I just read a disheartening article about Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke’s bleak outlook on the American economy. I include an excerpt:
On Thursday, one day after American stock markets plummeted in the face of mounting bank losses, soaring oil prices and record lows for the US dollar, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke gave […]
I love an article by Alyssa Katharine Ritz Battistoni about American poverty. In it she makes a lot of great points poverty in the United States. One point that especially stuck out follows:
It’s much easier to dismiss poor people as undeserving, unsavory, crackheads, welfare queens–not like respectable middle-class Americans–than to acknowledge the enormous problems that […]
A recent article at thespectrum.com explored the dynamics of poverty. I include an excerpt:
Typically identified by income level, now poverty can stake claim to people’s quality of life, which is spiraling downward. More hours at the daily grind means there is less time for family, decreased opportunities to vacation and attend or participate in cultural […]
On Wednesday, Robert J. Samuelson wrote an article about poverty in which he blamed stagnant and rising poverty rates on immigration. Since then, I have noticed many blog posts and letters to the editor about Samuelson’s article.
Samuelson’s observation notes a common overlooked factor in poverty. Simply put, statistics show that the United States poverty rate […]
Michael Stetz recently wrote an article about how the housing crisis adds to the poverty picture in the United States. I include an excerpt:
Nationally, more people are losing their homes because of the subprime mortgage meltdown. Wages have been flat. We feel fortunate to pay 3 bucks for a gallon of gas.
A growing number of […]
A recent editorial in the Washington Post explained how the Bush administration has tried to preempt debate about federally sponsored health insurance for children. I include an excerpt:
States were told this month that they will no longer be allowed to enroll children whose families earn above 250 percent of the poverty level unless they can […]
In a recent blog on The Huffington Post, Linda Seger wrote about poverty in the United States.
I don’t like the partisanship of the article. I don’t like seeing this important issue dragged into the hell of bipolar politics.
Nonetheless, I like the way the author of the article personalizes poverty through a second-person narrative, in which […]
Shockingly, big companies like Walmart and Home Depot have announced low sales and financial losses. The reason? They say that their customers do not have enough money to spend. Inflation, high interest rates, and a failing housing market have taken away middle class America’s spending money, and may mark an oncoming economic recession; this in […]
A recent Black Star Editorial explores the relationship between crime and poverty. I include an excerpt:
There is a perfect correlation between crime and poverty. Much has been written about the recent brutal murders of three college students and the wounding of one other in Newark, New Jersey, by a gunman or gunmen.
While some suspects have […]
Barb Kucera recently wrote an article, in which she points out that the higher minimum wage won’t eliminate working poor. I include an excerpt:
On July 24, the federal minimum wage rose from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour, with subsequent increases to $6.55 in 2008 and $7.25 in 2009. Minimum wage workers in Minnesota and 28 […]