October 2008
11 posts
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America's Under-employed →
This is an interesting article on Slate about America’s rate of underemployment. This rate is always a larger percentage of the general population than the unemployment rate, but right now, the number of Americans under-employed and unemployed is reaching an unsettling level. 11% of the workforce is unemployed, underemployed or otherwise under-utilized.
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Americans are looking for a little help from their...
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Work is the curse of the drinking class →
The number of American wage earners living in poverty has risen. From 2002 to 2006, nearly 5 million more working people sank into poverty. In New Mexico and Mississippi working poverty rates were up to 40%. The majority didn’t receive any public assistance and worked the equivalent of one and one quarter jobs.
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"Dismal Science," appropriate moniker →
I do not mean to make light of the rise in suicides resulting from the current financial crisis. Presently economics really is the dismal science. It seems so abstract, the exchange of money. But lest we forget economics is about human behavior- not about financial exchanges. Sucides, homicides, alcohol and drug abuse all increase during a recession. I’ve just been thinking of Addie Polk,...
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“ It matters little if you have the right to sit at the front of the bus if you...”
– Barack Obama’s speech at the 99th NAACP Convention Jul 12, 2008
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How Good is the Economy at Creating Good Jobs? →
This is an article from 2005 about the lack of decent wages and benefits in America. It is a three year old article but, things haven’t improved.
http://bit.ly/decentwages
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Could You Afford to Be Poor? →
I am sick of hearing “business analysts” and “financial advisors” talk about people needing to save more and how the American people are responsible for the Financial Apocalypse we are heading toward. This is one of the Barbara Ehrenreich’s best articles. Granted, she can get harpy, but she is still one of the best voices regarding real poverty in America.
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Learn Stuff. Feed People. →
This website donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Hunger Program for every correct answer. Not as good as donating to a local food pantry or the UN World Hunger Program directly, but still, accomplish two goals at one time.
http://bit.ly/freerice
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This song describes the mood of Americans amid...
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The Hill Blog: Getting Real About Poverty →
This is not a sexy topic, but the poverty guidelines the U.S. government use are seriously flawed. Whether they think welfare payments should be included in the measure or think the measure (mostly based on food prices) is no longer valid, most experts agree. Poverty in the US is not being measure accurately.