NewsRack: newstrust/poverty/Unemployment

Mercury News editorial: GOP is pandering with abortion bans instead of supporting truly pro-life policies - San Jose Mercury News: Editorials

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Republican lawmakers could do a lot to reduce abortion besides criminalizing it. They could increase spending to create jobs, so that more poor, pregnant women could realistically aspire to a middle-class future for their children, for example. They could increase the federal minimum wage, end sequester cuts to housing subsidies for working parents, agree to keep student loan rates low -- the list goes on and on.

Obama in Berlin: "Our work is not yet done" - Star Tribune: Latest

Star Tribune Staff — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

President Barack Obama is challenging Americans and Europeans not to become complacent even though the Cold War is over.

Obama in Berlin: "Our work is not yet done" - AP National

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) -- President Barack Obama is challenging Americans and Europeans not to become complacent even though the Cold War is over....

Hatch amendments hurt - Salt Lake Tribune

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

by John C. Wester Published Jun 18, 2013 05:05PM MDT Sen. Orrin Hatch was right to support immigration reform legislation in the Senate Judiciary Committee, legislation now being considered by the U.S. Senate. However, several amendments he plans to offer on the Senate floor could wipe away the chance for millions of immigrants to avail themselves of the bill’s path to citizenship. The amendments, which could be considered this week, would place additional financial burdens on persons attempting to qualify for a path to citizenship. One would disq... ...

Would Jesus Love Ayn Rand Economics? - ConsortiumNews.com

Consortiumnews.com — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Would Jesus Love Ayn Rand Economics?

Brazil protesters have had enough | Conor Creighton - The Guardian -- World Latest

Conor Creighton — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

A bus fare increase was the straw that broke the camel's back. Brazilians are tired of waiting for their country to be reformed For pedestrians São Paulo became a rare kind of paradise on Monday night. The protest being called the "free pass movement" meant for once in this car mad capital, the walkers had right of way. There were close to 80,000 of us on the streets of the city. I was there to report but also to protest. I'm about to marry a Brazilian. This place in my future. The protest met at Largo da Batata and then, marching in four different directions, they slowed the traffic down until there were 250km of tailbacks and the city was tangled up in traffic chaos that lasted till midnight. Four nights before they'd tried to do the same thing but the police attacked with teargas and rubber bullets. One minute the crowd were chanting "no violence", the next they were firing right at us. We got herded between a fence and a sheer drop on to a motorway. People were crying, from ...

ALEC-Laffer Ranks Are About Ideology, Not Economic Policy - The Moderate Voice

SEAN MCELWEE — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released its 2013 Rich State, Poor State rankings report in May. The report ranks states by “economic outlook,” but by the report’s standards a positive economic outlook is narrowly defined by the extremity of regional anti-worker laws and regulations.

Taking the extreme out of extreme poverty - Daily Kos

rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Contrary to what Republicans yelling about poor people with TV sets and refrigerators would have you believe, the "extreme" in "extreme poverty" is no joke here. We're talking about households living on with less than $2 per person per day, and if you only count cash income, there were 1.6 million such households in 2011. If you include SNAP benefits, the number drops to 857,000. What's more: SNAP also cut, by roughly half, the rise in extreme poverty among households with children between 1996 and 2011, the study found. One reason SNAP is so effective in fighting extreme poverty is that it focuses its benefits on many of the poorest households. Roughly 91 percent of monthly SNAP benefits go to households below the poverty line, and 55 percent go to households below half of the poverty line (about $9,800 for a family of three). One in five SNAP households lives on cash income of less than $2 per person a day. ...

G8: Cameron promises biggest bilateral deal in history as free trade talks open - The Guardian -- World Latest

Larry Elliott — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Prime minister claims EU-US deal could create 2m jobs but anti-poverty activists warn that it could sow seeds of next crisis David Cameron held out the prospect of Europe and the US concluding the "biggest bilateral trade deal in history" after Washington and Brussels agreed on Monday to launch talks to free up markets on both sides of the Atlantic. The prime minister was joined by Barack Obama and the European commission president, José Manuel Barroso, as negotiations were formally launched at the start of the UK-hosted G8 summit in Northern Ireland. Cameron, frustrated at the lack of progress in the global Doha trade liberalisation talks, said an agreement could help bring down high levels of unemployment by creating up to 2m jobs globally. "This is a once in a generation opportunity and we are determined to seize it," he said. Cameron, whose domestic economic strategy requires export-led growth, said the deal would mean extra jobs, more choice and lower prices for the UK. With ...

Lawsuit: McDonald's Forced Workers To Take Debit Cards For Pay - Crooks Liars

Susie Madrak — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

What kind of low-life bottom-feeders came up with this brilliant idea? I guess getting away with using these cards for government benefits just emboldened the bankers to push them for the working poor. Can they get away with it? In this case, no, they can't. Fortunately, Pennsylvania requires that workers be paid by cash or check. But I'm sure even as we speak that ALEC is working hard to pass a law in every state to allow employers to siphon off even more cash from the working poor: All Natalie Gunshannon wanted was to be paid a fair wage for her work, she said. Gunshannon, 27, of Dallas Township, worked at McDonald's Restaurant on the Dallas Highway from April 24 to May 15. When she received her first paycheck, enclosed was a Chase Bank debit card with instructions on how to use it and the fees attached. Her future earnings would be deposited into the debit card account and she could access her money from there. Gunshannon never signed the card and when she returned to work she ...

The Man Behind Moral Mondays - American Prospect

Lynn Stuart Parramore — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Jenny Warburg When asked what's next for Moral Monday's the Reverend Doctor William Barber said, "Moral Mondays will continue. We just delivered a letter to the governor and the speaker saying, you’ve got the power to stop this. Just reconsider your attacks on Medicaid, voting rights, the unemployed, and the poor. If they don’t, then we will probably escalate in some ways—I’m not going to say how—because what they’re not going to do is live in peace while they hurt so many people and destroy so many lives. We’re going to make sure that the contrast is so clear between meanness and immorality and extreme politics and the politics of love and justice and compassion, that when 2014 comes, the people will be able to make a decision. Love and justice have never lost. Been crucified and beat up, but we’re on the right side of history. When you push people down, they’re going to spread out and come up. It would seem that these folk would learn that, but when you’re blinded by ...

Leaving the Land: China’s Great Uprooting: Moving 250 Million Into Cities - NY Times: World

By IAN JOHNSON — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

A 12-year plan to move hundreds of millions of rural residents into cities is intended to spur economic growth, but could have unintended consequences, skeptics warn.

Panama's Boom Helps Drive Nicaragua Canal Dreams - International Herald Tribune: Americas

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Panama's Boom Helps Drive Nicaragua Canal Dreams

Families on food stamps would suffer while farms get fat - LA Times: Business

Michael Hiltzik — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Families on food stamps would suffer while farms get fat

NC State Sen. Calls 'Moral Monday' Protesters 'Moral Morons' - Crooks Liars

Dave Johnson — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

"The appeal for each Moral Monday has been the same: urging legislators to govern for the good of the whole, rather than for the wealthy." — Rev. William Barber. Since April, North Carolina citizens have been gathering at the state capital in Raleigh for "Moral Monday" rallies and acts of civil disobedience to protest the the cruel things Republican legislators are doing to the people of the state. This week, despite tornado warnings, more than 1,400 protesters gathered for the sixth week's protests, and more than 80 were arrested, including one reporter clearly wearing news credentials. A week ago Monday, 151 were arrested. Arrests for this and recent Moral Mondays now total 388. Cruel Policies What's going on? Republicans took over and started enacting severe, cruel policies against the poor and minorities, while giving tax cuts to the rich and businesses. As The Nation explains in "Protesters Shake Up North Carolina Legislature With Moral Monday Demonstrations," In 2010, ...

Letter: Indifferent About the Less Fortunate - NY Times: Editorials

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Letter: Indifferent About the Less Fortunate

Transparency in India - The Guardian -- World Latest

Paige McClanahan — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Nikhil Dey, social activist, Rajasthan Nikhil Dey has a law degree from India's most prestigious university, but you wouldn't guess it from the way he lives his life. The 50-year-old activist makes his home in a mud hut in a tiny village in Rajasthan, in northern India. He earns a salary of about £2 a day, India's minimum wage. The frugal lifestyle makes sense for Dey, who works for an organisation called Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) , which roughly translates as "the organisation for the environment of workers and peasants". "I've had the privilege of being part of an extraordinary story," says Dey, who cites India's 2005 enactment of a Right to Information Act as a major achievement for social activism in the country. The law, which has been described as a highly ambitious example of transparency legislation, requires the Indian government to respond within 30 days to any citizen's request for the publication of government information. It also obliges public ...

Report: Colorado women's economic lives better now than a decade ago - Headlines: All Headlines

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

The lives of women and girls in Colorado have greatly improved in recent decades — especially if the women are white, according to a report released Wednesday by The Women's Foundation.

Legislative panel hears impassioned pleas on minimum wage bill - Boston Globe: Massachusetts

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Legislative panel hears impassioned pleas on minimum wage bill

We have to stop the creation of another Stolen Generation | Paddy Gibson - The Guardian -- World Latest

Padraic Gibson — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Paddy Gibson: Millions of dollars have gone into bureaucracies to control Aboriginal life, but this has not made children any safer. An alternative is needed

Padraic Gibson

The US farm bill is a corporate victory and a slap to struggling Americans | Heidi Moore - Guardian: Environment

Heidi Moore — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

The US Congress wants to deny 2 million people food stamps, while hardly denting large agribusinesses The cost of providing poor Americans with food stamps has doubled in the past four years, reflecting the fact that a record 47.8 million people are struggling to feed themselves and their families. The US Congress has an answer to the growth in poverty: force more people to struggle. This glib response to a national crisis will be tested in the farm bill that passed the US Senate on Monday and will be up for debate in the House soon. Even though it's called "the farm bill," it's actually the legislation that primarily funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – better known as food stamps. The Senate version would cut food stamps by $400m a year, adding up to $4bn over the decade covered by the bill. The House version, up for bitter debate starting next week, promises to cut even more: $20bn, mostly as a sop to conservative lawmakers who killed the bill last year because of what ...

Mass. lawmakers weigh hike in minimum wage - Boston Globe: Massachusetts

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Mass. lawmakers weigh hike in minimum wage

Our message to North Carolina's GOP: 'Moral Mondays' are here to stay | William J Barber - The Guardian -- World Latest

William J Barber — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Since extreme conservatives took over the Republican party in the state capitol, nonviolent direct action became our only option We have been pleased by the number of people showing up at the statehouse in Raleigh, North Carolina every Monday , sacrificing their freedom and their bodies to protest the regressive agenda of the extreme right. But we are not surprised. We have worked since 2005, when 20,000 civil rights warriors across the state elected me to lead the NC NAACP , the largest NAACP conference in the American south. Since 2007, we have mobilized thousands of whites, blacks and Latinos; gay and straight, to come to the statehouse to show their support for a progressive 14-point "people's agenda" that is rooted in anti-racism, anti-poverty, and anti-war. We organize every day. We do this with tens of thousands of volunteers and only a handful of staff. When far-right extremists took over the Grand Old Party and turned it into a joyless, humorless, mean-spirited vehicle to line ...

In nation's breadbasket, Latinos stuck in poverty - Twincities.com: Nation

By GOSIA WOZNIACKA Associated Press — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

FRESNO, Calif.—On a warm spring day, farmworker Cristina Melendez was bedridden and unable to make her way back into the asparagus fields of

Opinionator | The Great Divide: Japan Is a Model, Not a Cautionary Tale - NY Times: Editorials

By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Opinionator | The Great Divide: Japan Is a Model, Not a Cautionary Tale