Economic Justice : Poverty, wages & unemployment |
Condition of the labor market and trends in real wages and income gaps between the wealthy and the poor; dislocations associated with movements of employment opportunities inside or between countries or regions.
4/22/10
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Analysis & views: 3/4/10 3/4/10 3/3/10 1/27/10 1/8/10 1/1/10 1/1/10 12/26/09 15 million people in Brazil are affected by "food insecurity." 10/27/09 10/23/09 10/21/09 10/19/09 Homelessness and hunger continue to be rife among people in the Philippines. 10/17/09 New reports issued for World Food Day say over a billion people worldwide are going hungry. 10/16/09 9/4/09 8/27/09 Many Greek islands for sale, but you will need a lot of euros to buy one 8/23/09 Public opinion poll shows more people in Copenhagen are being approached by beggars on the streets 8/3/09 Canadian economy is said to be "climbing back," but from a deeper hole than had been expected 7/31/09 7/25/09 7/17/09 Denmark's largest bank, Dansk Bank, remains in dire straits despite government bailout 6/7/09 Demark is replicating U.S. practices in giving "stress tests" to banks preparatory to determining their eligibility for government bailouts. 5/29/09 Stimulating economic growth at all costs. This attitude among nations of the world is demonstrated at March meeting on international climate change in Copenhagen. Scientists at that conference protest (some with street demonstrations) the willingness of governments, supported by business interests in their countries, to promote growth even at the "cost" of an inevitable contribution to the growing threat of disastrous climate change. http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/05/can-economic-growth-stop-climate-change/ 5/26/09 New York Times reports on the town of Marinaleda in Andalusia, whose fiery Mayor Juan Emanuel Sanchez Gordillo led a 1991 populist takeover of the property of a local aristocrat and the transformation of a town whose development epitomizes the struggle in Spain and elsewhere to promote the welfare the rural poor. Residents of the town enjoy the advantage of guaranteed jobs and homes without mortgages; but to go with this they receive a "healthy" dose of communist authoritarianism. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/world/europe/26spain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=global-home 5/24/09 Government subsidies for automakers, India-style:. Tata Motors is about to roll its new Nana car off the assembly lines, priced in U.S. dollars at $2500-3500, and with many subsidies both direct and indirect. While this may be touted (and decried) as "cars for the masses," critics complain that Tata is not responsible for the environmental impact and that, even at this price, only the relatively well-to-do can afford cars, and the heavy subsidies take away funds for public transportion to serve the needs of India's true "masses." http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46958 5/22/09 Human trafficking on the rise in eastern Europe as economic conditions worsen. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46941 5/22/09 Poverty reduction program called Social Cohesion in Guatemala provides cash transfers to the poor but, in the process, diverts public money from much needed improvements in health and education. http://www.latinamericapress.org/articles.asp?art=5861 5/21/09 Recession in Venezuela said to be hindering Chavez in his agenda of extending his country's economic influence to other countries. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/world/americas/20venez.html?hp 4/29/09 Article celebrates rise of populist movement in Iceland, marked by success of leftist parties in recent election. http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/04/iceland-%e2%80%99s-new-dawn/ 3/23/09 Asia Times columnist says thing will likely get worse before any significant rally in Asia stock markets. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/KC21Dk01.html 3/21/09 Problem of dealing with the economic plight of the world's poor is being somewhat overshadowed by concern with rescuing the financial resources of the relatively well-to-do. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7947017.stm 3/17/09 OH PADDY DEAR AND DID YOU HEAR ABOUT POOR OLD IRELAND? This old Irish ditty was mocked in recent years as Ireland became not only the country in which men and women were not being hanged for wearing of the green but also one which was tranformed by the magic of globalization into a vibrant Celtic Tiger with a thriving economy. Now a CBS news report describes Ireland as a "Celtic Tiger No More" as the country experiences 11% unemployment and housing slump along with the rest of the world http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/07/eveningnews/main4851791.shtml 3/15/09 As G20 economic summit meets for world countries to develop financial crisis, U.S. is pushing for more government spending, other countries for more regulation of private markets. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7943318.stm 3/16/09 Finance ministers at G20 summit conference agree to boost stimulus funding distributed through IMF. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=1390325 3/13/09 China wonders...How safeare our investments in U.S. treasury notes?: China's trillion dollar investment in U.S. assets, which largely underwrites the cost of U.S. stimulus spending, is a matter of concern for Chinese authorities, who press visiting Secretary of State Clinton for "reassurances" about the integrity of U.S. credit given its financial crisis. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/business/worldbusiness/14china.html?_r=1&hp 3/11/09 As Icelandic banks that own Danish department stores fall into bankruptcy, the stores are now in the hands of the Icelandic government. 3/3/09 Fiscal stimulus being offered in Greece, even though the economy is not as weak here as in other countries. http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=13325&t=03&m=A06&aa=1 3/2/09 Ailing Swiss bank UBS says it may need 2-3 years to reach level of "sustainable" profits. http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE51Q4H820090301 2/15/09 Nationalization of Lloyds Bank Group in UK is being considered as bank defends its bonuses to employees. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7890924.stm 2/13/09 From D.C. to Manila: The boom in band-aid sales as world governments try to deal with their economic crises.: Eric Eucina describes the world-wide resort to measures which actually won't stop the economic bleeding, much less the underlying economic disease. Bailouts to banks and tax cuts for the well-to-do are the remedies of first resort, when in fact governments should be focussed on putting "debt free currency" into the hands of the poor. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2009/02/the-futility-of-not-creating-debt-free-currency/ 2/13/09 "Dubai: The vulnerability of success." A book of that title, published last year, today seems an all-too-prophetic description of the economic situation of this member of the United Arab Emirates. A booming economy fuelled by immigrants who now make up 90% of its population, Dubai is in economic free-fall and many of those immigrants are fleeing the country, abandoning houses and even cars with their credit cards and "apology" notes left behind. The extent of the catastrophe is not really known because of harsh Dubai laws that forbid journalists from writing stories harmful to the country's "reputation." Some have wondered why the better-off emirate of Abu Dhabi does not "bail out" the Dubai economy, but many suspect that Abu Dhabi is eager to take advantage of the situation to gain more control over their neighbor's economy. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/middleeast/12dubai.html 2/12/09 Australian government may yet pass an economic stimulus package after one bill is defeated in the Senate. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25046595-5007133,00.html 2/2/09 Sharp increase in unemployment in Canada expected to be announced this week. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1241831 1/20/09 Liberal party leaders in Canada are demanding that federal budget for economic stimulus pay close attention to the needs of those most vulnerable to economic downturn. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1194845 1/19/09 New round of bank bailouts in UK are predicated on the expectation that these funds will promote lending being denied by foreign investors. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/new-banking-bailout-will-boost-lending-1419507.html 1/18/09 Prevalent poverty and lack of school for children are among the effects of a continuing political crisis in Zimbabwe. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45453 1/17/09 Crime rises in UK as economy turns down. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-recession-crimewave-1418228.html 1/13/09 Venezuela President Chavez decides to continue program of providing free home heating oil to poor Americans, despite drop in government revenues with decline in world oil prices. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0109/p25s02-woam.html 12/27/08 Prices on Toronto stock exchange show a "staggering" 40% loss over the last year. 12/26/08 New data show decade-long rapid decline in poverty and inequality measures in Venezuela. http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4064 12/24/08 Gift that keeps giving: a "gift card" from a foreign donor allows a Ruwandan child to purchase a goat whose milk she can use to finance her schooling. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7780607.stm 12/22/08 UK's central bank, the Bank of England, admits that it recognized but failed to control the "crazy borrowing" that led to current fiscal crisis 12/19/08 Archbishop of Canterbury condemns UK government's policy of dealing with credit crunch as like facilitating the return of a drug addict to the drug, calls for an alternative pulling back from the "greedy" pursuit of wealth as the only effective antidote. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/18/religion-creditcrunch 12/10/08 UK government is demanding that energy pass along to their customers decreases in their utility bills to accompany decline it their own fuel costs. 12/8/08 When shock therapy becomes shock resistance:. Naomi Klein, who "wrote the book" on world-wide imposition of regressive social measures by neo-liberalism in response to "national crises" notes with some excitement the possibility that people in Canada (her own country) have become immunized from shock effects by observing its failures elsewhere. The electoral failure of the Harper (Liberal) goverment is a sign of a new "resistive" political force in Canada that promises the growing influence of a coalition of more progressive political forces. http://www.alternet.org/democracy/110809/?page=1 12/2/08 Recession moves retailers in Denmark to hold "after Christmas sales" before Christmas. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/110096.html 11/22/08 UK's economic recovery package will involve temporary tax cuts but increasing taxes over the long run with large increases in public spending. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7743305.stm 11/19/08 Belgians are losing confidence that money used to rescue country's banks is actually going into making those banks the reliable custodians of their funds. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44748 11/17/08 Japan joins the procession of world countries in which a recession has been declared. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7732733.stm 11/17/08 The high cost of being wealthy in Mexico:. As drug war violence spins out of control and wealth disparity an ever-growing factor in the Mexican economy, well-to-do people must maintain constant vigilance by employing bodyguards to protect themselves and their families against extortionary kidnappings. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/world/americas/17mexico.html?th&emc=th 11/13/08 Economists in Germany say that country is now in recession, with an expected global impact of that assessment. http://news.bbc.co.uk/default.stm 11/13/08 15 of India's billionaires live in the city of Mumbai. 11/12/08 Unemployment rate in U.K. at 21-year high as it rises for 9th consecutive month. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/12/unemployment-jobs 11/7/08 Iin U.K., as in U.S., the panacea for economic woes is to lower interest rates:. A British writer comments on the "conventional wisdom" among economists that the way to deal with a financial crisis is to lower interest rates. While such actions may encourage would-be borrowers, they are inimical to the incomes of savers, and they encourage banks to make more loans of the type that got them into their current fiscal mess. 11/1/08 "The philosophy of laissez-faire simply does not work.": . So says South African economics professor, reflecting on current world economic crisis and the necessity for state "interference" with economies that, from a laissez faire viewpoint, should be "self-correcting." African countries like South Africa that have largely been insulated from that crisis will start to see its effects because of their dependence on exports revenues which are based on the prices of oil and other products on the world market. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44528 10/23/08 Stock markets in European and Asian countries continue their downward slide with the current recession. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7685639.stm 10/22/08 "THE GREAT INTER-WAR SLUMPS WERE NOT ACTS OF GOD OR BLIND FORCES. THEY WERE THE SURE AND CERTAIN RESULT OF THE CONCENTRATION OF TOO MUCH ECONOMIC POWER IN THE HANDS OF TOO FEW MEN." British Labour MP Tony Benn cites this passage from the 1945 Manifesto of the Labour Party, which document helped usher in the post-war program of government efforts to promote the public welfare, with the strong backing of the trade unions movement. Today, with the economy in yet another "inter-war slump," labor unions in decline and with bailouts to top banks helping the further "concentration" of economic power, it may be time again for another people's manifesto. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21062.htm 10/21/08 World stock markets respond favorably as governments around the world move to duplicate some aspects of U.S. financial stablization efforts. http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2008/10/2008102141924834297.html 10/19/08 Wealthier countries of the world made ambitious statements of support to Millenium Development goal of eradicating poverty in Africa; but few are stepping to the plate with concrete contributions. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44328 10/16/08 “Is the globalization of finance steering us towards heaven or hell?" Justin Podur quotes a line from a 1999 book in French from two former Wall Street operatives which describes the financialization of the world economy as a path to "heaven," while Podur takes the opposite tack and describes the hellish consequences of the pursuit of that particular road. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/10/the-financial-economy-and-the-real-economy/ 10/15/08 UN report says that a billion people worldwide are in hunger, with an "alarming" frequency in 33 countries. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44263 10/14/08 World "forces the hand" of U.S. Treeasury on Wall Street rescue:. "Aggressive" actions of European central banks over the weekend in "nationalising" banks by taking government ownership thereof is said to have forced an "injection" of U.S. taxpayer funds into American investments firms, lest they be out-competed by world financial institutions seeking investments. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/business/economy/14treasury.html?hp 10/14/08 World stock markets join NYSE in large jump in stock prices in wake of government rescue efforts. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7668732.stm 10/13/08 Stock markets in Europe and Asia rebound sharply as investers seeking bargains pick through the carcasses of price-deflated banks and begin a spending spree that sends markets soaring. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7666608.stm 10/12/08 "Where will the money come from?" Indian writer notes that, in India as in the U.S.A.. there is a public outcry over any government appropriations that address the "agrarian crisis" that has created numerous farmer sucides in India, whereas the "financial crisis" that has afflicted these and most other world countries generates pressure for immediate and expensive bailouts, without regard to how these projects are to be financed. ttp://www.countercurrents.org/devinder101008.htm 10/12/08 U.K. may begin to bail out more of its banks today. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7665823.stm 10/9/08 Shopping malls for the wealthy of India, featuring high fashion European clothing, are opening in New Delhi. http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2008/10/200810953622950708.html 10/6/08 Marxist take on the world financial crisis Nick Beams speaks in Sydney at 70th anniversity of Fourth International and describes the bail-out action in the U.S. as indication of a "government of, by, and for the wealthy. Not democracy and a land of laws, but a dictatorship of finance capital." http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/oct2008/nbe1-o04.shtml 10/6/08 As worldwide financial crisis continues, Europeans are finding that their economies are bigger than their political britches: , Bank failures and rumors of failures and mergers are rampant throught the continent, as there is not a central treasury in Europe with the financial resources to shore up sagging markets. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/business/06markets.html?th&emc=th 10/1/08 Indian writer sees no "up" side to the economic crisis highlighted by the ill-fated attempt to deal with the U.S. mortgage loan debacle.. 9/29/08 Euro bank Fortis gets partially "nationalised" by governments of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7641132.stm 9/28/08 Bradford and Bingley bank in U.K. is "nationalised." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7640143.stm 9/22/08 Another bank collapses in Denmark as international financial crisis reaches that country. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/109211.html 9/21/08 With soaring food prices in Argentina, soup kitchens in Buenos Aires are not able to keep up with demand. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43943 9/20/08 Could the moringa tree be the answer to sub-saharan Africa's hunger needs? Advocates believe that the leafs and seed pods of the "vegetable tree," traditionally grown and consumed in Africa and Asia, could become the staple on which the eradication of mal-nutrition is based. Skeptics awaits verification of the nutritional plant while some remember with disaste the "eat your moringa" demands of their parents. 8/21/08 Residents of a slum near Nairobi with one million people expect big things as one of "their own" assumes a role of power in Kenya's government. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43621 8/3/08 "Amid growing signs of famine and outrage, the entire chain of commodoties and resources of the world are now being cornered by giant corporations.": This is the premise of an article by Barbara Minton in which she describes how the "global food crisis" is reflected in the ability of multi-national corporations like Archer-Daniel Midland, Monsanto and Potash of Saskatchewan to control the market conditions for the distribution of seed and fertilizer, to their own great profit but to the impoverishment of the world's farmers and consumers. Oil and water shortages follow a similar dynamic of market control and manipulation. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/02/10770/ 8/2/08 Central bank of Venezuela tries to allay bank depositors' fears in wake of government's takeover of country's third largest bank. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/world/americas/02venez.html?th&em 7/19/08 UN food agency: Somalia sits at a "dire crossroads" as another famine impends:. The World Food Programme flounders in relief efforts as its agents are caught in the crossfire of conflict between Islamist militants and the government which was installed by an Ethopia-backed military operation. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=94267# 7/19/08 "Shack fire" displaces a thousand people in a Cape Town, South Africa neighborhood. Highlighting the housing, employment and immigration crises in South Africa, especially Capetown, 250 "shacks" are destroyed by fires in the Masiphumelele (a Xhosa word meaning "we will succeed") settlement with 90% unemployment and home to many refugees from xenophobic attacks on "immigrants" in May. http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20080719085736678C451188 FOR BACKGROUND ON MASIPHUMELELE, SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masiphumelele,_Cape_Town AND: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=vn20080702055557256C238131 7/18/08 "Investors have to learn to bear losses as they do gains.":. An investment manager in Pakistan so lectures angry investors who spill into the street outside the Karachi stock market, which has been falling sharply for 15 days. As they throw street objects at the building, some of their spokespersons blame mismanagement by "investment managers" like the one lecturing them for the bear market situation. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/asia/18pstan.html?th&emc=th 7/13/08 As FDR might say: "Half a world; ill-fed, ill-housed, and over-crowded " IPS interview with UN Under-sectretary for Human Habitat highlights what she calls the growing "crisis" of 3.3 billion people, half the world's population, living in impoverished and over-crowded cities of the world. She calls for population control, empowerment of women and escalated infrastructure investment as keys to dealing with the crisis. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43157 7/2/08 Hunger is rampant in the horn of Africa, where millions in both Somalia and Ethiopia are suffering from warfare, escalating food prices and drought. 6/26/08 Growing income inequality has spurred a hot world market in the sale of corporate and private jets, as the very wealthy are able circumvent the economic problems of what is left of the "middle class" of people who are unable to afford the rising fares of public airline carriers, in the process circumventing as well concerns about the environmental impact of private air transportation. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/25/9864/ 6/14/08 Land greed of the world's wealthy is destryoing the planet's scenery: . And they are destroying much more, notes Barbara Ehrenreich, describing their invasion of Key West and the effect of their land hungriness as, for example, billionaire horse farms are forcing the rural poor into trailer homes, and expensive sky-boxes in football stadiums are putting "take me out to the ball game" a forlorn hope for most poor people. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080630/ehrenreich 6/11/08 High gas prices force shutdown of Meals on Wheels, in Victoria, B.C. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080610.wbcmeals10/BNStory/National/home 5/25/08 UN's Word Food Program is struggling to keep abreast of rising food prices in their quest to feed the hungry of the world. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0522/p01s02-wogn.html 5/22/08 Women in poor neighborhood of Asuncion, Paraguay deal with rising food prices by forming a cooperative and buying food in bulk. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42446 5/20/08 German President, former head of IMF, raises hackles in financial world with his accusation of international monetary industry's to indulge in too much investment with too little capital as responsible for world's financal crisis. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JE20Dj05.html 4/28/08 War on rural poverty is succeeding in Latin American countries with direct cash subidies to the poorest of families. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42141 4/15/08 Globalization is "disappearing" the poor in India and around the world. The "cleaning out" of their poor sections by Beijing and Delhi in anticipation of international games is symbolic of the larger tendency for the poor as the "losers" in globalization's supposed benefits to be pushed out of sight and mind. What do losers do? Some oblige the desire that they just go away by taking their own lives, as have many debtor farmers in India. Others become the militants, terrorists and Maoists who refuse all efforts to disappear them http://www.countercurrents.org/seabrook100408.htm 4/13/08 IMF head warns of world hunger crisis as food prices rise. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7344892.stm 4/12/08 India's government tries to calm runaway inflation by barring cement export, with a similar ban on steel export also expected. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINDEL20646720080412?rpc=611 4/12/08 South Florida activists say food donations to hungry in Haiti is not reaching its intended recipients, and recommend cash donations instead of food. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flrndhaitian0412sbapr12,0,2783896.story 4/11/08 Worldwide war between the have's and have-not's is highlighted by food riots in Haiti: In many countries around the world, inflated food prices are creating a rising tide of hunger in the "developing" world as crops are used for fuel to help satisfy the ever-expanding consumption patterns of the wealthy, most recently among the well-to-do of Asian countries. The attacks in Port au Prince on UN "peacekeepers" may reflect a sense of some of the poor that the UN is an instrument for keeping "peace" to allow this wealth distribution process to proceed. 4/2/08 In an area of India heavily infected with farmer suicides, women's self-help credit systems are coming to the assistance of their widows. 4/1/08 Cuban tourist "apartheid" ends as Cuban nationals are now allowed to stay at tourist hotels, also to buy cellphones and other luxury products. 3/29/08 World food aid programs are said to be inadequately equipped to deal with the rising tide of food prices because of low supplies and high demands. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41780 3/12/08 Are Millenium Goals for poverty reduction being reached in Colombia? Depends on how you measure progress and where you measure it: most apparent progress is in urban areas as rural ones are left behind. http://www.latinamericapress.org/Article.asp?lanCode=1&artCode=5508 3/8/08 Canada for now bucks the U.S. recessionary trend while adding jobs to its work force while the U.S. is losing them. Experts think it may not last but will be Canada's "last gasp" before joining U.S. trend. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080308.wjobs08/BNStory/National/home 2/20/08 Changes in Cuban economy are on the agenda that must be addressed if Raul Castro is to succeed as his brother's successor http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41256 1/30/08 Post-election violence in Kenya; It's about more than ethnic rivalry and a bunlged vote count. As Kofi Annan tries to mediate the escalating violence, especially in the Rift Valley, experts point out that there is a strong social class dimension to the conflict there. Other tribes perceive the Kikuyu as having dominated land, water and housing in the area ever since Kenyatta's first government following independence from Britain. The opposition leader, though he's had a hand-shake conciliation with the declared winner, is unable to contain the disappointment of hopes of the poor of all tribes in Kenya for an amelioration of their poverty. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40968 1/28/08 Iis biofuel boom producing world hunger through a spike in commodoties prices? Corn and other producers are clashing with "food security" agencies in their assessments of how much influence the heightened demand for plants for ethanol and other bio-fuels has in pricing food out of the range of affordability for human consumption. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0128/p03s03-usec.html?page=2 1/21/08 Fears of U.S. recession producing panic on global stock markets http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7199552.stm 1/13/08 Emily Spence notes that the people of Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, have consistently been rated among the most "happy" of the world's people. This leads her to reflections on the "unsustainability" of efforts to secure human happiness through the relentless pursuit of worldly goods. Will "success spoil" the people of the "developed" world? It already has. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/01/on-rejecting-the-system/ 1/5/08 In Canada, as in the U.S., only the very very rich are getting richer, while real income is stagnant or declining for rest of the population. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080104.wcoessay0105/BNStory/specialComment/home 12/30/07 In Central American "isthmus" of Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras, rapid economic growth masks a persistent poverty and growing inequality in these countries. http://www.latinamericapress.org/Article.asp?lanCode=1&artCode=5425 11/17/07 Congo Republic, an "oil-rich" country, is facing international demands for "accountability" in use of its oil resources for its people: Although the government claims to be responsive to those demands, its behavior suggests otherwise, as oil profits tend to fall into the hands of government-connected persons, and two activists promoting accountability are jailed on what critics claim are trumped-up charges of misappropriation of funds. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40091 11/9/07 The flip side of the "Irish Miracle". Canadian writer reflects on the human consequences of the rapid economic development of Ireland, a reputed Celtic Tiger in the world economy. He notes that this economic boom was based on a neo-liberal recipe of stagnant wages and diminished public services, as tax cuts for the wealthy cut into the country's National Health Service and other programs designed to reduce social inequality. The writer sees Canada as heading in the same direction and for the same reasons. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/08/5092/ 8/15/07 Indian sports writer for BBC returns to India after 40 years and finds the country "transformed"---for the 20% of those enjoying a wealthy existence, not the 80% still living in poverty. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6946800.stm 7/31/07 Monsoon wedding...er...birthday parties are all the rage among India's elite:In a country with a huge rate of poverty and "farmer suicides" making the news, the country's middle class, nourished by globalization profits, are extending the tradition of lavish weddings into extravagant birthday parties for their children. A party planner comments that India is the best place in the world to be rich, the worst place to be poor. 7/30/07 A long-standing government program of subsidizing bread designed to make it available to Egypt's poor has spawned a prevalent corruption in the creation of a black market which has escalated bread prices in bakeries and produced severe shortages in supplies available to the poor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0730/p06s02-wome.html?page=1 6/24/07 Organizations in Colombia are calling for the government to be put on trial for its role in the massive displacements of population within the country, which are seen as a land grab by country's economic elite. http://www.latinamericapress.org/article.asp?IssCode=&lanCode=1&artCode=5168 6/10/07 "Rich people have jobs, poor people need work." With this simple (simplistic?) formula, economist Lance Pritchett encapsulates his controversial and thought-provoking argument for the "globalization of labor," including "guest worker" programs in the currently-stalemated immigration reform bill in the United States. His ideas offend thinkers from the left and the right; progressives because temporary worker systems create a permanent labor under class; conservatives because they challenge the Washington (and World Bank) Consensus that the development of the under-developed world is the key to the elimination of poverty. Love them or hate them, it's hard to brush his ideas aside. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/magazine/10global-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=magazine 5/7/07 Mother of Indian film-maker criticizes her son for not "staying with the poor" in his film on a Delhi cabbie company. 4/22/07 Former official of World Bank argues that inequality in Latin America, contrary to some economic theories, does not promote development but discourages it when the poor are denied opportunities to participate in the benefits of development. http://www.bostonreview.net/BR32.2/birdsall.html 4/9/07 Chinese government looking for help from private social welfare agencies in its project to reduce poverty in the country. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-04/09/content_846173.htm 4/7/07 ZAMBIANS STARVE AS U.S. AGRI-BUSINESS FLEXES ITS MUSCLE. World food aid is largely dependent on U.S. participation; but U.S. law, supported by farm state members of Congress, limits aid to U.S.-produced food crops, forbidding cash payments for food grown in the countries being aided, so that piles of locally-growth corn in Zambia lie unused for lack of cash to purchase it for the benefit of the country's hungry. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/world/africa/07zambia.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 3/8/07 "Ownership society" comes to China in form of new property law. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6429317.stm 3/7/07 They call it "food insecurity", but more Palestinians are starving: World Food Programme notes 25% rise in number of people who are receiving food assistance. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0307/p06s02-wome.html 3/1/07 Think poverty is bad in America? It is, but check out Cairo, Egypt, where millions live in abject poverty in a "ruralized metropolis" in which there is a pervasive sense of government abandonment and they must live by their wits and their own devices. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/01/world/middleeast/01cairo.html?th&emc=th 2/22/07 Poverty cleansing in Vancouver. Am Johal: While hosts to 2010 Winter Olympics like to wave flags and trumpet their civic liberalism, the reality is that the city's political elites have indulged in a long-running effort to "clean up" its eastside downtown by depriving the residents there of a traditionally cohesive neighborhood. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=108&ItemID=12177 2/19/07 Wage increases in Denmark last year were at an unexpectedly low 3.2% and economists call this "good news." http://www.cphpost.dk/get/100500.html 12/9/06 Report by independent evaluation unit of World Bank says that poverty is not being reduced in most countries around the world; Bank management says the report is "overly glum." http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1208-06.htm 11/25/06 Sounds like the old American WIC program: UK government's Healthy Start programe will soon be giving vouchers for poor families to obtain free milk, fruits and vegetables. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6182592.stm 11/13/06 Rise of the philanthropreneur, doing well by doing good: Gates, Bono and company challenge the Principles of Philanthropy .01 with its emphasis on foundation grants to an "upgraded" version of harnessing the free market to address problems of the poor of the world. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/us/13strom.html?_r=1&ref=giving&oref=slogin 9/24/06 Watchdog group warns that Paul Wolfowitz' "anti-corruption crusade" at the World Bank, supposedly designed to help the world's poor, may actually harm them by denying loans which legitimately help the poor, and turning a blind eye to the agency's own practices in making loans to corrupt dictators. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0923-03.htm 8/13/06 Center for Global Development calculate a "commitment index" to measure richer nations' level of contributions to alleviation of world poverty. The Netherlands (followed closely by Sweden, Denmark and Norway) is #1; U.K is #12, U.S.A. is #13: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0813-03.htm 5/28/06 Venezuela's economic boom continues, with declining inflation and unemployment, rising minimum wages. http://www.sfbayview.com/052406/inflation052406.shtml 4/24/06 Philippines poverty has many causes, with population growth chief among them: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=36643 4/9/06 World's super-rich have a new facility: a shadow boat, built in Ft. Lauderdale, for their mega-yachts; a "toy box" to carry their travel essentials like a helicopter and SUV: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2070429,00.html 4/1/06 Depleted soil and expanding population threaten Africa's food supplies: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8929-soil-health-crisis-threatens-africas-food-supply.html
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Websites: Economic Analysis and Research Network:
National Center for Children in Poverty: Urban Institute: Income and Wealth Distribution (abstracts of published research articles and papers): http://www.urban.org/economy/income.cfm
Analysis & views: 4/22/10 4/21/10 4/20/10 4/20/10 4/16/10 4/15/10 4/10/10 4/9/10 4/5/10 4/4/10 3/23/10 3/6/10 3/4/10 2/24/10 2/23/10 2/22/10 2/19/10 2/18/10 REGULATE WALL STREET ? NAH, THE INVISIBLE HAND OF THE FINANCIAL MARKET-PLACE WILL TAKE CARE OF THAT. Economist Michael Hudson takes on the "religion" of Adam Smith promoted by the likes of former Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and present CEO of Goldman-Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, that treats as a sacreligious violation of that principle the present tepid effort to institute a consumer protection agency that will subject the market to rules not of its own making. Hudson sees this trend as a violation of the separation of church and business, operating an Inquisition of business school Professors from the Universities of Chicago and Harvard. 2/17/10 2/15/10 2/14/10 2/12/10 2/11/10 2/11/10 2/8/10 2/6/10 2/6/10 2/5/10 2/3/10 BUSH AND OBAMA IN THE POTTERY BARN: HE BROKE IT (THE ECONOMY), YOU'VE BOUGHT IT. (CARTOON) 2/3/10 1/29/10 1/25/10 1/24/10 1/24/10 1/12/10 1/11/10 1/10/10 1/9/10 1/6/10 1/4/09 12/30/09 12/29/09 12/26/09 12/21/09 12/15/09 12/15/09 12/7/09 12/4/09 12/1/09 11/30/09 11/29/09 11/29/09 11/27/09 11/22/09 A needy family in Shaler, PA is active in promoting events for the benefit of the needy. 11/19/09 10/31/09 10/29/09 10/29/09 High and sustained unemployment in Texas "triggers" an extension of unemployment benefits. 10/28/09 10/17/09 9/23/09 9/20/09 9/18/09 New York City unemployment rate hits 10.3%, highest since 1993. 9/16/09 9/15/09 9/7/09 9/5/09 Luxury spa business in Atlanta is floundering, as 6-outlet chain files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 9/4/09 9/2/09 9/2/09 8/30/09 THE WEALTH OF A NATION; HOW DO YOU MEASURE IT? As U.S. unemployment continues its slide toward double digits, an economic recovery is being celebrated because of a short-term rise in corporate profits. Anna Manzo argues that the separation of "wealth" from the growth of productive goods and services gives people a false sense of economic well-being. She notes that the percentage of corporate profits resulting from the "financial sector" has risen from 6% in the 1940's to 30% today: an indication that wealth accumulation is based on bubbles and gambles against rising stock prices that produce no "real" wealth. Perhaps wealth-measurers need to measure the length of unemployment application lines rather than the fluctuations of the Dow-Jones. 8/26/09 8/24/09 8/23/09 8/15/09 U.S. lenders have been slow to offer mortgage adjustments for those facing prospects of foreclosure. 8/7/09 8/7/09 8/5/09 8/2/09 8/1/09 7/29/09 7/28/09 7/27/09 7/22/09 With unemployment rate of 15.6%, city of Lowell MA is reeling from effects of recession. 7/19/09 7/15/09 7/13/09 Joblessness in New York City increases at a much higher rate for blacks than for whites. 7/11/09 New Illinois law will limit what utilities can charge to customers to 6% of the customer's income 6/7/09 How the other 0.00000003% lives. Adam Turl, writer for Socialist Worker, profiles the careers of, according to Forbes, the 10 richest people in the U.S. His unflattering portraits help explain some of the "hatred" toward the rich displayed in the attitudes of many poor Americans. http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/06/how-the-other-000000003-percent-lives/ 6/6/09 IF THE SURVIVAL OF GENERAL MOTORS WAS SO URGENT A PUBLIC NEED, WHY WASN'T THE COMPANY TAKEN OVER BY THE GOVERNMENT BY THE EXERCISE OF EMINENT DOMAIN? Robert Wasserman raises that question, noting that the bankruptcy "path" taken by GM was at the expense of shareholders, dealerships and workers, some of which could have been avoided by better allocation of the $50 billion subsidy GM got on condition of its "down-sizing" and/or the out-right take-over of the company, which could have been operated in the public interest as, for example, the U.S. Postal Service, an "independent" agency, is government supervised and required to provide non-profitable services such as Saturday mail deliveries. http://www.counterpunch.org/weissman06042009.html 5/29/09 Families of "furloughed" state workers in California learn the fine art of penny-pinchng. As the state, like many public and private employers, has largely retained its work force by cutting back on workers' pay (2 days a month of unpaid furlough in CA's case), families must learn new lessons in frugality. A robo-call call to a bank to check one's bank balance and a hand-calculator as one goes shopper are part of a new routine in daily family life. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/us/29paycut.html? 5/29/09 With planned June poor people's march in Jackson MS, SCLC seeks to revive MLK's focus on the issue of poverty. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/05/29/sclc_poor_people_campaign.html 5/24/09 Chrysler dealers harvest the bitter fruits of company loyalty:. As the company's financial woes escalated, dealers were pressured by Chrysler management to "save" the company by ordering more cars and undertaking expensive efforts to expand their retail operations. Now, many of them learn the price of that "saving," as many of their dealerships are suddenly closed, leaving them holding a very expensive bag. A group of these dealers has banded together to sue the company for what amounts to a breach of promise. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/23dealers.html?ref=business 5/23/09 Hard times for retailing in downtown Seattle as store vacancy rates rises to 5.4% http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/retailreport/2009249510_retailreport22.html. 5/17/09 "It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it." The "madness" of U.S. military operations in Viet Nam expressed in this officer's justification for bombing a village is fully replicated, says John Nichols, in the Obama administration's action in "saving" General Motors and Chrysler. For these companies to be saved by federal bail out funding, it was "necessary" effectively to destroy them by requiring massive layoffs of workers and massive closings of manufacturing plants and dealerships. About all that is "saved" from these operations is the names of the companies. http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/436597?rel=hp_picks 5/2/09 When a bubble bursts, always look for a silver lining. We have long heard of tours of people in foreclosure buses going to the scenes of distressed homeowners in search for house bargains. This profiteering from human misery is now extended in New York City as the Robert Allen ("The One Minute Millionaire") Institute holds seminars in which eager participants are told how they too can "cash in" on the current housing bust, how they can arrange no-down-payment mortgages that will create new bubbles on top of the bubbles that are now bursting in air. (Otherwise put, as Madoff heads off for jail, new Ponzi schemes are being perpetuated in broad daylight.) 5/2/09 Ms. Randi's profession. In a recessionary economy, jobs are hard to come by in many lines of work. No so that of strip clubs, whose business is flourishing and which provides a line of employment, with new-found semi-respectability, that is available to young women with the requisite..uh..credentials. Lily Blau of Sirens Magazine describes her anthropological visit to a strip club in the company of her ex-boyfriend whose current girlfriend, Randi, is seeking employment in that industry to the jealousy of Lily, who has a shade of doubt about her own credentials http://www.alternet.org/sex/138649/should_you_try_stripping/ 4/10/09 Wells Fargo shows what a bank can do with $25 billion in bailout funds. The mortgage lending giant shows huge surge of profits in first quarter after acquiring Wachovia with bailout funds last December 31. The stock market has a bullish day in response, despite a poor report on lst quarter retail sales and still-rising unemployment. Bank officials say they "hope" to be able pay back some of the bailout to the U.S. treasury, but they still have to cover some defaults on mortgages they have already issued. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25316174-36418,00.html 4/10/09 NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES: BECAUSE OF POOR BUSINESS CONDITIONS AND TO CUT OUR ELECTRIC BILLS, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL HAS BEEN TURNED OFF. This satirical "notice" is emblematic of the current financial situation described by Mike Whitney as he notes the unbelievable downward cascade of the market in the wake of the bankruptcy 18 months ago of the Bear Stearns hedge fund---with literally "no end in sight;" http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney04092009.html 4/9/09 Some Americans professionals with employment worries have a back up plan: selling frankfurters. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123923554488403239.html 4/7/09 Last November, as AIG ws going into bankruptcy, its creditors should have gotten a "haircut." Where was the barber?: McClatchy Newspapers publishes expose of the failure of Timothy Geithner, then head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, now Secretary of the Treasury, to demand that creditor banks take less than 100 cents on the dollar of their investments, the "haircuts" to creditors that normally occur when companies go into bankruptcy. Treasury remains silent on the question why the Fed bank approved full payment to the tune of billions of additional dollars of "bailout" funding courtesy U.S. taxpayers. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/65609.html 4/6/09 Steve Rattner is the sparkplug of a "task force" for restructuring of the auto industry which was set up rather than an earlier-proposed one-man "czar" control, but it seems to be operating in that way. Rattner's main notoriety so far has been his spectacular success in raising funds for the Democratic Party, but he has intimate connections with Wall Street entities like Quadrangle Capital, which among other things, had major dealings with Chrysler's parent company, Cerebus. So far the "conflict of interest" issue for Rattner as a mediator between the auto companies, those who invest in them and the auto workers has not been raised very acutely. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/business/06rattner.html?_r=1&hpw 3/26/09 PIPP: "Corporate welfare pure and simple." Mike Whitney's description of Treasury Secretary Geithner's plan to create a "Public Private Investment Partnership" (PPIP) operated by the F.D.I.C. which would purchase and re-sell banks' toxic assets (bad loans) in a "partnership" which would divide risk and reward in the partnership in which one partner (banking institutions) will get most of the rewards and another (the public) would bear most of the risks of loss from the purchase of these "troubled assets." 3/24/09 "No clear exit strategy for the flow of taxpayer money " Assessment by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, as Treasury Secretary Geithner unveils the latest version of an economic recovery plan. As Reich sees it, there is no guarantee at all that "guaranteed loans" are going to re-start the nation's credit economy. His critique emphasizes the lack of "transparency" in the bailout/stimulus process that had been promised by the Obama administration, facilitating the public fear of the bottomless pit of bailout demands that may grow as further defects in the credit system come to light http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20959 3/23/09 THE PERILS OF BARACK: DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO. Alexander Cockburn's characterization of the current political situation of President Obama, in his attempt to express "populist outrage" at bail-out funding to A.I.G. which permitted executive bonuses for the failed company and siphoning of funds to Goldman Sachs, with which Obama and key members of his administration are closely tied. Ominous rumbles of "what did he (they) know, when did he (they) know it?" suggest the threatening approach of that "volcano." http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn03202009.html 3/21/09 PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS CHARMING ON JAY LENO; BUT DID HE TELL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BAILOUT FIASCO? Leslie Savan ridicules those of Obama's critics who condemned his TV appearance as an equivalent of fiddling (having fun) while Rome (the economy) burns. "Loosening up" for the President is all to the country's good, but is that good served by his evasiveness on the issue of the role of his own Treasury Secretary in "loosening" the rules of bailout funding that allowed A.I.G. executives to take those bonuses which he and most of the country so roundly condemns? http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/132737/obama_loosens_up_on_leno/ 3/21/09 GENERATION GAP: AS IT GETS HARDER FOR OLDER WORKERS TO RETIRE, IT'S TOUGHER FOR YOUNGSTERS TO BREAK INTO THE WORK FORCE. Diminishing stock market-invested retirement funds and escalating health care costs result in many older workers delaying their retirements, leaving fewer openings for those just entering the work force. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/21age.html?hp 3/21/09 U.S. Treasury Department expected to unveil plan to provide incentives for corporations willing to join U.S. in buying up toxic assets of failing banks. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/21bank.html?th&emc=th 3/16/09 Americans are white hot angry at Wall Street; can president cool contain their anger?: New York Times columnist Adam Nagourney says that the political problem of the administration is that of seeking to "acknowledge the anger without becoming a target of it." The fear is that the public will blame the White House and Congress for bailouts which enable the CEO salaries and perks that so enrage the public, and this aroused anger will endanger the Obama "agenda" of economic recovery http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/us/politics/16assess.html?th&emc=th 3/15/09 THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN AND THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN: THE PERFECT STORM FOR U.S. NON-PROFITS. Organizations like the ACLU have experienced a double whammy to their finances. Well-to-do donors from whom they have long enjoyed generous contributions tended to put their "charitable" cash in the Obama campaign. As he becomes President, they find themselves in the same boat as corporate America as their capital assets, often in the form of stock-investment endowments with ever-diminishing returns, are declining as well is the continuing ability of said customary donors to contribute in the light of their own financial woes. As a result, Eyal Press of the Nation says, as many as 100,000 non-profits may cease to operate. (Change we can believe in but dread.) http://www.alternet.org/workplace/131345/is_the_economic_mess_going_to_kill_100%2C000_non-profits/ 3/10/09 In the economic downturn, the wealthy of America are depriving themselves of a few basic necessities.: New York Times columnist notes sharp decline of "conspicuous consumption" as "society women" do such unheard of things as pulling out ten year old dresses from their closets to attend the latest "gala." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/us/10reset.html?hp 3/10/09 A menial job in a fashion shop may be the best employment available (until one is laid off from the job) to an MBA graduate in one of the worst-ever years of job prospects for new college graduates http://www.alternet.org/workplace/130853/is_this_the_worst_year_to_graduate_college_ever/ 3/8/09 Silver lining behind the cloud of U.S. job losses? An American economist suggests that "there is just the slightest glimmer of hope that conditions may be improving," noting "evidence that the pace of job losses (is) easing." Another economist, unable to see that lining behind those clouds, disagrees. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22170.htm 3/6/09 As the electro-shock of "stimulus" fails to revive dyinng capitalism, what now?: Barbara Ehrenreich and Bill Fletcher deal with this momentous question in a Nation article that observes how capitalism's "contradictions" are seemingly producing its own demise with a downward spiral into depression as Marx predicted it would, but contrary to Marx' optimistic view that socialism would result in the proletariat "stepping into the shoes" of a concentrated and efficient world system of production, capitalism has in fact destroyed the productive system and much of the world's environment along with it. So if socialism is to come out of capitalism, it will require a tremendous amount of re-organizing work. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090323/ehrenreich_fletcher?rel=hp_picks 3/5/09 A third of Americans are insan:. They think their jobs are secure:. Jill Andresky Fraser so concludes after examining opinion surveys and the state of the jobs market in the U.S. This is the approximate percentage of Americans who say they are "not much" or "not at all" worried about losing their jobs. Her examination of the dire employment prospects across practically every component of work in America leads her to the diagnosis of the "nutty" third. http://www.alternet.org/workplace/130154/ 3/3/09 Is prosperity "just around the corner" for U.S. economy? This seems to be the operative message of President Obama's national budget proposal, reprising Herbert Hoover's notorious statement in 1932, the last time the U.S. economy was in a deep recessionary mode. Richard Cook says this is not an "honest budget" as it projects, as a condition of deficit reduction, a degree of growth in economic productivity that sounds as unreal as it did when Hoover made the same projection. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22135.htm HOOVER 1932: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/wall_street_crash.htm 3/2/09 PRIMING THE PUMP OF A FAILED FINANCIAL SYSTEM...WITH NO EXIT STRATEGY. President Obama has said, and his Administration has begun to implement, a "whatever is necessary" strategy of moving to fund failed banking institutions with no end in sight to such operation, as he meantime warns working class Americans to be prepared to make the "sacrifices" that will put on their backs the burden of paying for the unlimited generosity to the banks. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12490 2/27/09 Dave Lindorff denounces as "not up to the task" Obama's proposals for economic recovery which emphasize "getting the banks lending again" and creating jobs with "shovel-ready" infrastructure building and repair projects. It's unlikely that the country can borrow its way out of the recession and those "shovel-ready" projects are not actually ready for immediate implementation. What would work, immediately and effectively, would be for many of those mega-dollars to be spent by providing jobs to the unemployed or to-be-unemployed victims of the recession by creating (or saving) jobs in the area of employment in public services like teachers in under-funded schools and lawyers in cities where public defenders are being laid off for lack of funds. http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff02262009.html 2/27/09 Houston mayor taking heat for proposal for grants to would-be home buyers to pay down debts that would strengthen their credit ratings for mortgage approval. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6283540.html 2/27/09 Suburban St.Louis couple faces foreclosure on their innovative cave home; tries to sell on e-Bay, with bidding started at $300,000. 2/16/09 Opinion: Washington must look to Stockhol for solutions to fiscal crisis:. Two "free market" NYU business school professors, writing for Washington Post, say that the only the viable solution to the crisis is the nationalization of the banks, as has previously happened in Sweden. This scheme involves the government take-over of those banks with a certain level of "toxic assets," re-capitalizing and ultimately re-privatizing them. For this radical surgery to the nation's financial system to work, it must happen in a "fell swoop" lest the taking-over of one bank has a domino effect of further jeopardizing the stability of other banks. (Maybe call it fiscal shock and awe.) http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/15-7 2/13/09 Some economists say ailing U.S. banks may need more than current bailout levels to survive. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/business/economy/13insolvent.html?th&emc=th 2/11/09 "The market for grilled flattened suirrel is booming right now." Brad Reed compares Treasury Secretary Geithner's plan to bail out U.S. banks to this story from his childhood when his cousin offered him $50 for the privilege of removing roadkill from in front of his house, saying there was a good "market" for the product. When Reed protested that no sane person would eat roadkill, his cousin said, right, but my dad will pay me $100 to throw away the "meat" and get the stink out of our basement. The "stink" of unsaleable "toxic assets" that the government would acquire from failed banks is the roadkill of the current proposal. There is a better way, says Reed, to deal with the problem: for banks to be nationalized, but this workable solution is rejected by Obama, the pragmatist who says he will "do what works" because it conflicts with our "culture" (ideology) of free enterprise. http://www.alternet.org/workplace/126354/?page=1 2/11/09 Uncertainty of details about Treasury's bailout plan leads Wall Street to sharp decline in stock prices. 2/10/09 TREASURY SECRETARY'S THUNDER ON NEWEST ROUND OF BAILOUTS TO BE HEARD TODAY. New York Times reports that Timothy Geithner prevailed in a fierce battle with Obama's "political" appointees on the conditions under which funds are to be distributed to investment firms and that his plan will minimize the regulations on how these funds are to be spent. In his press conference last night, Obama said he didn't want to steal Geithner's thunder by announcing these details, though he did say that the "mistake" of unregulated distributions that occurred in the last round of bailouts would not be repeated in this one, and a congressional revolt on the regulation issue could be in the offing. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/business/economy/10bailout.html?_r=1&hp 2/7/09 Plunder and blunder: Dean Baker's new book lays blame for "financial crisis" at the feet of "financial experts.": The renegade economist argues that the country has gone through a recurring cycle of booms and busts as the simplest application of grade school arithmetic would hav anticipated that the world economy would arrive at its current state. These financial leaders did not "do the math." 2/4/09 $25 billion bailout to Wells Fargo leads company to cancel its usual junket of top employees to Las Vegas http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WELLS_FARGO_VEGAS?SITE=MOSTP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 2/4/09 New York City restaurants are "nicer" to customers these days as they abandon their usual "hard to get" manner as they try to survive downturn in dining out; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/dining/04note.html 2/3/09 Recession hits pay day loan industry as, with rising unemployment, fewer needy borrows have a "pay day" on which the loans come due. 2/2/09 Tale of two income asistance programs: TARP and TANF. As Congress debates an ever-expanding program for bailout of failing investment firms, Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), New York Times survey of U.S. states shows that more and more of them are exercising their option under the welfare reform act of 1996 to cut their rolls of people receiving cash assistance under the program of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)---even while unemployment swells the ranks of the economically needy. (Pays to have influence where such decisions are made.) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/us/02welfare.html?hp 1/31/09 CAN LAWRENCE SUMMERS AND TIMOTHY GEITHNER "MAKE THE (ECONOMIC) TRAINS RUN?" Paul Street notes the effect of current bailout practices of creating a form of "authoritarian capitalism" justified, like fascist regimes, by the necessity (in the interest of efficiency) for the public to be excluded from the making of decisions about the actions of "their" government. Street calls this the "Chinese model" of development and the astounding success of the Chinese in making their "economic trains" run is now being imitated substantively if not formally in "democratic" societies. http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20425 1/31/09 U.S. dealers are stockpiling oil in storage as they wait for expected increase in oil priceds. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6239731.html 1/30/09 "There is a risk of death here without heat," Director of a Boston community development agency reflects on the huge increase in numbers of people applying for assistance in home heating costs during the current economic recession, while the International Monetary Fund declares the world's economy has come to a "virtual halt." http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/01/29-4 1/29/09 Go big or go home. This phrase, used obscenely in recent days as a caption for a Viagra commercial, is now being employed to encapsulate a view of "some" economists that current versions of an economic stimulus plan now being considered in Congress are not large enough in funding to deal with the dimensions of the economic crisis. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/01/28-11 1/29/09 U.S. banks told not to worry: There is still $250 billion in the stimulus package to bail them out: Secretary of Treasury Geithner so assures beleagured banks, and Wall Street rallies on rumors that a government "bad bank" that buys up the "toxic assets" of private banks will be established http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/business/economy/29bailout.html?hp 1/29/09 Tuesday discounts on meals are a project of 15 restaurants in Winston-Salem to try to stem business decline during current recession. http://www.newsobserver.com/1565/story/1386227.html 1/27/09 What to do? We're broke and our credit cards are maxed out!. Guess we'll have to see what the Humvee or the Hello Kitty charm bracelet is worth and sell off our assets. James Howard Kunstler, on the eve of Obama's inauguration, so describes the "yard sale nation" U.S. economy that Obama is inheriting and laments the futility of trying to deal with it by throwing money the nation doesn't have after persons and organizations seeking "bailouts" and having to depend on the Federal Reserve to paper over the economic crisis and Congress to raise our "credit card limit," aka the national debt. 1/27/09 Black economic Monday as at least 8 U.S. firms announce they will lay off at least 75,000 people from jobs around the world. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/business/economy/27layoffs.html?th&emc=th 1/25/09 New wrinkle on the old job search: Workers are playing it safer. As executive layoffs escalate in top Wall Street firms and professional and executive employment flounders elsewhere during the economic downtown, job seekers are trimming the sails of their employment ambition. More college students are attending community colleges with their more "vocational" orientations; and fledgling executives are seeking jobs not with vulnerable high-prestige firms but with ones that will give them "guaranteed employment" contracts. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/business/25safe.html?th&emc=th 1/25/09 In falling housing market, issue in divorce court may not be "who gets the house?" but "who gets stuck with it?" 1/23/09 The next financial crisis: Don't say Paul Craig roberts didn't warn you:. President Reagan's assistant Secretary of the Treasury says that a "second Katrina" of financial disaster is about to hit an economy already reeling from the bust in the housing market. This second flood will be a series of closures of shopping malls and foreclosures in other commercial real estate, abetted by Obama's team of economic operatives whose low interest fiscal policies created the real problem in the economy: not lack of credit as their "stimulus package" is designed to cure; but the crushing load of debt, private and public, which will only be exaggerated by their new efforts. As Obama says, it (the economy) will get worse before it gets better, and his economic "recovery" plan seems to promote the fulfillment of that prophecy. http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01222009.html 1/23/09 After losing two anchor stores, Crossroads Mall in Oklahoma City goes into foreclosure. 1/22/09 MIKE WHITNEY; "THE OBAMA TEAM IS MORE FOCUSED ON TREATING THE SYMPTOMS THAN CURING THE DISEASE." The "disease" is the freezing up of credit to support families and businesses. The "symptoms" are banks and other investments firms on the brink of bankruptcy. The "cure" which Whitney thinks is being ignored is immediate debt relief for individuals who face bankruptcy and dispossession from their homes, and measures to raise wages in the country. 1/22/09 Minnesota legislators seek to avoid having the state be a "wellfare magnet" by setting rates to levels of other places from which new applicants have come http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_11522461 1/21/09 As Obama hits the ground running in dealing with the financial crisis, he has to run without a secretary of the Treasury: Timothy Geithner, his choice for Treasury, faces Senate confirmation hearings today in which he is expected to be questioned about the irregularity of his personal finances of failing to pay some taxes for a number of years. Democrats hope the urgency of proceeding with bank rescues will push the Senate to confirm him on Thursday. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090121/ap_on_bi_ge/treasury_geithner 1/20/09 On Inauguration Day, hope and fear co-mingle among people at an unemployment office in Columbia SC. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/business/economy/20columbia.html?th&emc=th 1/19/09 BAILOUTS: DON'T SAY YOU WEREN'T WARNED. As Congress with backing of outgoing and incoming Presidents moves urgently to double the amount of financial industry rescue funding disguised as "economic stimulus," CEO's of leading companies in that industry admit candidly in public statements that funds they have already received in the first round of "economic stimulus" have been used not to increase borrowing for stimulated economic activity, but they have been kept to shore up their own reserves against future catastrophe and to pad the profits in their "bottom lines." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/business/18bank.html?_r=1 1/17/09 "Everybody's going to have some skin in the game. " Barack Obama, in a interview with George Stephanopolous, updates Marie Antoinette's "let them eat cake" and Ebenezer Scrooge's "what, are there no poor houses?" comments in its insensitivity to the plight of the poor. The "skin" reference came in a question about the likelihood of reduced "entitlements" in the current economic crisis. This attitude helps validate the idea that a growing (stimulated) economy will "lift all boats," when all experience shows that the Few of the world are enjoying their yachts while the Many are trying to survive in their rowboats. Even a "liberal" economist like Paul Krugman criticizes the Obama stimulus plan not for its excesses (which will require some "skin" of the poor) but for the inadequacy of its scale given the size of the U.S. economy. All this represents a far cry from the long-ago call of Jimmy Carter that the people of the world, especially its well-off ones, must learn to "do with less." http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20274 1/17/09 Food Bank cupboards are bare in Montana, lawmaker asks legislature for $1 million bailout. http://www.helenair.com/articles/2009/01/17/top/60st_090117_foodbank.txt 1/15/09 "Foreclosure rescue companies" (aka swindlers) are rising in prominence across America. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/us/15mortgage.html?th&emc=th 1/13/09 Only one president at a time, and where bailout funds are concerned, Obama is the "one." President Bush lobbies along with Obama for congressional passage of legislation that would not be implemented until after January 20 and that would allow the new President "access" to the second half of the $700 billion of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. Recalling the questionable handling of distributions of the first half of that fund by the Bush Treasury, lawmakers are reluctant to give Obama the same blank check, but they are assuaged somewhat by assurances from the incoming President and his economic team that greater "accountability" will be built into the next round of distributions. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090113/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_economy 1/12/09 Unemployment application processing systems being overwhelmed in many American states as record numbers of applications roll in. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-01-11-unemployment_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip 1/12/09 Bush and Obama are set to be a "tag team" to urge reluctant members of Congress to support new bailout legislation. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_ECONOMY?SITE=MOSTP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 1/11/09 IT'S GOING TO TAKE MORE THAN STIMULUS SPENDING AND BANK BAILOUTS TO PULL THE U.S. OUT OF ECONOMIC DEPRESSION. It will require as well, says economist Peter Morici, that the Obama administration address effectively a reform of the way that investment firms do their business, and a correction of the unbalanced balance of trade relations with China. If banks merely stockpile their bailout funds or recipients of tax breaks either use them to pay down their credit cards debts or take them straight to Wal-Mart to buy Chinese-made goods, stimulus spending will fail exactly as it failed under the New Deal and exactly as it has failed in Japan in more recent years. http://www.counterpunch.org/morici01092009.html 12/28/08 WHAT'S IN A NAME? IF YOU'RE GMAC AND THE NAME IS "BANK HOLDING COMPANY," THE NAME COULD BE WORTH BILLIONS IN FEDERAL BAILOUT FUNDS. A deadline passes for the financial arm of GM to jump through the hoops required for this designation, but company officials hope still to rescue their agency and perhaps GM as its principal shareholder from bankruptcy. 12/23/08 U.S. craft stores doing well in the recession of this holiday shopping season, as many cash-strapped shoppers are buying materials to make their own gifts http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/business/23craft.html 12/19/08 Homeboy Industries and community gardens: The poor can help themselves:. Shannon Prince describes some self-help approaches to poverty alleviation that move the "war on poverty" from programs on "behalf" of the poor to those actually adminstered by the poor themselves. Homeboy Industries is led by black mothers and is a mult-faceted approach to integrating the poor into the existing employment economy, while community gardens are an instrument of converting deteriorated urban spaces into an enterprise to the benefit of local residents. http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=941&Itemid=1 12/15/08 MORE BAILOUTS? U.S. STATES ARE SEEING THEIR SUPPLY FUNDS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE DWINDLE INTO INSOLVENCY. With record levels of unemployment applications, 30 states are facing the necessity of borrowing from the federal government or passing "solvency tax" levies on employers. Indiana and Michigan are leading the parade, having already reached the dead broke level in these funds. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/us/15funds.html?th&emc=th 12/14/08 U.S. food banks are having to find "creative" ways of enhancing their stock, including the salvaging of "inedible" foods as their supplies dry up. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-12-14-foodbanks-farms_N.htm 12/14/08 A new sermon theme is packing them into evangelical churches: "The theological meaning of the downturn.": Pastors across the country are adjusting their traditional sermons to reflect the economic anxieties of people; and at least in evangelical churches like one in a neighborhood in New York with yacht clubs and serving hedge fund manager residents, the message is being well received. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/nyregion/14churches.html?th&emc=th 12/12/08 Will the dominoes begin to fall in the U.S. auto industry? As Congress declines to buy the Big Three automakers bailout, these companies face insolvency and possible bankruptcy by the end of this month. Failing some other kind of "rescue," not only may these companies fail, but so may the parts suppliers to whom the companies owe many billions of dollars in unpaid bills. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/business/12rescue-web.html?_r=1&hp 12/11/08 Dean Baker, often a critic of Obama economic policy, really likes his plan for spending on infrastructure for economic stimulus: His only complaint is that the plans do not go far enough in stimulating job growth. Funding should be found as well for such pressing needs as rescuing states and localities from their budget crises and a fully funded and truly universal health insurance program. Common Dreams critics post comments noting Baker's failure to provide any guidance on how these expensive programs are to be funded, except through massive borrowing and federal budget deficits; no mention for example of cost-cutting in the massive military budget. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/10-6 12/10/08 White House and Congress agree "on principle" to $15 billion "bailout" for Big Three automakers, with funds to be distributed by "car czar." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/07/national/w111246S40.DTL 12/9/08 Anheuser-Busch will cut 1400 salaried jobs across the U.S., 1000 of them in St. Louis. 12/7/08 Laid off workers in a Chicago factory, closed with 3 day notice after creditors refused the company's loans, protest by occupying the premises of the now-closed factory. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081207/ap_on_bi_ge/workers_takeover;_ylt=ApyO_xt4B3VoMwDSGoCvPrtG2ocA 12/6/08 A bailout for Chrysler? It wasn't supposed to have been this way...:Unlike Ford and GM which are publicly traded corporations, Chrysler is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Cerebrus Corporation, a huge conglomerate of corporate holdings in the auto industy and elsewhere. With Cerebrus supposedly having profits from its other holdings to subsidize any losses in Chrysler, it was assumed that Chrysler had its own "private equity" solution to its problems. Still, using its substantial government "connections" such employment of former VP Dan Quayle and former Treasury Secretary John Snow, Chrysler shows up along with "other two" in pleas for a government bailout. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/business/06chrysler.html?th&emc=th 12/4/08 During the late campaign, John McCain accused Barack Obama of advocating "socialism" by virtue of his plans for income re-distribution with adjustments in tax rates for different income brackets. The GOP Secretary of the Treasury, says economist Dean Baker, is engaged with taxpayer "bailout" money in a massive program of re-distribution of wealth, but it is re-distribution into the hands of shareholders of "failed" businesses to guarantee income that they would otherwise have lost as a result of those failures. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/02-6 11/24/08 CEO'S OF BIG 3 AUTOMAKERS MAY CAR POOL WHEN NEXT THEY GO TO D.C. TO BEG FOR BAILOUT. Suffering a P.R. disaster from their having travelled last week by separate executive jets to plea for congressional assistance, they now are organizing "carvans" of executives from Detroit to D.C. to demonstrate that they actually can cut production costs by reining back their own job perks. (One commenter says it may be "too little too late," and President-elect Obama says they had best do their homework and have a plan in mind before they come begging again.) http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/11/25/big_three_may_make_car_pool_to_dc/ 11/24/08 U.S. Treasury proposes to buy a $20 billion stake in Citigroup. http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-te.citi24nov24,0,956594.story 11/24/08 Sign of economic times: as shoe buying falters, shoe repair business is flourishing. http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-11-23-shoe-repair_N.htm 11/22/08 Gates Foundation cuts back on its grant plans in response to economic downturn. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008422359_gates22.html 11/21/08 Faith-based Paulson: “I think our major institutions have been stabilized. I believe that very strongly.":." Secretary of Treasury makes that assessment with little or no evidence in support of that "belief," as stocks, especially those of major investment firms, continue to fall dramatically and investers apparently got little confidence boost from the bailout and the firms are using bailout funds to make their own investments in U.S. Treasury. (Maybe the Treasury is the only "institution" that has been "stabilised.") http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/economy/21norris.html?_r=1&hp 11/19/08 "How can he bail out those banks but not help the homeowners?" It's the refrain heard on the streets of Queens in New York City and in other foreclosure-stressed communities around the nation as President Bush and his Secretary of the Treasury try to explain the logic of putting more money into the real estate lending industry without establishing regulations to prevent the continuation of predatory lending practices like adjustable rate mortgages. 11/17/08 Only half of Houston residents who are eligible for food stamps are actually receiving them. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6116363.html 11/16/08 Christian Science Monitor writer says Big Three automakers may not be able to "afford" the $25 billion bailout that Congress is being asked to offer them. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1114/p25s07-usec.html 11/15/08 Congressional plan to help homeowners facing foreclosure? That would be no plan: Congressional hearings highlight the necessity of dealing with the current economic problems at their source (the housing crisis) but Congress continues to focus on corporate bailouts, in the next round on rescue of Big Three automakers, and any program of relief for stressed homeowners in paying their mortgages may be put on the table until the next Congress convenes in January. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44704 11/15/08 Philadelphia mayor goes to Washington to beg for emergency federal assistance for his and other U.S. cities. 11/13/08 "Oour society is so far out of economic whack...." David Glenn Cox, an Atlanta writer, decries the gross disparity between the desperate rescue of banks and industrial producers from economic bankruptcy, while in Atlanta many applicants for food pantry assistance are turned away as "ineligible" and one has to be "130% below the poverty line" to qualify for economic assistance because public agencies can't afford to rescue them. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21204.htm 11/12/08 Who are the architects of economic collapse? Michel Chossudovsky suggests that, in answering that question we should look very carefully at the roster of men currently being considered for President-Elect Obama's Secretary of the Treasury, all of whom have intimate connections with the Wall Street financial powerhouses that are arguably the causes of the collapse. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10860 11/11/08 As Thanksgiving approaches, food banks around the U.S. report they have less food available to feed an increasing number of those seeking it. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/giving/11FOOD.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 11/10/08 U.S. Treasury piles bailout funds on top of bailout funds for A.I.G. The insurance giant was already to have received $110 billion in bailout funding. Treasury and Fed jointly will be putting additional $40 billion into the A.I.G. bailout, in exchange for "partial government ownership" of the company. (Apparently this is all within the "discretion" of these agencies without Congressional approval.) http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-AIG-Bailout.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 11/10/08 Is the Wall Street bailout going to be another "fraud-free zone" like that of the CPA-sponsored "reconstruction" of Iraq?: Naomi Klein finds disturbing procedural similarities in the process of distributing bailout funds now being developed---and those in which Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority doled out no-bid and often non-fulfilled contacts Iraq in 2004. As another public "trough" is defined, new pigs are lining up to eat. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/11/09-6 11/9/08 Democrats in Congress want some of the Treasury's bailout money to be expended to help ailing automakers. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20081108-1118-bush-automakers.html 11/9/08 Just in time for Christmas, an economic stumulus boost? (well, maybe not Christmas 2008...): Hopes for Congress and the White House to enact a stimulus package that will have an impact on Christmas buying seem a little remote. Even if such a bill is passed, "Analysts already are skeptical about how much a $100 billion stimulus, the figure most often discussed, would move a $14 trillion economy." Those with rosier colored glasses suggest that even a token-level stimulus will give a favorable "psychological boost" for consumers (buy it now on the credit card, pay for it in January when we get a bigger "stimulus" check). http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/55522.html 11/7/08 Will Barack Obama be able to deliver on his promises for an improved U.S. economy? Not, says Naomi Klein, unless he is able somehow to rein in the "bailout profiteers" who have been rewarded for their financial malfeasance with a budget-busting rescue package that will denude the Treasury of any capacity to heed the nation's demand for better schools, health care, wages and tax relief for the middle class. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/11/06-11 11/7/08 Maryland Governor announces that banks in the state will move toward adjusting mortages for homeowners threatened with foreclosure. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.mortgages07nov07,0,739630.story 11/1/08 Economists warning that drop in global demand for U.S. products may lead to higher unemployment and price deflation. 10/24/08 USDA scuttles Philly's "universal feeding program." The government agency decrees that the city's program of feeding all children without application from parents is making the program too popular, with twice the rate of participation in other cities in which such applications are required. Critics say families are intimidated by application forms and a "reformed" program will deprive many needy children of feeding. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/10/screwing-philadelphias-poor-while-stroking-wall-streets-elite/ SEE ALSO: 10/22/08 With the job marrket in the tank and student loans harder to get, panic sets in on college campuses: . A McClatchy newspaper report, as part of its series on how "Main Street" economy suffers as the "Wall Street" economy is bailed out http://www.mcclatchydc.com/333/story/54423.html 10/21/08 Predatory lending? Give some of the blame for that to the Supreme Court:. The Court is part of an overall U.S. court system which is stacked against consumer fraud complaints and in favor of financial institutions that may "prey" on them. This is reflected in Court decisions that uphold the "right" of businesses to, for example, charge unexpected "fees' on credit accounts because these help in the "financial stabilization" of those firms. (Sound familiar? When did this get into the Bill of Rights?) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081103/lawless 10/21/08 "Iis it too much to say we are seeing the end of economic democracu and the emergence of a financial oligarchy?" Economist Michael Hudson, reflecting on Treasury Secretary Paulson's speech trying to explain the "bailout," thinks that such a likelihood of oligarchic development is certainly not "too much to say." The economic consequences of the bailout, he thinks, trend inevitably toward the increasing concentration of wealth into the hands of this "oligarchy." http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson10202008.html 10/20/08 The financial crisis and the outsourcing of suicide: A few commentators have asked: if the current Wall Street crisis is so traumatic, why aren't we seeing ex-millionaires jumping out of tall buildings in New York City? Nick Nurse tackles this question by a survey of local press coverage around the nation of men and women who have engaged in "extreme acts" including suicide, murder and defiance of authority, often centered around eviction incidents, that are typically reported only locally. Just as the bailout has allowed survival of Wall Street mortgage firms while foreclosures proceed at the level of the individual homeowner so, Nurse suggests, suicide has been "out-sourced" from Wall Street to Main Street. http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/19174 10/18/08 The latest scheme for economic recovery has $250 billion of U.S. funds put into leading banks to improve the "liquidity" of these banks (their capacity to finance loans) without any regulation as to how or whether they will actually use these funds for the benefit of would-be borrowers from "Main Street." But wait, says William Greider writing for the Obama-supporting Nation: more exactly, wait for the next President (Obama), the knight in shining armor from the Land of the Little Guy who will swing his sword and compel those greedy titans of finance to use their largesse to the benefit of the masses. (How does Greider know this? Because Obama is going to give middle class tax cuts and create jobs at home. Never mind that Paulson comes from the world of Goldman Sachs, which happens to be his biggest campaign contributor and whom Obama said he would consider appointing as his own Treasury Secretary; never mind that both McCain and Obama forgot about the "regulation" of Wall Street in this week's debate.) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081103/greider 10/18/08 When Micheal Hudson speaks, you might want to listen:. Linked here is a 1-hour interview by Guns and Butter of an interview with economist Michael Hudson, one of the severest critics of recent bailout legislation which he says will help create a new elite of wealthy "kleptocrats" comparable to those created in Russia from the handoff of collective assets into the hands of people whom people in the West like to call "oligarchs." http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21041.htm 10/17/08 Paul Craig Roberts on the bailout: "Congress needs to restore fiancial regulation, not reward those who caused the crisis.": The former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury sees a rise of a new crop of "Wall Street billionaires" from the mis-guided project of rescuing mortgage firms without dealing with the root of the problem. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21034.htm 10/17/08 Will big banks that receive bailout funds loan out the money or sit on it as a cushion?, In a program to get credit "flowing" again in U.S. economy, this liquidity improvement depends on banks using new funding to make loans. But a New York Times analysis suggests that these banks may keep the money in reserve for at least "a quarter" to shield themselves from their recent heavy losses. The Comptroller of the Currency admits this possibility, but says that "economics" and the "court of public opinion" will dictate that they use the money to "unfreeze" the credit system. (With the public so poorly informed on monetary policy, how is that "court" going to work?) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/business/17bank.html?hp 10/15/08 "IN MANY RESPECTS, WORKING WITH (BARACK OBAMA) WILL BE VERY MUCH LIKE WORKING WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON....I THINK HE WILL BE JUST FINE." Glen Ford so quotes Clinton's former Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin who, along with Lawrence Summers and Alan Greenspan, worked with Clinton to provide legitimacy for the market derivatives practices that have formed the "mother of all bubbles" involved in the current Wall Street collapse. Despite Obama's making some populist-sounding gestures like offering 90-day foreclosure moratoriums to victims of mortgage broker malfeasance, Ford believes, anticipating an Obama presidency that "in January, the baton will essentially be passed from one finance capital team wearing red shorts to another finance capital team in blue." http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=838&Itemid=1 10/15/08 The U.S. Treasury will begin spending $250 billion to buy ownership shares in U.S. banks, half of that to a handful of the largest banks such as Bank of America in which they will invest $25 billion. So we the public will own a piece of these banks, but only temporarily, as the government hopes to re-sell these shares at a profit over their purchasing price so, to quote "Jules and Jim," we can "all go down to the seashore" with the wealth we gain from our brief brush with bank ownership. (Didn't a couple of characters from that movie drive over a cliff?) http://www.mcclatchydc.com/economics/story/53899.html 10/14/08 Rescue for the few, debt for thr many: This is the description by Michael Hudson, economic adviser to Dennis Kucinich, of the way the bailout project has worked. The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve have been operating beneath the radar of public awareness and now above it to "rescue" creditors while leaving debtors with unpayable debts. In so doing, they avoid the only real solution to the financial crisis: the cancellation of debts. Like Herbert Hoover, faced with a financial crisis from the unpaid reparations from defeated nations in World War I, they intone that a "debt is a debt" (while an inadequate capitalization of creditors is a cause for rescue from corporate bankruptcy). http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson10132008.html 10/12/08 New Bush administration plan to buy directly into the ownership of banks may represent a re-thinking of the approach of buying securitized mortgage loans. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/business/12imf.html?th&emc=th 10/11/08 Robert Cook on how to save the U.S economy:. The Global Research columnist says that the Wall Street bailout is NOT the way, that in fact: "the pumping in of credit or liquidity by Treasury or the Federal Reserve (is useless) because it is no more than new debt to roll over old debt." The scheme is based on thoroughly discredited "supply side" economics when in fact the world financial crisis is based on inadequate "demand" that would create truly productive enterprise rather than more debt. As a recipe for "saving" this economy, Cook advocates a program of demand-side measures that include not only tax cuts for people in lower income brackets but the once much-discussed "negative income tax" to provide tax "rebates" to those who don't pay income taxes. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10508 10/9/08 What happens on Wall Street doesn't stay on Wall Street. Peter Costantini reflects on the metaphors floating about concerning the current financial crisis, some of which compare the operation of Wall Street to that of a casino, since a great deal of "betting" takes place in both cases. Actually the metaphor is defective, says Costantini, since the casino management controls the situation to insure that the money the "gambler" loses will stay in Vegas. Wall Street has operated, by contrast, under a wild west mentality of anything goes as de-regulation has created instabilities that obviously do not stay on the Street as the effects have spread to markets around the world. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/08-4 10/5/08 Investment firms are bailed out to the tune of $700 billion, but what of the country's employment economy? Just released figures show loss of 159,000 jobs in September, highest monthly loss in 5 years, and these figures do not even reflect the most recent layoffs associated with financial institution failures. With job losses go income losses and reduced ability to buy houses even if all the "predatory lending" abuses of the mortgage loan business are stopped. 10/5/08 Craig Paul Roberts: Hank Paulson's bailout plan (now the law of the land) is a "fraud" The bailout starts at the wrong end of the chain of debts: from household to financial institution to U.S. Treasury debt that has produced the nation's financial crisis. Rather than a scheme to insure the viability of investment firms by committing the U.S. Treasury to massive borrowing from dubious creditors, what is needed is a rescue at the orginating end of this chain: the level of household income and individual homeowners' mortgage debts. President Bush says the scheme will succeed only slowly; Roberts doubts it can ever succeed. http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10032008.html 10/5/08 BY THE WAY, THE VOTE ON THAT FINAL MOTION THAT PUT THE BAILOUT BILL ON THE PRESIDENT'S DESK FOR SIGNING WITHIN MINUTES. This is in case you want to know which of your "representatives" in Congress caved in to the allurements of sugar in the package and, no doubt, the additional enticements/threats of Wall Street lobbyists and gave the middle finger to public opinion. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll681.xml 10/3/08 How could Christohper Cox be so wrong? This question is asked by a New York Times writer as he observes how the current bubble of bursting investment firms can be traced to March of this year when, just before Bear Stearns went bankrupt, the chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission said that “We have a good deal of comfort about the capital cushions at these firms at the moment.” Cox was apparently unaware of how the SEC had created condtions for market stability by an obscure "ruling" by the agency in 2004 that gave Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs, headed by now-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., architect of the current bailout plan, an exemption from rules against excessive leveraging of debts without sufficient capital assets 10/3/08 With credit harder to get, fewer Americans are buying fewer used cars. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1003/p01s02-usec.html 10/2/08 William Blum "explains" the current and never-ceasing games of financial legerdemain that Wall Street agents play. The games are the buying and selling of incredibly insecure "securities" whose value is based on the "belief that something is worth something because it comes with a piece of paper with reassuring words and numbers written on it, because it's traded, rated, and insured, because someone will sell it and someone will buy it". The crisis comes when buyers say in effect "let me see the goods" and the "goods" capital behind the paper is not to be found. The saving grace of the crisis may be that it puts the lie to the libertarian/neo-conservative nonsense that "free market" adjustments will solve all problems if only government leaves the investing class the freedom to play their socially destructive games without any rules of the game. http://members.aol.com/bblum6/aer62.htm 10/2/08 Senate slaps more band-aids on top of the bailout band-aid for U.S. financial problems: The same leaders of the White House, Congress and the presidential campaigns put together a revised version of the measure which includes such popular items as middle class income tax cuts and expanded medical care for the mentally ill, and it passes 74-25. With these "improvements," its sponsors hope that enough House members will reverse their dissenting votes and send the legislation to the White House for presidential signing. THE VOTE: 10/2/08 Opinion: Failure of leadership or success of democracy? Editor of Sun State Activist weighs in with a letter to the editor on House rejection of Wall Street bailout. 10/2/08 Glen Ford: With the current financial crisis, the country is headed toward a train wreck and both parties are on the fateful trip into oblivion: The Black Agenda Report editor sees the hand of a Wall Street "paymaster" behind the "pump and dump" transfer of $770 billion of taxpayer dollars into the Wall Street-generated crisis. He gives special attention to the black congressional caucus and how it, like Congress in general, is split down the middle between those who accept tickets on this train, a split that confounds the usual distinction between conservative and progressive parties and people. http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=806&Itemid=1 10/2/08 "This bill sends a message to Wall Street that if you play fast and loose for short-term profits, then the government will actually make up for your losses.": Florida's Senator Bill Nelson, one of the 24 U.S. Senators who voted against the "new and improved" version of a bill to provide "debt relief" for investment firms. http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=131050 10/1/08 Laura Flanders: On Monday in Washington, chicken little croaked:. The columnist for Nation comments on the overwhelming popular opposition to the Wall Street bailout despite leaders of both parties assuring them of dire economic consequences should the bill be defeated. With its defeat, the only thing that fell was a 777 point decline in the stock market, over half of which was recouped the next day. No the sky didn't fall, which for Nation would probably be defined as having happened if Barack Obama who supported the bailout along with all Republican and Democratic "leaders," were to fall from grace as the candidate believed to most competent to "handle" the economy. Flanders seems to breath this sigh of relief but calls on Obama to engage in some "transformational thought" on how actually to "handle" the situation. http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/366691/the_day_chicken_little_croaked 9/30/08 Having predicted economic "calamity" if the grand ballout plan for Wall Street were not passed, supporters of the now-defeated measure "grope" for solutions to avoid the fulfillment of their prophecy as gloom descends on world markets. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/30cong.html?th&emc=th HOUSE VOTE: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll674.xml 9/30/08 Want to understand how Wall Street banksters operate? You might want to view Martin Scorcese's classic film Goodfellas. Antonio D'Ambrosio notes how the petty gangsters depicted in the film use a lounge owner to house their fencing operations, load debt on him and then "bust the joint out" (burn it) when those operations are complete. Similarly, today's "banksters," buy-out billionaires who run companies into bankruptcies and then bail out on their golden parachutes are the "Goodfellas" of today's financial world. http://www.slepton.com/slepton/viewcontent.pl?id=2146 9/29/08 The United States - and the world financial community tied to it - is about to get a new financial czar. The agreed-upon "bailout" of the investment industry which will likely be approved by Congress and signed into law by the President will create an autonomy of the Secretary of the Treasury to make government investments in financial instruments (not just mortgages) with little effective "oversight" by any branch of government: executive, judicial or legislative; the constitutional balance of powers will become an equality of impotence. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/business/29bill.html?th&emc=th 9/29/08 2.6 million people on food stamps in Texas. Ft. Worth newspaper reports on situation locally and throughout the state. As Texans face rising prices and the loss of jobs, spouses and homes, the rolls of those receiving emergency food relief rise to the highest level since the Katrina-related crisis of 2005. While increases in allowances and lightening of the bureaucratic burdens of its administration have improved the program, many complain that the aid is just "not enough" given the escalated level of their needs. http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/938148.html 9/28/08 Should the almost-settled plan to rescue Wall Street be called the "Bush bailout"?" Not so, says Sharon Smith. Although many congressional Democrats feigned shock at the enormity of the cost of the plan announced by the Secretary of Treasury, those like Charles Schumer. Chris Dodd and Barney Frank who expressed this shock are "fully complicit" in a long-running string of such bail-outs, their actions apparently influenced by the heavy financing of their political campaigns by Wall Street firms. http://www.slepton.com/slepton/viewcontent.pl?id=2139 9/28/08 "Blind eye to risk" said to be factor in financial collapse of A.I.G. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/business/28melt.html?th&emc=th 9/26/08 Arianna Huffington notes how, in a stunning reversal of expected roles, McCain may be standing as the "maverick" against a Bush bill for a credit crisis bailout of Wall Street firms; while Obama's call for a "bipartisan" consensus in its support leads him to speak against deal-threatening provisos such as coupling the bailout with bankruptcy relief for the debt-stressed or to economic stimulus measures for the middle class. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/bailout-bill-obama-needs_b_129374.html 9/26/08 Republican conservatives stall investment firm bailout on grounds of fiscal irresponsibility. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080925-1932-financialmeltdown.html 9/25/08 Is this bailout realy necessary? James K. Galbraith, writing for Washington Post, says no. With the five big investment banks having disappeared or morphed into "regular" banks, the institutional defects behind the crisis can be "cured" (albeit slowly and painfully) with "old fashioned" remedies like guaranteed loans and a re-focussing of the national economy on such needs as infrastructure reconstruction, alternative energy development and a federal addressing of the revenue crisis of state and local governments 9/24/08 "Assume the position." Margaret Kimberley's succinct summary of what American taxpayers and workers are being asked to do in support of the bipartisan plan for a massive bailout of what she describes as the very Wall Street "criminals" who have precipitated the financial crisis that is now being "addressed," a plan which will allow the Secretary of the Treasury to make financial decisions not reviewable by Congress or the courts. http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=794&Itemid=1 9/24/08 Proposal to bail out Wall Street investment firms is the focus of intense debate in Washington. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/business/24cong.html?th&emc=th 9/22/08 With the current Wall Street meltdown, will a stake be driven through the heart of deregulation, the evil force that spawned it?: Not likely, says Alexander Cockburn, noting that the crisis is the product of a process of removing restraints from financial operators that is a truly "bi-partisan" affair that continued through both Clinton and Bush administrations and is likely to do so again with either a McCain or an Obama one. http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn09202008.html 9/19/08 Working harder and falling behind: Lee Sustar's review of recent data on wages of American workers, showing that the "American Dream" of moving up the economic ladder as work experience is gained is being replaced by an employment "two-tier" wage system that keeps most workers, especially women and African-American ones, in a situation in which they cannot hope to attain the economic levels of their parents http://www.slepton.com/slepton/viewcontent.pl?id=2114 9/18/08 "The American practice of privatizing profits and socializing losses would be considered unacceptable in most other democracies.": A Canadian economics professor, in the wake of the latest "bail-outs" of over-leveraged financial institutions, blasts the practice, beginning with the Reagan administration and continuing through those of both parties, of "de-regulation" of those institutions (privatizing profits) engaging in taxpayer-funded rescues (socializing losses). (Maybe "most other democracies" don't have a two-party political system with both parties controlled by their financial giants.) http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10232 9/17/08 $200 billion here, $85 billion there: This could start to add up to some real money: U.S. seizes control of American Insurance Group, providing $85 b in loans to the company, after last month's Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bail out with up to $200 b in investments from federal funds. Nancy Pelosi objects to the AIG bailout, saying: "An $85 billion loan is a staggering sum and is just too enormous for the American people to bear the risk." 9/17/08 Joe Biden "does" Holyoke; one part of it, anyway: . The Democrats' Vice-Presidential nominee takes a quick gallop from his car to the Log Cabin restaurant in the economically depressed Massachusetts city (once called the "Paper Capitol of the World") to attend a $2,300 a plate fund-raiser which raises $300,000 for the Obama-Biden ticket. The attenders feed a little more sumptuously than the nearly half of the population, largely Hispanic, who subsist on food stamps which cover $1 a meal in food costs. Biden thus cements a reputation developed as he supported a bankruptcy bill written by credit card companies that denied the bankruptcy privilege to many of their clients. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/09/two-worlds-in-one-city/ 9/16/08 As Wall Street goes into 500-point meltdown on the Dow, McCain and Obama bark loudly, but how strong will their bite be?: New York Times analysis indicates that the two candidates embody two different approaches to the problem, McCain railing against Wall Street "greed" and Obama complaining of the laxity of "regulation" on Street trading. Considering the views of their economic advisers, McCain's history as a "de-regulator," and Obama's heavy campaign funding by the same Wall Street firms which he would be regulating, the Times article suggests some skepticism about the "bite" of either candidate. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/us/politics/16record.html?hp 9/15/08 While you slept last night (9-14-08), two of your "storied" institutions bit the dust. Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch agreed to be purchased by Bank of America at a small fraction of the company's value a few months ago. A hectic day on the "Street" is anticipated as markets open this morning. Monday trading is already underway in Europe and Asia and stocks in those markets fall sharply. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080915/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown EUROPE AND ASIA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7615961.stm 8/19/08 One family's foreclosure disaster is another family's bargain in Boston. http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2008/08/19/the_upside_of_home_foreclosure/ 8/17/08 Price increases will be seen in school lunches in many Kansas City area schools during this school year, as price in some goes up to $2 for a high school student meal. http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/752050.html 7/26/08 Mother may I? In this game, minimum wage workers take baby steps forward and giant steps backwards. The federal minimum wage "stepped" forward by 70 cents an hour a year ago. Since that time the price of gasoline and food has gone nearly out of sight, so that the "real wages" of workers have had to take that "giant step" backwards. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/07/minimum-wage-raise-too-little-too-late/ 7/20/08 Shoppers in the Boston area, confronted with escalating food prices, put aside their "locavore" consciousness that has led them to farmers markets' and even their concern about food safety to buy their produce at the Haymarket, which provides cheap prices without regard to their region of origin and even without regard to whether they might be infected by salmonella. It may be dirty and environmentally unfriendly, but it's where they can afford to shop. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/19/bushels_of_bargains/ 7/17/08 Portland Oregon housing market: from full bloom to full swoon in one year. http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1216263310107370.xml&coll=7 7/2/08 Food riot breaks out in a "third world city": Milwaukee, Wisconsin:. Chaotic conditions occur in a line of 3,000 people waiting to receive vouchers for food under an emergency food program, based on providing help for victims of midwest flooding. Most of those seeking food were not flood victims but victims of the chronic unemployment and poverty in the city, which is among the worst in the nation. Especially hard-hit are Milwaukee's children, 33% of whom live below the poverty line and who are deprived of school feeding programs during summer school recess. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/07/desperate-in-milwaukee/ 6/26/08 Who's behind the gouging at the gas pump? The "Wall Street goliaths." Mike Whitney says: According to Whitney, "supply and demand" is not the major cause as fuel supplies are actually plentiful and there has been no escalation of demand, rather there has been a dramatic increase in oil prices resulting from the speculative activities of investment firms, including many of the "goliaths" who control both political parties in the U.S. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/gas-pump-gouging-dont-blame-the-saudis/ 6/26/08 While private jet industry soars, public airlines warn darkly of possible "collapse." Industry leaders are urging Congress and the presidential candidates to give due consideration to their dire straits, as escalating fuel costs threaten to price travel on public carriers out of reach of most travellers. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0626/p01s06-usgn.html 6/18/08 New "housing alliance" is working to encourage mortgage lenders to "modify" at-risk loans rather than having borrowers fall into foreclosure proceedings. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0618/p02s05-usec.html``` 6/12/08 A weak dollar, bad Fed policies, hedge fund speculators:. Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of Treasury in Reagan administration, gives his assessment of the major factors driving the high oil and gasoline prices in the world. While "supply and demand" factors are certainly operative, monetary policies that encourage rampant commodities speculation are featured in Roberts' analysis. http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06112008.html 6/12/08 As summer jobs for teenagers become more scarce in the "tough" economy of Detroit, the frequency of teen volunteering for public service jobs increases. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/NEWS05/806120419/1001/NEWS 6/11/08 Republican filibuster stops Senate action to hold oil companies "accountable" for high gas prices: . Senate fails to reach 60 votes needed for closure on a bill that would, among other things, impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies. The two parties immediately "frame" the result for campaign purposes. Obama joins other Democrats in denouncing Republicans for their insensitivity to the suffering of people from high prices. McCain joins Republicans in blaming congressional obstruction of efforts to increase oil supply by opposition to new drilling in ANWR and elsewhere. 6/10/08 Sharp rise in child poverty being noted in Colorado. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_9534702 6/6/08 As Americans have moved toward the ideal of an "ownership" society with control of their own retirement funds (401-k's), record number of them are making early withdrawals from same to pay their bills in an era of escalating prices and stagnant incomes. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/06/more_dip_early_into_funds_for_retirement/ 5/21/08 "Stealing candy from a baby would be a step up from this crew." Dean Baker's description of a plan being floating in "the crew" (Congress) to deal with the home mortgage lending crisis. The idea is that "the baby" (people in lower income housing) will have any effective relief "stolen" (by program re-allocation) from their own needs for rental/mortgage payment relief to the bailing out of the banks whose predatory lending practices created the crisis. This scheme needs to be smelled to be believed. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/20/9072/ 5/20/08 Economic recession being reflected in Boston area as retailers of luxury items like private airplanes and making bargain offers to reluctant buyers. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/05/19/the_rich_splurge_on_bargains/ 5/14/08 Los Angeles County trying to pass law requring taco trucks to "move on" after an hour of parking in one place, as some are parking in front of restraurants and "stealing" their customers with offers of cheaper food. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0514/p01s06-ussc.html 4/28/08 Mortgage industry complains that the Fed's proposed new regulations forbidding abusive mortgage loan practices would increase the costs of mortgages and perhaps deny loans to "credit-worthy" customers. The Fed responds by considering a more "narrow" version of the regulations. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/business/28mortgage.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 4/14/08 With all the talk of recession in America, the super-rich keep spending richly. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/nyregion/14partying.html?th&emc=th 4/13/08 If it's again "the economy, stupid," Barack Obama is having a hard time getting his arms around the frustrations of working Americans:. Campaigners in the "rust belt" state of Pennyslvania are finding that discontent with "free trade" is rife as jobs are lost when industries move to Mexico. Obama does not help his cause by his remarks, for which he has apologized, about how working class people are taking out their frustrations by their focus on guns, religion, anti-immigration and anti-trade, rather than embracing the "hope" theme of his campaign; and wedge issues of his supposed "elitism" rise to prominence, at least in media coverage of the campaign. 4/13/08 What's a poor millionaire to do? "With Wall Street tanking, I can hardly afford my $1800 Botox treatements any more:,World wide food riots punctuate the fact that much of the world is hungry while the plutocrats of industry fret over their lost profits and largely ignore the consequences of agri-business concentration and the diversion of food products to fuel to power their life style indulgences. As this writer says, they upgrade Marie Antoinette and say: "let them eat ethanol." http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/let-them-eat-ethanol/ 4/12/08 At General Electric, fear of recession is our most important product. Disappointing earnings report of this "bellweather" company presages a stormy time ahead for Wall Street, as stock market plunges on the heels of this report. What the GE situation "says" to the Street is that a worsening economic situation is indicated when a company noted for the "diversification" of its portfolio, giving it some insulation from market ups and downs, is so heavily hit with the widening effects of the current mortgage lending crisis. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/business/12electric.html?th&emc=th 3/30/08 As escalating number of Americans lose their homes to mortgage debt foreclosure in the current housing crisis, a highly profitable "foreclosure mill" arises in the land. Law firms are able to make huge profits in their offers to facilitate the foreclosure process for subprime borrowers, and in the process adds another layer of difficulty for beleaguered homeowners in their hopes of avoiding foreclosure. Think of it as ambulance-chasing for the 21st century http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/business/30mills.html?th&emc=th 3/30/08 If that "3 AM call" were to announce the collapse of the nation's economy, which presidential candidate would we want to answer it? Alexander Cockburn wonders whether either McCain, Obama or Clinton would be prepared to deal with the crisis. McCain might display his ignorance about economic policy, Clinton might call for the troika of Rubin, Greenspan and Volcker who helped create the crisis, and Obama might be conflicted between his toe-in-the-water indications about dealing with the situation through better regulation of Wall Street and his strong campaign support by the Street and the views of his wife's business associates. http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn03292008.html 3/30/08 City of Boston provides face-to-face counseling services to homeowners attempting to avoid mortgage foreclosure. 3/29/08 Bush administration opts for law enforcement rather than regulatory approach to dealing with the mortgage crisis. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/business/29regulate.html?th&emc=th 3/26/08 Increasing number of visits to food banks indicate rising level of hunger in Connecticut towns. http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-wetbank0326.artmar26,0,858978.story 3/25/08 Boston Globe feature describes how some in the region are reacting to economic hardships by finding creative ways to be cheap: from hanging their sheets on clotheslines to neighborhood potlucks instead of dining out. The nationwide decline in consumer confidence suggests that someday (soon) Americans may all (by necessity or by choice) be Yankees as they become followers of Thoreau's mandate to "simplify, simplify!" http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2008/03/25/going_into_survival_mode/ 3/24/08 When Wall Street is cut, the New York City economy bleeds. NYC is finding that out the hard way, as job cuts associated with Bear Stearnes layoffs and other adjustments to the Street downturn produce tremors in the financial labor market place, an industry that creates a third of all income in the city. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/24jobs.html?th&emc=th 3/22/08 "Mortgage crisis" gets a human face (A Latina one). Honduran immigrant woman in Alexandria Virginia with marginal employment and income fulfills a "dream" in 2005 by buying a home for $400 k at "sub-prime" interest rate that takes up most of her and her husband's monthly income. In 2007 the mortage was foreclosed, yet another victim of the "predatory lending" of the period of housing boom in which realtors and financial institutions were able to profit handsomely from what turned out to be the misery of vulnerable people, including a disproportionate number of Latinos. 3/19/08 Some economists fear that Americans will "pay at the pump" (and at the grocery check-out) in the way of inflation encouraged by Fed's recent interest rate cut. 3/17/08 Feds help Morgan buy the "Bear": . As part of a "bold" package of efforts to head off looming financial crisis, Federal Reserve agrees to guarantee $30 billion in loans held by distressed Bear Stearns, an action which facilitates JP Morgan's bargain-basement purchase of BS at $2 per share; another Miracle on Wall Street. 3/16/08 Tighter controls of mortgage lending practices is likely to be Secretary of Treasury Paulson's main approach to dealing with current subprime lending financial crisis. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0314/p01s04-usec.html 3/12/08 Federal Reserve comes up with an "obvious" solution for U.S. economic woes; and Wall Street eats it up:. The Fed in effect gives investment banks a $200 billion credit line extension by offering to loan them money with subprime mortgages that are not saleable on the depressed market as collateral; and Wall Street reacts as it didn't to the earlier tax cut "stimulus" by a rally of historic proportions. A few economist soreheads are saying: "wait a minute, aren't you just prolonging your financial problem by contracting credit card debts that you won't be able to pay when you get your bill? (because you don't have enough capital...i.e. income)?" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/business/12fed.html?th&emc=th 3/11/08 Is the U.S.A. about to enter a recession? Actually, says a Los Angeles Times columnist, we have been in recession for 33 year if we look realistically at the quality of life of Americans and not just fluctuations in the Gross National Product. GNP measures productivity without distinguishing "good" from "bad" economic activity (clean up of an oil spill for example, is counted in productivity though it is stimulated by a "bad" situation), nor does it address income inequality or the sense of well-being among people, in all which areas there has been no improvement or deterioration since 1975. Several efforts are being made to develop measures of economic well-being that take these factors into account to provide a better guide to our future policy than does our present simplistic use of the GNP. (Most of the comments attached to a Common Dreams reprint of the article are supportive of its viewpoint.) http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/10/7589/ 2/22/08 With 10% of American homeowners now facing possible foreclosure, the auction of foreclosed homes becomes a familiar ritual in Prince William County, Virginia. The auctioneer, while he has a booming portfolio of houses to auction, is described as "lonely" because his sales, once eagerly "snapped up" by the buyers, are now attracting few buyers eager to enter a slumping housing market. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022102790.html?wpisrc=newsletter 2/12/08 “This collapse in housing value is sucking in all borrowers" says an investment economist of the alarming expansion of foreclosures and debt delinquencies among "prime" borrowers: those with good credit histories. As an indication, an unheard-of 4% rate of delinquency is being noted among "prime" borrowers who find that their accustomed history of prompt payment of their debts is being stressed by falling housing values and "adjustable" mortgage rates that adjust toward the stratosphere http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/business/12credit.html?th&emc=th 2/6/08 Economists find a new word with which to play: Economic growth and shared prosperity have been "decoupled": This divorce between booming Wall Street and depressed Main Street isn't news to Barbara Ehrenreich, whose "Nickled and Dimed" research long ago uncovered the shocking news that the much-touted economic "boom" was not being reflected in higher wages for the poor and the middle classes http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/05/6859/ 2/2/08 The Reagan-to-Bush plan to promote an "ownership society?" Naomi Klein says this scheme has been disowned by recent economic trends in America, as the plan to reduce class consciousness by giving the working class a "piece of the (capitalist) action" by promoting stock and home ownership has run afoul of the housing mortgage bust and the stock market meltdown. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/01/6778/ 2/1/08 Not enough work in its work-fare program could lead Rhode Island's forfeiture of millions of dollars in federal support for its Medicaid program. http://www.projo.com/news/content/welfare_cuts_01-31-08_VD8QUI8_v24.347e5e8.html 1/29/08 2% of homeowners in Michigan are facing risk of mortgage foreclosure http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/BIZ/801290365 1/28/08 TV reality shows become real life as "house-gifting" for the poor becomes an increasingly popular form of philanthropy. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0128/p01s01-ussc.html 1/25/08 As U.S. goes into financial meltdown, Robert Scheer asks "Who will stop the banks?": As the voice of Dennis Kucinich had already been muted by exclusion from presidential debates when he wrote his article and now set to disappear entirely from the campaign by Kucinich' formal announcement today of his writhdrawal, Scheer notes that all the three remaining "top tier" Democrats, as well as all Republican ones, are implicated by their words or their records as supporting the "de-regulation" of banking operations that allow them to engage in what amounts to "stealing" from the government and the people. With Kucinich "gone," (or is he?) what political leader will stand up to corporate financial giants the way he did in Cleveland? http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/74718/ 1/24/08 "The Economy" as giant clitoris; how do you get it engorged and throbbing again? Barbara Ehrenreich uses this impolite language to focus criticism on the current obsession, of both conservatives and liberals, for "stimulating" the U.S. economy as if such economy were measured by corporate bottom lines and "tax rebates" for the poor are just a clever way of engorging those lines as the poor, to whom money does not "stick," will quickly poor their small increases of money back into "the economy." As one of today's most articulate populists, Ehrenreich believes we should be caring more about babies who need Enfamil than about the corporation that profits from its sale, and "shore up" those programs designed to meet the babies' needs rather than scheming to engorge the sexual organ (profit) of the manufacturers. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080204/ehrenreich 1/17/08 Consequences of market fluctuations for the rich and the poor:. A Wall Street investor, after one bad day for the Dow Jones, can say "the market is killing me" and then go out to lunch, knowing he/she will survive to invest another day. A mother living on the edge of starvation, faced with a one-day rise in the price of chickens, may find herself unable to feed her family whose starvation does not allow them to return for a better day in the food price market http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/16/6406/ 1/17/08 Lack of consumer confidence in Maryland: half of those surveyed say the economy is bad and getting worse. 1/12/08 Emergency fuel assistance in Maine: demand far exceeds supply http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=158833&zoneid=500 1/11/08 "When you buy a used car, you buy someone else's problems"." Bank of America apparently does not heed that admonition, as "people" tell the New York Times that BA is preparing to acquire Countrywide Financial, the deeply "troubled" sub-prime mortgage lending company. A bank official says it has long wanted to expand into the mortgage lending business, but was waiting until "blood was running in the street." With not blood but dispossessed residents whose landlords could not pay their mortgage "running in the street," it seemed a time for Bank of America to move in for the "kill." 1/11/08 Bill in Missouri legislature seeks to crack down on subprime mortgage lending practices in the state. 1/9/08 The dietary divide in America:. The rich get farmers' markets and organic food choices at super-markets; the poor get boarded-up supermarkets, soup kitchens, McDonald's, obesity, diabetes and hunger. http://www.alternet.org/environment/72417/ 1/7/08 Sub-prime mortages, you say? How about banks allowing account holders to withdraw money they don't have in their accounts? The "credit-industrial complex" preys on people who are financially desperate and/or have trouble keeping track of their finances, happily charging exorbitant "fees" to those who over-draft their accounts. It's all a matter of business, and very good business, for the banks. http://www.alternet.org/story/72522/ 12/10/07 Mike Whitney: A cancer started at the Federal Reserve is sspreading over the U.S. body politic and IS SPREADING OVER THE U.S. BODY POLITIC AND economic and will eventually destroy it:He sees the current sub-prime lending crisis as but a symptom of the "disease;" the control over the economy of a financial establishment including Wall Street and Treasury and Federal Reserve System that, in the interest of profit for the financial elite, have created an unsustainable system that will be brought down by ever-developing poverty, war and climate change. (Interesting set of comments attached to this article.) http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/12/the-central-bank-silent-partner-in-the-bloodletting/ 12/5/07 Whent the gates don't keep out the world: Barbara Ehrenreich says America's McMansions are "pricey enclaves of privilege" that are becoming "hotbeds of disillusionment." Having hoped to escape the dangers of "the street" for themselves and their children, McMansion residents find that they must "fear their own landscapers," a "workman" in a pickup supposedly makes a delivery and leaves with a load of stolen furniture, their own teenagers form mischief-making gangs. And to top off these woes, mortgage foreclosures are rising in the "privileged" as well as the rest of the housing market. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071217/ehrenreich 11/17/07 Starbucks, temple of the American near-wealthy, is feeling a new pinch. $4 a cup coffee is losing its appeal to customers who can now find a good cup at McDonalds and who may be feeling the faltering of consumer confidence among the relatively well-to-do. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/IndustryInfo/WireStory?id=3874100&page=1 11/17/07 Woes of the "Sugar Daddy". Diamonds may be a girl's best friend; but gold-digging takes on a new dimension of intensity as the price of gold hits $800 an ounce and gold jewelry may be too expensive for all but the sweetest of daddies....and just in time for Christmas. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Gold-At-800.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 11/15/07 Are U.S. worker incomes among the highest in the world? According to an international economy-monitoring group, this is true only if you average out the wages of all workers, including those of the highest paid ones (think a corporate CEO) and using data focussing on unionized sectors of the work force. "Correcting" for those inflators of the "average" wage and considering the "real wages" associated with costs of living, the U.S. rating drops to 15th among the world's "richest" nations. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1105/p16s01-wmgn.html 11/14/07 Maine columnist: Wall Street wealth is not trickling down to the working class. As Forbes announces a new list of top U.S. income recipients and one must now be a billionaire to make the "cut," the income of people in the lower part of the class structure continues to flounder. Many less affluent people play a "Powerball" game of hoping against large odds that they will join the ranks of the wealthy, but must expect in the meantime to bear the brunt of tax and fiscal policies that continue to bail out the wealthy for Wall Street's unsustainable growth policies. http://bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=156462&zoneid=67 8/5/07 "A few million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to " says one of Silicon Valley's numerous hard-working "geek" millionaires. One reason it doesn't go as far is that life styles are becoming more luxurious and another is that there are so many millionaires today that a wealthy person is likely to see wealthier neighbors and friends around him/her. Sociologists call it "relative deprivation." 7/29/07 Two Democratic presidential candidates say at YouTube debate they could not afford to live on national minimum wage: Guess what? Millions of U.S. workers at that wage level can't afford it either. http://www.boston.com/news /globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/07/28/an_unlivable_minimum/ 6/12/07 Summer teen employment rates remain at historic laws as many would-be young workers are crowded out by adult work-seekers in competitive entry level job market. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0612/p01s03-usec.html 6/1/07 Barvara Ehrenreich::what do an adjunct college instructor and an undocumented Iimmigrant slave domestic have in common? They are both victims of a huge wage gap between the titans of the professions and of business and the foot soldiers who do the real work of the world: whether it be cleaning toilets, serving as junior executives or teaching students. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=19&ItemID=12957 5/19/07 Should a raise in minimum wages be tied to an Iraq war spending bill? This question is being debated among minimum wage proponents who think the measure might pass if tied to "must pass" legislation. This didn't happen when the measure was attached to the war funding bill that Bush vetoed, and critics doubt it would be any more successful in any new war funding bill. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/18/1298/ 5/8/07 U.S. stock markets flourish while economic indicators in the country lag, based apparently on effects of mergers and global economic situation. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0508/p01s01-usec.html 5/7/07 John Edwards wants to be the anti-poverty candidate, but... Critics credit him with good intentions but doubt his wisdom in staking poverty reduction on a "voucher" system that abandons public housing projects and disperses the poor and in ignoring the necessity of changes in middle-class attitudes about the poor as a requisite for effective help. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601322.html?referrer=email 5/2/07 Effective policy to help the poor dependson an accurate count of them. Survey practices of the Department of Labor result in serious under-counting of population groups (like black males) with high poverty and unemployment rates, resulting in a weak understanding of the actual extent of poverty in America. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/043007F.shtml 4/30/07 Paul Krugman notes that income inequality in America has risen to the level of the fabled days of the 1890's and John D. Rockefeller. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707F.shtml 4/24/07 25 top hedge fund managers earn over $240 million per year, several of them over $1 billion as American wealth continues to "pile up" at the top. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/business/24hedge.html?th&emc=th 4/9/07 America owes its existence to a pawnbroker. Queen Isabella pawned her crown jewels to finance Columbus' voyages to America, but pawn shops have since developed a "seedy" reputation for exploiting the poor as cities and states are "cracking down" on their operations and pawnbrokers are working to improve their "image." http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0409/p03s03-ussc.html?page=1 4/6/07 Who says CEO salaries are out of line? In late 2006, a "failing" Ford Motor Co. appointed a new C.E.O. and paid him $39.1 million for the four months he was on the job. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040507S.shtml 1/24/07 Barbara Ehrenreich: sky didn't fall on small business in Washington when the state enacted a rise in the minimum wage. http://alternet.org/story/47051/ 1/16/07 A welfare-to-work program that hasn't worked well: A much-touted Massachusetts program in which employers were promised wage subsidies and tax incentives for hiring people coming off welfare rolls has run aground with employers reporting that the benefits are not worth the difficulities or that poor promotion has left them unaware of the program. 1/14/07 Proposal to increase minimum wage in Maryland is criticised as being insufficient to stem the tide of economic distress in the state. 1/13/07 Getting ahead vs. staying afloat: Effect of rise in minimum wage on poor people's economic situation is highlighted in Massachusetts, where a state minmum wage increase is about to go into effect. One woman's paycheck will increase by $100 a month, while her monthly apartment rental will increase by $100. With wage increases fighting against inflation, minimum wage increases may not "raise all boats" but just allow some of them to stay afloat. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0110/p01s03-usec.html 1/13/07 Rise in minimum wage just passed by the House does not apply in American Samoa, where three quarters of the work force is employed by StarKist canneries, a susidiary of Del Monte foods based in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district. http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2007/01/08/daily55.html 1/11/07 With 82 Republicans and all Democrats voting for it, House passes raise in minimum wage by 315-116 over objection of some Republicans and the White House which threatens to veto it because it fails to provide "relief" for small business owners who would supposedly bear the brunt of paying for it. While the House vote is "veto proof," the Senate may address the "relief" (tax break) issue when it considers the measure next month. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001666.html?referrer=email House vote (check out your Republican member of Congress voted): http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp?year=2007&rollnumber=18 1/10/07 As Congress prepares to pass a raise in the minimum wage, perhaps today, economists discuss the economic impact in states where such raises have occurred: mostly a modest effect on prices, unemployment and the living standards of minimum wage workers. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0110/p01s03-usec.html 11/22/06 With Senator Christopher Dodd about to assume chairmanship of Senate Banking Committee, a question is raised whether the "populist" Dodd who opposed bankruptcy reform or the Dodd who has defended corporate patrons from accountability legislation will stand up. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/22/business/22dodd.html?th&emc=th 11/16/06 Mama, I'm suffering from very low food security: According to USDA report, 12% of Americans can't afford to put food on the table, but agency says don't call it hunger but "very low food security." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501621.html?referrer=email 11/14/06 Panel reports that percentage of people in "hungry" category in Massachusetts has gone from 8 to 18% in three years. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/11/report_hunger_d.html 10/11/06 In Ohio, bread-and-butter economic issues are displacing "values" as the focus for voter concern, and it appears that the poster boy for Ohio values, Secretary of State Blackwell, is going down to defeat in November...if he allows all the votes to be counted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001437.html?referrer=email 9/15/06 The Big Boxes win in Chicago as city council fails to overturn Mayor Daley's veto of a bill imposing mininum wage on large retailers like Wal Mart and Target; pressure from the retailers and the Mayor's political muscle prevail in a close vote. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/us/14bigbox.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 9/8/06 New study calls into question the economic value of a college education, noting the constricted labor market for young college-educated people and the fact that 2/3s of students graduate with student loans outstanding, at an average of $20,000 per student. http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/41370/ 9/4/06 On this Labor Day, working Americans are generally aware that their economic condition is deteriorating as families must have more than one wage-earner to maintain a marginal standard of living; but they are not optimistic about anything that might be done. One author asked a woman what she thought the government could do about her economic plight and she said: ``Nothing they do there ever makes a difference for people like me." http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0902-20.htm 9/4/06 "In a weak labor market, young workers do the worst." It's getting ever harder to "start out" in work, as median wages of young workers have declined and employers are less likely to offer benefits. If they are college graduates, they face the out-sourcing of high tech jobs and a growing mountain of student loan debts. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/04/us/04labor.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 9/4/06 Cement-toed work boots: Tom Toles cartoon. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html?referrer=email 9/3/06 New Labor Department report paints a (somewhat) rosy picture of recent economic growth, while skeptics note that wage increases lag behind inflation so that the average worker is gaining little or nothing from recent economic "growth." http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060903/bs_afp/useconomyoutlooklabor 9/3/06 For Labor Day 2006 Economic Policy Institute releases its biennial report, http://www.epinet.org/subjectpages/labor.cfm?CFID=1624952&CFTOKEN=17228196 9/3/06 Shrinking labor force in Milwaukee creates local economic challenge. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=490463 9/3/06 Productivity and the paycheck: six letters of opinion in the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/opinion/l03wages.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 9/3/06 New book by Jonathan Barry Forman, Making America Work focuses on the issue of economic justice in the labor market. http://www.urban.org/expert.cfm?ID=JonathanBarryForman 8/31/06 Philadelphia PA and Camden NJ (just across the river) are "poverty central" for U.S.A. At 24.5% for Philly and 44% for Camden, they have the highest percentages of people living in poverty for cities of their respective sizes. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/15393078.htm 8/28/06 U.S. corporate profits soar, worker productivity increases and real wages decline for American workers; is there a pattern here? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/business/28wages.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&Eodg 8/23/06 On 10th anniversary of passage of welfare reform law, poverty advocates are noting that many have been "left behind" by a program that was supposed to make poverty only temporary but has left many in a permanent state of destitution: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082206F.shtml 8/13/06 Boston and other U.S. cities may follow lead of Chicago's aldermen (in an action that yet may be knocked down by the Mayor or the courts) in requiring big box retailers to pay wages far above federal minimum wage and provide additional benefits as well. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/08/13/boxed_out/ 8/4/06 Lacking the votes for cloture on debate on the issue, by 56-42 vote, Senate kills effort to tie a minimum wage increase to a reduction in estate taxes. Both sides cry "politics!" http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/washington/04cong.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin The vote (find Bill and Mel, together again): http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote00229 8/3/06 Seven states now require employers to pay minimum wage over and above tips collected by employees. A provision of the minimum wage bill now being considered in the House would require employees in all states to apply their tips toward the minimum wage. http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060803/NEWS/608030377/1024/NEWS04 8/2/06 Debt collectors conduct an extremely lucrative business while state regulations typically avoid any attempt to control abuses. http://www.boston.com/news/special/spotlight_debt/part4/page1.html 7/31/06 Boston Globe begins 4-part series on "debtors hell," as consumers are victimized by terror tactics of collection agencies which include unannounced midnight raids with order to pay up or have your car or whatever immediately re-possessed. http://www.boston.com/news/special/spotlight_debt/part1/page1.html 7/31/06 Jobs that Americans won't do (and at wages no one should have to accept): millions of U.S. men are today employable but unemployed, as they refuse to accept jobs for which they are over-qualified and make do with taking out second home mortgages, using credit cards, disability payments and/or the indulgence of their family members. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/business/31men.html?th&emc=th 7/29/06 U.S. House of "Representatives" does the deed: attaches permanent repeal of estate tax to a bill raising the minimum wage. 34 Democrats and 196 Republicans vote for estate tax repeal. Senate action uncertain. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072800337.html?referrer=email Vote: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll425.xml 7/28/06 As House is set to begin a 5-week recess tonight, Republican leaders are struggling to accomplish a "success" by passing a minimum wage increase as demanded by some of the party's moderates. Success in accomplishing this success is by no means guaranteed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072701170.html?referrer=email 7/27/06 Chicago city council orders big box stores to pay $10 per hour minimum wage by 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/us/27chicago.html?th&emc=th 7/24/06 In a typical story, Maine single father works two minimum wage jobs, at McDonald's and in the kitchen of a nursing home, and has little time to spend on the parenting of his two small children. http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=137736 7/19/06 Brookings Institution report deals with a "ghetto tax" by virtue of which the urban poor have inflated costs associated with securing the necessities of their lives; and recommends such innovative programs as encouraging less predatory financial practices and the location of supermarkets in urban poor areas. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/us/19poor.html?ex=115388=MOREOVERNEWS 7/10/06 Washington Post study shows that, in the D.C. area as in the nation, improvements in wages are occurring primarily for workers are already well-paid. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/09/AR2006070900914.html 7/5/06 Economist characterizes congressional Republicans' opposition to minimum wage increase and support of tax cuts for the wealthy as "just vicious class warfare." http://64.226.238.78/PA/bh/bh215.shtml 6/30/06 State governments complain that new welfare-to-work regulations of Bush administration are inflexible and inoperable under current economic conditions http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/063006E.shtml 6/29/06 Democrats say they will block pay increases for Congress until minimum wage is raised. http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/27/congress.wage/index.html 6/26/06 General Motors will be cutting back about a fourth of its workforce by the end of this year. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13541353/#storyContinued 6/25/06 Everything is $1.05 in a Utah Dollar Store which has to put a five cent surcharge for fuel expenses on all items in the store. http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3978270 6/21/06 Republican controlled Senate defeats a Democratic proposal to raise the $5.15 minimum wage, which hasn't been raised since 1997: http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-06-21T183837ZWAGE-DC.XML 6/19/06 Pennsylvania Senate votes to increase minimum wag by $2: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2006/06/19/daily35.html 6/9/06 Bush administration proposes eliminating Census Bureau's survey of income and poverty. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Census_Budget.html 6/6/06 Are immigrants "taking our jobs?" Or are they "doing jobs that Americans won't do?" Well, look at engineering, where U.S. graduates are finding a labor market in which employers out-source jobs at wages that Americans won't take, and U.S. engineers go into other fields less out source-impacted. http://counterpunch.org/roberts06062006.html 5/28/06 Chicago considering a "living wage" of $13 in wages and benefits for employees of big box stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/us/28wage.html?th&emc=th 5/27/06 Two takes on the U.S. "economy." The Wall Street take: economy grows at "blistering rate" in early 2006, corporation profits up 23.8% from a year ago. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/93e6452c-ec0a-11da-b3e2-0000779e2340.html The Main Street take: as spending rises, real disposable income declines as inflation outstrips income rise again, resulting in "negative savings" (read debt) for 11th month in a row. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/27/business/27econ.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 5/26/06 Massachusetts Senate passes minimum wage law at $8.25, highest in the nation; a similar bill in the House is expected to pass. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/26/senate_oks_minimum_wage_hike/ 5/21/06 California food advocacy group report shows widespread failure of eligible people to receive food stamps because they are ignorant of their eligibility and/or they are victims of an inefficient bureaucracy in administrating distribution of the aid. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3189/continued/243#continued 5/19/06 A "values" movement, for the minimum wage, is taking place in states across the country. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0519-33.htm 5/18/06 "Millenials" (those coming of age around 2000) are finding that their education and other expenses are creating a rising tide of debt, to which some are responding with a form of "minority unionism," others with increasing appearance at the polls. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051706E.shtml 5/12/06 Last year's tough bankruptcy law fails to stem a rising tide of bankruptcy filings: http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/bankruptcyguide/P143823.asp 5/4/06 As Wall Street celebrates the growth of the American "economy," most of the growth is in low-wage service employment, and there is growth as well in the demands and the dangers of jobs in areas like that of hotel housekeeping: http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3122 4/21/06 Albuquerque, New Mexico joins three other U.S. cities in increasing its minimum wage above $5.15. Hourly wages will rise to $7.50 by 2009: http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-NEWMEXICO.XML 4/15/06 John Edwards, contemplating another run for the presidency, attends a 2-day seminar on poverty in North Carolina: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0415-30.htm 4/15/06 Majority of Oklahomans support effort to raise the state minimum wage by $2: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/20060415/OPINION/60414025/1014 4/13/06 Maine Governor signs bill raising the state's minimum wage to $7 an hour: http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/04/13/_minimum_wage_to_7 4/11/06 Second careers are an increasingly common practice among older workers: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/business/retirement/11hire.html 4/9/06 Despite negative public images of discrepancy of worker/executive pay scales, incomes of exectives continue to rise: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/business/businessspecial/09pay.html?th&emc=th 4/1/06 Corporate profits soar to 40 year high: 4/1/06 U.S. Department of Labor: real wages in America fall for second straight year; in February was $8.20 per hour in 1982 dollars. http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=CES0500000049 3/31/06 Most states face loss of federal funding for welfare programs unless they can show that half of welfare recipients are also working: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/033006D.shtml 3/15/06 Food stamps sign-ups in New York City low in spite of rising demand for emergency food supplies; application paperwork and other bureaucratic snags are cited: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401522.html?referrer=email 3/6/06 Outsourcing of jobs of almost every description promotes the further polarization of the rich and poor in America: http://counterpunch.org/roberts03062006.html 3/1/06 In budget cuts, U.S. Census Bureau may have to drop a program of providing information tracking effects on needy of welfare activities: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022801334.html?referrer=email 2/26/06 "Two tiered" employment practices (lower wages and fewer benefits for newer workers) threaten the economic welfare of all working people, despite the company line that low wage workers will be promoted as they train and become more "competitive" http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/business/yourmoney/26wages.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 2/21/06 Alternative ways of determining poverty rate stirs controversy: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0221-06.htm 2/20/06 Economic distress is rampant in America; 37 million live below the poverty line: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0219-06.htm 2/16/06 Off-shore outsourcing of jobs is the real "terror" in America and "competiveness" training isn't going to control it: http://counterpunch.org/ 2/16/06 Michigan auto factory, though highly productive, is victim of manufacturing globalization. http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11145 2/9/06 The War on Terror leaves behind the War on Poverty: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0208-27.htm 1/21/06 Homeless and crime victims: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0121-27.htm 1/20/06 Deteriorating economic situation of working poor: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0120-23.htm
1/20/06 CEO wages "out of whack?" http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011906P.shtml
1/11/06 Rapid disappearance of American middle class: employment and health care insecurities: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0111-28.htm
Books:
Video/Film:
Other Media:
FLORIDA:
STATEWIDE
Websites:
Analysis & views: 4/17/10 4/9/10 4/3/10 3/31/10 SOUTH FLORIDA IS IN A "TIME RELEASE DEPRESSION" AND SAVVY WALL STREET INVESTERS MOVE IN FOR A KILLING IN PROFITS. Alan Farago so describes the situation in which investment firms like LNR, abetted by a corrupted local government, are looking for depression profits as the runaway growth machine creates still more bubbles of unsustainable growth, both in Miami-Dade County's suburbs as well as in over-developed downtown Miami. 3/26/10 3/25/10 2/22/10 1/28/10 12/29/09 12/21/09 Florida's unemployment rate of 11.5% is not expected to improve before second quarter of next year. 12/14/09 12/8/09 12 Florida banks have closed this year and 42 are "severely troubled." 11/23/09 11/19/09 10/17/09 Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Florida reaches 11%, 4.3% above the rate of a year ago. 8/5/09 7/18/09 5/22/09 Federal regulators close UnitedBank of Coral Gables and it re-opens in federal receivership. Part of the deal that allowed the re-opening is the F.D.I.C.'s commitment of $4.9 billion to help cover the $10.7 billion in bank losses. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-bank-united-takeover-052209,0,1023518.story 5/19/09 Good news and bad for housing in east central Florida:. Good news: "affordability" of housing in Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast improves as stable incomes and dropping housing prices make home buying "within reach" of the typical family. Bad news: would-be home buyers finding it hard to get banks to give them loans, and home builders have same problem getting loans for construction of homes. (Bottom line: great time to buy a home if you have the cash to buy it, but does the "typical" family have this?) http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/business/epaper/2009/05/18/a4b_housing_0519.html 4/29/09 Consumer confidence rises among Floridians, but will they start spending again? http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-consumer-confidence-florida-042809,0,7780631.story 4/28/09 Housing recovery in south Florida: Many will buy, few will lend. Growing demand for housing is not yet producing much improvement in house sales, as banks and other lending instituitions remain reluctant to make loans in what is seen as a recessionary economy. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/1021078.html 4/8/09 In a recession, Florida lottery players are choosing games with better odds of winning and lower prize values. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/local_news/epaper/2009/04/06/0406_lottery.html 2/7/09 "Who's going to buy a house in a dying town?" It's the economic question of the day in Clewiston and other towns along Lake Okeechobee as people ponder the effects of the "deal" between Governor Crist and the U.S. Sugar company for Everglades restoration that will, in effect, put these little Florida towns "out of business." A personal emissary from the Governor promises state relief in, for example, the location of a mattress factory in an abandoned Clewiston industrial park, but residents are in a wait and see mode and meantime, are not inclined to "fix up" houses that will never sell. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2009/02/05/a10a_engelhardtcol_0205.html 2/4/09 Florida has its shovel ready to receive federal stimulus funds:. Governor Crist, saying he had no "crystal ball" about stimulus funding going to "shovel-ready" projects that could immediately create jobs, last year led a program of "early" identification of needed development projects that may give them a leg up on their ability to attract funds in what shapes up as a highly competitive process. Some of the "shovel" has to be reserved, say state officials, toward enhancement of programs like food stamps, which are said to create $2 of economic activity for every $1 spent. http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090202/APN/902021881 1/19/09 South Floridians reacting to uneasy real estate market by increasing numbers of rentals with options to buy rather than outright purchases. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzleasetoown0119sbjan19,0,4137154.story 12/26/08 "Mother of all re-fi's" may be about to hit central Florida mortgage industry:. As desperate lenders lower rates on 80% loan-to-value mortgages to near 5%, there is a rush of homeowners seeking re-financing of their mortgages. However, many are ineligible for these loans because they don't own the requisite level of equity in their homes http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/consumer/orl-refinance2408dec24,0,1761707.story 12/19/08 Florida legislators hear from economists that the state's economy will get worse before it gets better. http://floridacapitalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081218/CAPITOLNEWS/812180317&theme= 12/17/08 Some south Floridians ponder the high cost of inheriting an unmarketable condo http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/custom/consumer/sfl-flbcondocol1217sbdec17,0,3785357.column 12/14/08 South Florida businesses are downsizing their holiday parties in view of economic downturn. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzofficeparties1214sbdec14,0,4432671.story 12/3/08 Large drop in fuel costs of Florida utilities companies results in slightly lower electricity rates for customers. http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/story/1070461.html 11/14/08 FOR SOUTH FLORIDA HOMEOWNERS, RE-NEGOTIATION OF HIGH INTEREST HOME LOANS CAN'T COME SOON ENOUGH. Thousands across the region are on "the brink of foreclosure" as Federal Housing Finance Agency vows to step up the pace of re-negotiations. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzforeclosures1114sbnov14,0,7683066.story 11/1/08 Nearly a third of mortgage holders in Florida owe more money on their homes than their homes are worth. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/business/epaper/2008/10/31/a1a_mortgages_1101.html 10/23/08 Food stamps applications rise substantially throughout Florida as many formerly independent families have suffered economic losses 10/23/08 Florida now second only to Nevada in percentage of homes going into mortgage foreclosure. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/23/230056/na-state-no-2-in-foreclosures/ 10/14/08 In central Florida, charity begins with generous corporate funding, and ends with the current desperation on Wall Street: Non-profits in Orlando area report a severe restriction as their usual funding sources dry up. A Heart-to-Heart program for homeless mothers and their children in Castelberry, for example, has been unable to obtain any funding this year. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/thrifty/orl-foundation1108oct11,0,2858654.story 9/21/08 Is the vulture about to land on south Florida real estate market? This is the suggestion of a Miami Herald article, as it is noted that "bottom-feeding" investors called vultures are eyeing the possibility of snapping up bargains offered by the current real estate decline. As "vultures" begin to buy up such sagging real estate as condominium towers, it is hoped that other investors will follow suit. http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/695109.html 9/16/08 Wall Street's woes have direct impact on Florida in many ways:. The State Board of Administration handles many special funds in Florida, including state employee pensions, catastrophic property insurance, state contributions to Medicare and pre-paid college loan funds. Many SBA funds are tied up in now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers, among other Wall Street firms, including AIG, which may be the next investment giant to go under. SBA has already suffered a $84 million in "unrealized loss" out of its $322 million investment with Lehman. http://www.miamiherald.com/101/story/687120.html 9/14/08 "We're going to get to the bottom of it; There are hundreds of millions of gallons of fuel available in Florida" So says Florida's Agricultural Commissioner, pledging investigation of panic gasoline buying ahead of rumors of $1 a gallon price rise because of a hurricane-induced shortage that the Commissioner says does not exist. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2008/09/12/0912gaspanic.html 8/27/08 Poverty on the rise in Volusia and Flagler Counties, and it may get worse with a sluggish economy. http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newFLAG01082708.htm 8/2/08 With no Florida sales tax holidary this year for back-to-school, retailers are scrambling to find other ways to lure customers into their stores. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080801/NEWS/681718851/1002&title=School_time_sales 5/14/08 ACORN is helping to rescue some Florida homeowners faced with foreclosure on their homes. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/532185.html 3/21/08 Word on the street in South Florida: "Yes, we're in a recession!": As economists quibble over whether recession is present or simply threatening, a Miami Herald reporter finds that, for average Floridians, there's no doubt about it, as they and their neighbors personally feel the pinch of rising prices and declining employment. http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/464602.html 3/16/08 It's becoming more difficult to obtain a home mortage loan in south Florida as lenders are tightening their loan requirements. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/sfl-flhlploanpalm0316pnmar16,0,861557.story 1/22/08 South Florida charities are holding successful fundraisers which cater to the life styles of the super-rich. 1/21/08 Get rich quick land-buying schemes can easily turn into get broke in a hurry reality for investors in wealth-conscious south Florida. 1/20/08 Florida's economy is sound; all it needs is a little "stimulus." Nonsense, says Alan Farago, the state's economy is already way over-stimulated by a housing bubble that financiers have long known would have to burst but which, meantime, fed the profit greed of the corrupt "development" crowd that is Florida's economy and politics. You'd never know this from the Miami Herald, which abets this crowd except when it goes into the realm of overt corruption, and the newspaper has scarcely covered at all the travails of a Hometown Democracy amendment that strives to put on a popular brake to "de-stimulate" the state's rampant over-development. http://www.counterpunch.org/farago01182008.html 1/9/08 Knock knock, who's there? Increasingly, for residents of south Florida condos, it may be a summons server with the bad news that they must move because of a mortgage foreclosure on their landlord. Such nightmare scenarios are envisoned in a Miami Herald article describing a weak condominium market in 2007 that may only get worse in 2008. http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/372092.html 5/21/07 Signs of consumer resistance to higher gas prices in south Florida are shown in Sun Sentinel's survey of its "gas panel," many of whose members are planning alterations in their travel or car-buying plans. 5/16/07 "Outright recession" in Florida economy is being predicting as slump in housing industry continues; Gainesville is said to be somewhat "shielded." http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/SUNFRONT/705160340 2/2/06 Income inequality increases in Florida: http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/studies_pulling_apart_2006
Other information sources:
FLORIDA LOCALITIES
Websites: Naples (Immokalee): Coalition of Immokalee Workers (dealing with migrant worker problems throughout Florida: http://www.ciw-online.org/index.html
Analysis & views: Tampa: 4/21/10 Sarasota: 3/29/10 Bay Co.: 3/4/10 West Palm Beach: 3/1/10 Sarasota: 2/27/10 Orlando: 2/7/10 Sarasota Co.: 1/9/10 Fort Myers: 1/2/10 Miami: 12/20/09 Jacksonville: 11/30/09 Gainesville: 11/27/09 Jacksonville: 11/27/09 Jacksonville: 9/20/09 Bradenton: 9/7/09 Boca Raton: 8/2/09 Marion Co.: 7/18/09 Ahead of Florida trend, unemployment rate in Marion County (Ocala area) hits 12.6% Jacksonivlle: 5/26/09 Jacksonville City Council expected to approve today a measure to help mortgate-stressed homeowners with guidance in how to deal with their problem. http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-05-26/story/losing_house_city_hall_may_have_referrals Orlando: 5/25/09 Orlando seminars of program called Livinglies are part of a growing effort to help besieged homeowners to fight foreclosures on their homes. http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/personalfinance/article1003903.ece Orlando: 4/10/09 Orlando's theme parks pack in the crowds for Easter weekend as they offer deep discounts and "free dining for kids" to attract customers among recession-weary Americans who have shown a tendency to cancel Disney vacations in favor of more affordable ones closer to home. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-recession-tourism-themeparks-041009,0,5307553.story Jacksonivlle: 4/9/09 Jacksonville utilities customers face "up and down" situation with their electrical power rates as decreases in fuel costs of JEA are matched with agency's increased obligations for paying down their debts. http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-04-08/story/jea_rates_will_go_down_and_up_and_then_... Orlando: 4/9/09 High finance in Orlando: Universal Studios, struggling to met a "re-finance" deadline, has to face prospect of "buyout" of major invester Steven Spielberg, a right he may not exercise in order to enjoy profits from overseas Universal operations. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bizspielberg09040909apr09,0,5639671.story Gainesville: 3/4/09 Live theatre in Gainesville FL becomes more affordable as Hippodrome cuts ticket prices to $15. Naples: 2/12/09 Naples and Marco Island lead the nation in drop in home prices, around 70% from 2006 to predicted levels 2010. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/feb/12/large-home-price-drops-hit-home-naples-marco/ Port St. Lucie: 2/10/09 High unemployment and foreclosure rates in St. Lucie County FL lead to call for the county to be declared a disaster area. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/896358.html Fort Myers: 2/8/09 As President Obama goes to Fort Meyers to tout his economic stimulus package, New York Times runs a story on one of the numerously economically suburbs around the city, Lehigh Acres, in which housing prices have fallen by 70% in current economic depression. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/us/08lehigh.html?th&emc=th Tampa: 1/25/09 Tampa firm called Showhomes, in attempt to enhance sales prospects for vacant houses, is offering people contracts to live in homes pending their sales http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jan/25/250011/na-upscale-nomads-help-sell-homes/news-metro/ Jacksonville: 1/23/09 Motorcycle and scooter sales in Jacksonville area take a dive during current recession period Orlando: 1/19/09 "Set big money aside; you may need it." What big banks are doing with big bailout money courtesy U.S. government? Yes, but also what financial advisors interviewed by Orlando Sentinel are urging their clients to do. Is this (probably wise) "save for a rainy day" (like losing your job or house) approach to corporate and individual finance running contrary to the "let's spend MORE" philosophy behind various aspects of "economic stimulus" packages already enacted and contemplated? The idea that poor people will take their tax rebates directly to Wal-Mart, where they may stimulate some jobs for "associates," is now countered with the likelihood that people will sock those refunds into their rainy day bank accounts or piggy banks. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/consumer/orl-cash1909jan19,0,2845806.story Ft. Lauderdale: 1/18/09 ARAB SHEIKS AND RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS: WILL THEY LINE UP IN FORT LAUDERDALE TO BUY THE EVEREST? Lauderdale manufacturer ponders that question as he tries to market a cure for the claustrophobia of wealthy yachtsmen who feel confined by their 200 ft. vessels. The Everest is a 656 foot "gigayacht" that is being offered at a cool half billion dollars (or the equivalent in riyals or roubles). Any takers? (Maybe a U.S. Treasury bailout will help if you're a little short on pocket change.)( http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2009-01-15/news/gigayacht-for-sale-in-fort-lauderdale/ Manatee Co.: 1/18/09 After-school "enrichment" programs for children in Manatee County are being endangered by tight budgets that force families to make difficult decisions about their expenditures. http://www.bradenton.com/847/story/1161767.html Jacksonville: 1/17/09 Jacksonville is struggling to avoid fulfillment of Forbes Magazine prediction that it might become "foreclosure capital" of the U.S. Daytona Beach: 1/11/09 Churches and synagogues in Daytona Beach area are experiencing severe pinch from economic recession http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/EastVolusia/evlHEAD02EAST011109.htm Gainesville: 12/22/08 Poor in Gainesville FL getting free "tasty gardens" for healthy feeding of themselves as gift of Florida Organic Growers Association. Tampa: 12/19/08 Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa, for the first ever, runs out of food and toys for the needy. Orlando: 12/15/08 Oone man's family: From white picket fence in Azalea Park to beds at Orlando Union Resuce Mission:. Orlando Sentinel chronicles the crash from middle class comfort to destitution of one family which came from New York to Florida in 2004. Both Andres Rivera and his wife had jobs with the trucking and construction industry and at Disney World, before the central Florida economic crash eliminated those employment opportunities. His wife and their four children try to keep up their "hope" and the family struggles now just to survive. The Sentinel describes this situation as "typical" of millions of middle class-threatened families in the area. (Attention must be paid.) http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-riveras1508dec15,0,4562436.story?page=1 Orlando: 12/3/08 Whow mows the lawns of all those foreclosed homes? In Orange County FL (Orlando area), it is county government that undertakes expenses of mowing and other upkeep operations for the numerous homes in the area abandoned after foreclosure. These operations are adding about $1 million a year to the expenditures of a budget-stressed county. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/growth/orl-codecost0308dec03,0,4991369.story Tampa: 12/3/08 Baby formula in short supply at Tampa food banks, in wake of case in which an infant almost died when its mother had to water down its formula. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/02/030000/baby-formula-demand-tampa-area-food-banks/ Pal;m Beach: 12/2/08 Opening of new real estate office in upscale Breakers resort in Palm Beach highlights a "bright spot" of otherwise sluggish real estate market: heavy interest in investment in luxury housing in the area. ttp://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/business/epaper/2008/12/01/a1f_cloughcol_1201.html Orlando: 11/22/08 Economic downturn not necessarily bad for those seeking franchise opportunities in Orlando with businesses like 7 Elevens, as some laid-off workers from corporations are seeking entrepreneurial opportunity. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-franchisebox2108nov21,0,6710148.story Tampa: 11/22/08 Non-profit housing and employment agency, teamed up with a Tampa light manufacturing plant for mutual housing and employment benefits, is "left in the lurch" as the company goes bankrupt. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/nov/22/na-business-leaves-nonprofit-in-lurch/ Jacksonville: 11/21/08 In Jacksonville area, over a fourth of people who bought homes in last 5 years now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/112108/met_358274583.shtml Orlando: 11/18/08 Orlando "protection" of its foreclosure-stressed neighborhood: Drop-in-the-bucket style: City using $6.7 million from an emergency federal housing bill to buy up foreclosed homes to re-sell or rent as affordable housing. With these funds, the city can buy only 30 houses in a city of 224,000 homes. A master of under-statement, city commissioner says that: "We all know it would take a lot more than that to make the kind of impact we'd like to make . . . but we're going to try to make as much of an impact as we can." http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/growth/orl-neighborhoods1808nov18,0,626970.story Miami Beach: 11/17/08 SKIMPY LINGERIE CROWD DESCENDS ON MIAMI BEACH FOR AN "OPULENT" HOTEL RE-OPENING. Victoria Secret's fashion show comes in for the re-opening of the Fontainebleu Hotel, giving local well-to-dos the opportunity to ogle metal sculpted laurel leaf adornments and a roster of celebrities ranging from Russell Simmons to Martha Stewart. (Did we mention that a record number of less well-to-do south Floridians are facing foreclosures on their home mortgages?) Jacksoniville: 11/16/08 Church ministering to Jacksonville disadvantaged re-opens after its destruction by arson in 2007. http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111608/met_356499043.shtml Palm Beach Co.: 11/12/08 With rash of over 24,000 mortgage foreclosures in last 10 months, homeowners in Palm Beach County FL welcome news of impending federal assistance for those face foreclosure http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/business/epaper/2008/11/11/a1a_mortgages_1112.html Miami Beach: 11/11/08 Will self-indulgence be source of profit in a bad economy? Opening of new luxury health spa in Miami Beach may help answer that question. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/765698.html Palm Beach: 11/9/08 New real estate agency opens in Palm Beach, hoping to buck the trend of real estate recession by attracting well-off foreign homebuyers to "glitzy" Palm Beach http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/business/epaper/2008/11/09/sunbiz_thesource_1109.html Tampa: 11/7/08 Tampa-based International International Church Without Walls (an evangelistic "mega-church) may lose its "walls" as its headquarters face a mortgage foreclosure. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/nov/06/062254/tampas-without-walls-church-faces-foreclosure/ Broward Co.: 10/25/08 Broward County's existing homes sales in September rise 52% over the number of such sales a year ago. Foreclosure sales and price-lowering by desperate would-be sellers fuel this shopping spree http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-fla1ahousingheadline1025sboct25,0,3128851.story Orlando: 10/20/08 The Daily Grind is ground under by recession in Orlando:. The Daily Grind is an "eatery and coffee house" in downtown Orlando that, like innumerable small restaurants in central Florida, has been unable to weather the sustained double blow of escalating food costs and decline in eating-out by financially-stressed clients. (The McDonald's franchises, in contrast, have been able to weather this storm partly because dining-out has gravitated to them from some of the more "pricey" restaurants, and they cover their food costs by raising the price of a $1 burger by 50 cents). http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/thrifty/orl-closed2008oct20,0,1013216.story Tampa: 10/15/08 With a faltering economy, more homecoming dances for local high schools are forced back onto school properties and away from expensive commercial ball rooms. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/15/150033/na-homecoming-dances-to-beat-of-economy/ Marion Co.: 9/20/08 Unemployment rate in Marion County is 8.5%, almost double what it was a year ago. http://www.ocala.com/article/20080920/NEWS/809200288 Bonita Springs: 9/15/08 Tale of two trailer parks at Bonita Springs FL: one, built for migrant labor residences, was severely flooded out and the homes badly damaged by recent rains; the other, targeted to more permanent residents, was largely spared this damage http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/sep/14/two-flooded-bonita-springs-rv-parks-many-differenc/ Miami: 9/15/08 Survival strategies in "lean times" are described for 5 local businesses by the Miami Herald. http://www.miamiherald.com/125/story/685850.html Broward Co.: 8/25/08 Delay in removing a sunken ship off Hallandale Beach near a foreclosed ocean-front mansion highlights the extreme foreclosure crisis in Broward County. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbboat0825sbaug25,0,3066722.story Bradenton: 8/3/08 Closing by regulators of Priority Bank in Bradenton is the first bank closing in Florida in the last 4 years. http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/story/780761.html Orlando: 8/3/08 Disney World raises its theme park admission prices by an average of 5%. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/627456.html Panama City: 7/2/08 Fishing boat business at Panama City is suffering mightily from high gasoline prices. http://www.newsherald.com/news/fuel_4749___article.html/price_prices.html Tampa: 6/30/08 Tampa movers and others are experiencing new business opportunities in clearing out foreclosed homes, even as they experience the pain of imagining the human agony involved in these foreclosures. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jun/30/seeing-beyond-the-rubble/?news-metro Orlando: 6/23/08 Would-be home-buyers in the Orlando area and elsewhere are finding huge bargains in house prices: if they buy from houses that are put on the market as foreclosures by such companies as Countrywide Financial, which is about to be taken over by Bank of America. For those homes not in foreclosure it's a different story, as current homeowners are reluctant to cut prices because they feel they must "get out of" a resale what they "put into it" in the first place. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-kassab2308jun23,0,5045093.column Tampa: 6/22/08 Tight" economy is forcing many students into community colleges, as displaced workers go back to school and universities reduce their admission numbers; Hillsborough County Community College enrollment is booming. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jun/22/na-hcc-shuts-courses-as-students-cram-in/ West Palm Beach: 6/14/08 West Palm Beach real estate man disappears as investigators think he may have "vanished himself" in response to the woes of the local real estate industry. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/06/13/s1b_trindade_0614.html Brandon: 6/12/08 Meals on Wheels program continues despite gasoline costs in Brandon FL as recipients are asked to contribute $2 per meal if they can afford it. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jun/12/me-meals-on-wheels-keeps-rolling/ Orlando: 5/18/08 Sub-prime "mess" is all over Orlando metropolitan area, not just low-income neighborhoods: Orlando Sentinel special shows how foreclosures are escalating, even in upscale suburban areas. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-subprime1808may18,0,3206392.story Tampa: 5/14/08 Tampa program of free meals for frail, elderly and disabled may be discontinued. http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article503719.ece Palm Beach: 1/26/08 Faltering economy leads many in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast to believe that a recession is at hand. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/business/epaper/2008/01/26/m1a_econsqueeze_0126.html Orlando: 1/22/08 Orlando area developers, despite housing sales decline, are continuing to build high end "spec" houses: constructed with no buyer in hand or sight. They cite marginal declines in number of constructed but unsold houses to justify their persisting in building for a market that may not be there. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-spechomes2208jan22,0,3710310.story?coll=orl_tab01_layout Orlando: 1/20/08 Volunteers pick citrus in Orange County to help feed the hungry. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-pickcitrus2008jan20,0,1061526.story Miami: 1/6/08 Community conflict across the tracks breaks out in Miami:. City commissioner from an affluent part of the city writes a "memo to himself" of allegations of corruption and impropriety of another commissioner representing the Liberty City section. The memo is widely publicized after which "tension and conflict" develops in city commission and community leaders on both "sides" of Miami rise to the defense of their respective representatives. http://www.miamiherald.com/519/story/368732.html Orlando: 12/21/07 Teachers can obtain, from stores called A Gift For Teaching, free school supplies for their needy students in Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties. Daytona Beach: 5/4/07 1 in 11 families in Volusia and Flagler Counties have attained millionaire status, but they mostly lead quietly unobtrusive lives. http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD02050407.htm Ft. Lauderdale: 4/29/07 The value of a college diploma: an increasing number of college graduates in south Florida are "educated but poor." Miami: 12/9/06 Social agencies in south Florida are having resources spread thin by an increase in services being requested by working middle class people, unable to cope with rising costs and the low-wage economy of the region. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16199728.htm Jacksonville: 11/26/06 Single mother's hopeless struggle to make ends meet on an $8 a hour job in Jacksonville is described in a Florida Times-Union article highlighting the plights of about 800 people being served by the Hope Fund. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/112606/met_6363041.shtml Gainesville: 10/19/06 Increasingly, if you want "good" seats for Florida Gator football games, you need a lot of money. Best seats (and even some poor ones) are going as season tickets for those who are Gator "boosters" at a rate or $4 thousand and up. http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/LOCAL/210190331/1078/news Miami: 9/5/06 Maybe some of our political candidates can use a "vacation" after the rigors of the the campaigns that conclude today. Vacation packages for the rich and famous (rich anyway) being offered in South Florida; "Mancations" including a fishing expedition and a chef to cook and clean your fish for only $725 per person, special "spa packages" for under $5,000. (Oops, the Regent South Beach doesn't open until October, but worth waiting for.) http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15439424.htm Ft. Lauderdale: 8/31/06 In south Florida's "booming" economy, there was an increase of 50,000 last year in people living in poverty; welfare agencies describe desperately inadequate facilities to meet the increased needs. Miami: 5/25/06 Booming luxury market amid rising U.S. poverty writ large (very large): Royal Caribbean's latest cruiser, Freedom of the Seas, taller than Empire State Building, cruises into Miami. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14659487.htm Miami Beach: 5/14/06 Lower income families in South Florida are having to give up occasional rib eye steak dinners and kids' trips to the movies to pay for the increased cost of gasoline: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/13/us/13driving.html?th&emc=th Tampa: 5/6/06 Middle class people in Tampa Bay area are not seeing the benefits of Wall Street's "robust" economy, as they cope with rising household costs: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/06/us/06prices.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th Ft. Lauderdale: 4/12/06 South Floridians face cash crunch as prices rise, especially housing, and salaries are stagnant: Gainesville: 3/11/06 Free food distribution in Gainesville draws 1000 takers, astounding organizers of program of handing out fruits and vegetables from South Florida that are not marketable: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060311/LOCAL/203110322/1078 Miami: 2/24/06 ACORN, representing low and moderate income people, protests in Miami at proposed utilities merger, citing price gouging and surcharges: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13946429.htm Stuart: 2/19/06 Luxury boating business in South Florida thrives as customers "trade up" toward a $1.7 million yacht: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13908318.htm
Orlando/Lakeland 2/7/06 Squalid" living conditions of migrant farmworkers in rural Polk County: http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBD39FQDJE.html
Other information sources:
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