and how hard it would be to have a career and a family, she wrote in Time. "I rarely, however, heard anything about the ways I was holding myself back."

If only "Girls" were around back then.

First Published: March 18, 2013: 12:53 PM ET

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Rush to ATMs in Cyprus on EU bailout tax

Cypriots are rushing to their banks to withdraw cash after a bailout of Cyprus imposed a hefty tax on depositors.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

The EU has required a one-time tax of 9.9% tax on deposits of more than €100,000 starting Tuesday, as part of a bailout of the tiny nation. On Saturday, the EU unveiled a €10 billion plan to rescue Cyprus' outsized banking sector and avoid a default.

It was the first time that the EU has insisted on such terms for bank depositors as part of a bailout. The EU's bailouts other nations in the last three years, such as Greece and Portugal, have usually been accompanied with strict budget restrictions and led to big losses for bond holders.

The Cyprus Parliament is expected to vote on the plan Monday. If it goes through, people with less than €100,000 in deposits will have to pay a tax of 6.75%.

As Cypriots heard the news of the tax, they started lining up outside of ATMs to withdraw money. Banks have placed withdrawal limits of €400 and many ATMs were running out of cash over the weekend.

Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades tried to calm his nation on Sunday, and convince lawmakers to vote for the bailout plan, which includes the deposit tax.

"A disorderly bankruptcy would have forced us to leave the euro and forced a devaluation," he said in a speech.

The move is being closely watched by policy makers because of the potential to destabilize financial markets in Europe. The worry is that depositors in other financially weak, or bailed out, nations might fear similar bailout provisions in the future from the EU.

"The question is whether this becomes a full-blown crisis or a mini-crisis," said Steven Englander, global head of foreign exchange strategy at Citi. "Depositors and investors elsewhere could easily see this as another in a string of 'one-offs' and react badly."

The bailout, while small compared to the emergency loans supporting other troubled European nations like Greece, represents more than half the size of the €18 billion Cyprus economy. Cyprus is the EU's smallest state, accounting for just 0.2% of output.

Related: Europe financial sector is fragile, says IMF

The problem in Cyprus is the banking sector, which is several times the size of its economy.

The International Monetary Fund was expected to contribute to the deal as it has in others. Christine Lagarde, the fund's managing director, said in a statement that she supported the terms and would recommend that the IMF help provide financing for it.

Cyprus made a formal request for help last June after its banks were decimated by losses on Greek debt -- losses that caused lending to stall and sent the economy into a deep recession.

Over the course of last year, gross domestic product in Cyprus fell by 2.4%, and latest forecasts show further contraction this year and next.

Unemployment hit 12% last year and is forecast to rise to over 14% in 2014.

Negotiations on a bailout stalled last year after the previous government, led by Communist President Demetris Christofias, objected to the conditions that international lenders were looking to attach. They restarted following the election of a new center-right President Nicos Anastasiades last month.

The plan will leave the tiny island nation facing a more manageable debt burden. Its debt already stands at about 87% of GDP and is forecast to rise to 100% in 2020.

Related: EU eases austerity demands for Portugal

Russia has come to Cyprus' aid in the past, providing a €2.5 billion loan in 2011 to shore up government finances. Russia is expected to take part in the new rescue, possibly by extending its existing loan or reducing interest payments.

In addition to the tax on bank deposits, other conditions for the bailout loans include an overhaul of the financial sector and an increase in corporate taxes.

Cyprus is the fourth of 17 eurozone states to be granted a bailout by its EU partners and the IMF, after Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Spain has been given EU assistance to rescue its banks but has so far avoided asking for a full sovereign bailout.

More work will be needed before the bailout can be finalized, and some EU parliaments will have to ratify the deal, but analysts say the pressure to reach an agreement was high.

"Neither the Cypriot government, nor the eurogroup of EU finance ministers wants to see a eurozone member default, threatening catastrophic contagion for other financially troubled member states," IHS Global Insight country analyst Charles Movit wrote in a note last week.

Market confidence in the eurozone was briefly shaken again recently when Italian elections left the country with a hung parliament. Lack of a stable government would set back efforts to bring down Italy's debt mountain, the second largest in the eurozone after Greece.

-- CNN's Isa Soares contributed to this report from London

First Published: March 16, 2013: 6:57 AM ET

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Stocks: Worries over Cyprus bailout deal

Click the chart for more stock market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lost their grip on a 10-day winning streak on Friday.

Despite that, all three indexes ended higher for the week, and are up between 7% and 11% for the year.

On Saturday, the EU unveiled a €10 billion plan to rescue Cyprus' outsized banking sector and avoid a default. Though the bailout of the tiny nation is relatively small, the EU has required a one-time tax of 6.75% on bank deposits of less than €100,000 and 9.9% for those over that amount, starting Tuesday.

Already, this has sent people in Cyprus rushing to ATMs to withdraw cash. The worry is that investors and depositors in other financial weak European nations might also fear similar bailout provisions in the future from the EU, which has the potential to destabilize global financial markets.

"The question is whether this becomes a full-blown crisis or a mini-crisis," said Steven Englander, global head of foreign exchange strategy at Citi.

In the U.S., the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee will hold a two-day meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will culminate in an announcement on interest rates and a closely-watched press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

At its last meeting, the Fed held rates at record lows and said it would continue buying $85 billion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities each month to bolster the economy.

The central bank is expected to maintain its gloomy forecast for this year. Investors will be looking for any comments on how government spending cuts could impact economic growth later this year.

Related: Fear & Greed Index

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve will also release its survey on general business conditions on Thursday.

A smattering of reports on the housing market are on tap this week. Real estate has steadily been a bright spot in the otherwise slow recovery and investors will be closely watching for any signs of how the market is performing.

The National Association of Home Builders housing market index, housing starts, building permits, FHFA housing price index, existing home sales and MBA mortgage index are all due out throughout the week.

Home prices along with home sales are up, as near record low mortgage rates and a drop in foreclosures have created a much better market for builders. In January, they filed for the greatest number of building permits since 2008.

This has spilled over into the labor market. The February jobs report showed that builders have added 151,000 jobs over the last five months, the sector's best hiring surge since the 2006 housing bubble.

In corporate news, FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500), Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) and Nike (NKE, Fortune 500) are expected to report earnings throughout the week.

First Published: March 17, 2013: 1:18 PM ET

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Black, female, and a Silicon Valley 'trade secret'

Silicon Valley is reluctant to shed light on the diversity of its workforce.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In an investigation that began in August 2011, CNNMoney probed 20 of the most influential U.S. technology companies, the Department of Labor, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and we filed two Freedom of Information Act requests for workforce diversity data.

A year-and-a-half, a pile of paperwork, and dozens of interviews later, we have a little more insight -- but not much.

Most of the companies stonewalled us, but the data we were able to get showed what one might expect: Ethnic minorities and women are generally underrepresented, sometimes severely so -- particularly in management roles. White and Asian males often dominate their fields.

Our investigation demonstrated how difficult -- and sometimes impossible -- gaining any insight into Silicon Valley's employee diversity can be. It shows a general lack of transparency in an industry known for its openness.

See the five companies' diversity data

First attempt: In 2011, as part of CNN's Black in America series, CNNMoney reached out to 20 tech companies: the industry's 10 largest firms by annual sales and 10 smaller but prominent companies. We asked each for information about the race and sex makeup of their staff.

Only Dell (DELL, Fortune 500), Ingram Micro (IM, Fortune 500) and Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) played ball. Intel, in stark contrast to the rest of the tech industry, actually makes its employment diversity information public on its website.

"Intel believes that transparency with our data is the best way to have a genuine dialogue," Intel chief diversity officer Rosalind Hudnell told CNNMoney last week. "We are tech companies and data drives our business; we need to get beyond our fears that the numbers are a poor reflection on our individual organizations and work together to address the issue collectively. "

The other 17 companies refused to turn over their data. Having made little headway by asking the companies ourselves, the only way to compel them to release the data was through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Every U.S. company with more than 100 employees is required to fork over an annual report to the government, called the EEO-1, that categorizes U.S. workers by their race and sex. An independent federal agency called the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) collects the data, using it to play watchdog: It keeps a close eye on companies' hiring practices and occasionally assists in investigations.

We sent the EEOC a FOIA request on Aug. 18, 2011, and three weeks later it was denied. The EEOC said it is legally prohibited from releasing EEO-1 reports.

Read CNNMoney's FOIA requests and the government's responses

Second attempt: After consulting with experts and CNN's legal team, we learned the Department of Labor has access to EEOC data for some companies -- and unlike the EEOC, no federal statute bars the DOL from releasing the reports.

We re-filed the FOIA request to the Department of Labor on Nov. 1, 2011. It took more than a year for that request to be processed.

On Dec. 7, 2012, we finally received the data, but for only five companies: Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500), Dell, eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500), Ingram Micro and Intel.

What happened to the other 15 companies' information is complicated.

The Labor Department has no authority to release EEO-1 reports for companies that aren't federal contractors. That knocked out 10 companies: Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500), Facebook, Groupon (GRPN), Hulu, LinkedIn (LNKD), LivingSocial, Netflix (NFLX), Twitter, Yelp (YELP) and Zynga (ZNGA).

But even contractors may block the release of their data. Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500), IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) and Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) all submitted written objections, successfully petitioning the Department of Labor for their data to be excluded on the basis that doing so would cause "competitive harm."

Those five companies declined or ignored CNNMoney's requests for comment on their unwillingness to turn over their data.

The information gap: "It's absolutely preposterous," said John Sims, a FOIA expert and law professor at the University of the Pacific. "Knowing how many white male sales workers a company has is a trade secret? Absurd."

Sims questioned why five companies consider these reports trade secrets, while the other five allowed them to be released.

The data show diversity in Silicon Valley remains a serious issue. Some companies cite a "pipeline problem," saying too few minorities and women are graduating with technical degrees. Others argue that people tend to hire people like themselves, and in tech, that's largely white and Asian males.

But the biggest obstacle, according to industry experts, is that few are talking about the problem.

"This data is a just a baseline for discussion, but we can't end the problem if we can't start the conversation," said Aditi Mohapatra, associate tech sector director at BSR, a consulting group that works with companies on social and sustainability issues. "For the tech industry to remain silent about diversity is so not aligned with what they preach."

The Department of Labor said it does sometimes go back to companies and demand defense of their claims.

In "rare" situations, the DOL said, this can escalate into lawsuits between the government and the companies.

But lawsuits and appeals take time and money, and there's no guarantee of data waiting at the end of the road. Mike Swift, a reporter with the San Jose Mercury News, began probing the topic in 2008 by sending similar FOIA requests for data from the region's 15 largest employers.

His inquiry sparked a two-year legal battle, resulting in access to data from just one company -- HP -- that had opposed its release.

The Black Economic Council and the National Asian American Coalition have also attempted to uncover diversity data at major companies, but most of those requests have turned up little information.

"Companies are happy to hide behind a law that provides so little access to this data," said Sims, the law professor. "Tech is the most vibrant sector of the American economy, and rather than trying to fix problems, they want to keep secrets."

Are you a minority and/or woman working for a large technology company? Want to share your story? E-mail julianne.pepitone@turner.com for the chance to be included in an upcoming story.

First Published: March 17, 2013: 5:38 PM ET

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Occupy offshoot forgives $1 million in random people's debt

Occupy Wall Street offshoot, Strike Debt, is buying people's emergency room debts for pennies on the dollar and forgiving them.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The protest group did this by buying emergency room debts for pennies on the dollar and then simply forgiving them rather than trying to collect the money, Strike Debt said in a statement.

When a bank, lender or other company, like a hospital, is unable to collect on a debt, it typically sells it to debt buyers or collectors -- often at a much lower price than the original amount owed since the odds of collecting the money are low. Whoever buys the debt then attempts to get the money from the debtor.

Related: Debt collection horror stories

Citing the large number of bankruptcies that stem from medical bills, Strike Debt's mission is to stop this collection cycle and abolish the debt altogether.

"Our privatized health care system buries ordinary people in debt all to enrich the 1%," the group said.

The more than $1 million in debt the group eliminated belonged to 1,064 people, amounting to an average of about $900 in debt per person. These randomly-selected people will receive notices explaining that their debt has been forgiven.

The organization spent about $21,000 to purchase the debt, using money raised from supporters.

Related: What business can learn from Occupy Wall Street

To rally the troops around its debt-busting initiative, Occupy's Strike Debt is planning protests later this month against private insurance companies and other events to raise awareness about hospital closings due to excessive amounts of debt.

Strike Debt originally launched its campaign and fundraising efforts in November, abolishing more than $100,000 in consumer debt before the end of 2012.

First Published: March 15, 2013: 3:40 PM ET

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