AltWeeklies Wire
Recession Diaries: Tales of Philly's Young, Educated and Underemployednew
While the less educated are getting hit the hardest, things are quickly deteriorating for the college-educated work force. Experts say that one in five college graduates say they're overqualified for their current jobs.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Daniel Denvir |
11-30-2009 |
Economy
Boston's Rat Population Explodes Amongst Economic Collapsenew
With more and more foreclosed and abandoned properties making it harder for planners and exterminators to combat pestilence, anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests that Boston's rodent problem is only getting worse.
Boston Phoenix |
Chris Faraone |
11-16-2009 |
Animal Issues
Price Tags: The Elephant in the Room in Health Carenew
Selling stuff to patients is like supplying the Pentagon: Welcome to the wonderful land of the surreal markup. When you're sick or in pain, you do not shop for bargains -- which is the main reason that the free-market model is a catastrophe for health care.
Tucson Weekly |
Renee Downing |
11-11-2009 |
Science
University of Vermont Faces a Decline in Body Donationsnew
The declining number of donors may be related to the cost associated with giving one's body to medical science. Although UVM absorbs nearly all the expenses, transportation costs are still incurred by the next of kin. In tough economic times, that expense may be too much for some Vermonters to shoulder.
Seven Days |
Ken Picard |
10-30-2009 |
Science
Hey Obama, Where's the Justice in the Current Economic Crisis?new
Despite the president's promises of change, corporate crooks are still going unpunished for their roles in the financial collapse.
Downtown Phoenix is Full of Gleaming Progress Surrounded by Vacant Lots -- Now What?new
With boring old suburban McMansions commanding a half-million dollars, you can see why developers decided that downtown Phoenix would be the next big thing. And then the bottom dropped out.
Phoenix New Times |
Sarah Fenske |
10-20-2009 |
Housing & Development
Bhutanese Refugees Move from Nepalese Camps to Our Slow Job Marketnew
The 15 refugee families settling in Colorado Springs face the unique challenge of surviving a time of economic turmoil while acclimating to a new culture and new language, all with limited assistance.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Anthony Lane |
10-15-2009 |
Immigration
Who Took Our Jobs? Why Oregon's Unemployment is at the Top of the Charts ... Againnew
Studying unemployment figures in Oregon is like being a homicide detective in Baltimore -- there's no lack of casework. The problem is, how to piece together so much evidence. There's no shortage of theories why our unemployment is always among the nation's highest -- here are a few possibilities.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-14-2009 |
Economy
The New Vegas Identity: Unemployednew
Unemployment isn't just a noun anymore. In Las Vegas, it's a perpetual state of being. I should know: I was laid off from my Las Vegas newspaper job while I was writing a series about unemployed Nevadans. The irony is so sick it's funny -- even six months later.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Becky Bosshart |
10-09-2009 |
Economy
Obama is More Hoover than FDR
It's 1933. This time, however, Hoover got reelected. Can we hold out until 1937 for a president who understands that we need 10 million new jobs, and that we need them yesterday?
Meet the Rebel Economists Who Predicted the Financial Collapsenew
The economics profession has been dominated by the disciples of the late free-market guru Milton Friedman and others of the Chicago School, so named because of their prominence on the faculty of the University of Chicago. But for decades, there has been an overshadowed (and at times bitterly ridiculed) alternative group of economists who have long been warning that the Neoclassical orthodoxy was missing the boat and leading us astray.
New Mexico's Youth May be its Best Chance for Transforming its Economy -- and Futurenew
Many on the local frontlines of the green-jobs movement believe the chasm between rhetoric and reality is growing. They say the state's best hope for transformation -- environmental and economic -- may lie with its youth.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Laura Paskus |
10-01-2009 |
Environment
How ACORN Foresaw the Foreclosure Crisis in 2001new
The grassroots group helped Oakland pass a tough anti-predatory lending law that would have halted the housing crisis before it started. Then subprime lenders started making campaign contributions in Sacramento.
East Bay Express |
Robert Gammon |
09-30-2009 |
Economy
Can California's Community Colleges Weather the Economic Storm?new
While those in the system figure out how to weather this year's cuts, they anticipate fearsome funding cuts in next year's budget and beyond. But money for community colleges should be structured in much the same way that unemployment insurance is supposed to work, so that it is there when it is needed most -- like it is today.
East Bay Express |
Jay Youngdahl |
09-23-2009 |
Education
European Report Shatters the Myth of the Olympics' Economic Benefitsnew
While boosters predict that hosting the 2016 Olympics would bring Illinois $22.5 billion, a crucial report from the European Tour Operators Association came to the conclusion that "there appears to be little evidence of any benefit to tourism of hosting an Olympic Games, and considerable evidence of damage."
Chicago Reader |
Deanna Isaacs |
09-21-2009 |
Economy