1 in 7 Americans rely on food stamps

What the Rising Stock Market Doesn't Say About Jobs
If the Stock Market reflected the entire economy, then Americans could cheer the new annual highs in equity prices as a harbinger of good times ahead. But the Stock Market reflects only the outlook for corporate profits, not The Economy as a whole. Thus, the rising stock indexes are cold comfort for the millions of unemployed, temporary and part-time workers and self-employed who have seen their income decline and their prospects dim. To get a clearer picture of the jobs picture in the U.S., l...

1 in 7 Americans rely on food stamps
Source: CNN NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The use of Food Stamps has increased dramatically in the U.S., as the Federal Government ramps up basic assistance to meet the demands of an increasingly desperate population. The number of food stamp recipients increased 16% over last year. This means that 14% of the population is now living on food stamps. That's about 43 million people, or about one out of every seven Americans. In some states, like Tennessee, Mississippi, New Mexico and Oregon, one in f...

States Raise Payroll Taxes to Repay Unemployment Insurance Loans
Don’t you love this razzle dazzle the Feds pulled? This is an Insurance plan paid by the employer, not a government program. Of course the employer was going to have to pay for the extension of benefits sooner or later. Just like any other Insurance plan. Why can’t someone please just be honest about they are about? But then again, they may not even know. State Governments are borrowing heavily from the Federal Government to keep paying Unemployment-insurance benefits and, even with ...

Was Gibbs was right?
TAPPER : So just to put a period on this, the president thinks that funding the government, passing Unemployment-insurance extensions "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal, the DREAM Act, Tax Cuts and START all can be done? GIBBS: Yes. TAPPER : In the next 18 days? GIBBS : Yes. TAPPER : Good luck. GIBBS : Yes. Well, thank you. (Laughter.) Yeah, you'll have a lot to cover. Well, it's been 22 days, but as the Lame Duck nears conclusion, lets bring you up to date. A two year extension of the Bush-era tax ...

Economy grew modestly in July-September quarter
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest the economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That’s up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers e...

Economy grew modestly in July-September quarter
(12-22) 07:28 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest the economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That's up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, co...

Economy grew modestly in July-September quarter
The economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest The Economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That's up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers ended up spending a bit less. M...

Economy Grew Modestly In Third Quarter
The economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest The Economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That's up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers ended up spending a bit less. M...

Senior Safety Nets at Risk in 2011
When Texas Governor Rick Perry recently threatened to pull his state out of Medicaid, he was hardly alone. Across the country, state Budgets continue to be strapped. Federal stimulus dollars are running out. And the latest Federal Tax and stimulus package will not provide much relief at the state and local levels. Meanwhile, looming provisions of health reform will add a projected 16 million to the Medicaid rolls. Where are the facilities to take care of these folks? Where is the money? [See 1...

Group pushes for nationwide wolf restoration
BILLINGS, Mont. — Environmentalists said Tuesday they intend to sue the Obama Administration to force it to restore gray wolves across the lower 48 states — even as Republicans in Congress sought unsuccessfully to strip the animals of protection. The Center for Biological Diversity said in a formal notice to the Interior Department that it will sue the agency in 60 days unless the government crafts a plan to bring back wolves throughout their historical range. "Wolves once roamed nea...

Question #10 for 2011: Monetary Policy
by CalculatedRisk on 12/21/2010 12:57:00 PM Over the weekend I posted some questions for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2011. I'll try to add some predictions, or at least some thoughts for each question - working backwards - before the end of year. Remember, I have no crystal ball and I'm sure many people will disagree. Also many of the questions are interrelated. The question on Monetary Policy depends on Inflation (question #9) and the Unemployment Rate (question #6). And the unemplo...

For Discovery Channel, Recession Miseries May Have Golden Lining
In early December, the Discovery Channel debuted a new program, Gold Rush: Alaska, which documents the prospecting efforts of Todd Hoffman, an Oregon landing-strip owner. In its three weeks on the air, the show's Ratings have steadily risen, and it's currently the top-rated Primetime series in several key demographics. At the same time, it has also offered an interesting glimpse into the history -- and future -- of gold prospecting in America. It's not hard to see why the show has hit pay dirt...

The New York State Tax-Cap Illusion
At a time when Americans are feeling overburdened, capping property taxes can sound like a great idea. It certainly does to Andrew Cuomo, the Governor-elect of New York. But a tax cap sounds a lot more helpful than it is. It is a blunt instrument that ends up punishing many of the Taxpayers and communities in need of relief. History shows, painfully, that caps can do more harm than good. California’s Proposition 13 led to the deterioration of universities, schools and other public facilit...

Dean Baker takes a look at the stimulus that isn't there
In the Guardian, Dean Baker warns that the US business press is engaging in some irrational exuberance over the Obama/GOP tax deal, seeing it as a massive stimulus that will make for a strong recovery next year. There seems to be little doubt that Obama sees it that way, too. Or at least he seems to be confidently talking that way--though Baker doesn't talk about him specifically. What he does talk about is that the vast majority of the tax deal merely continues existing law, and such doesn't ...

Obama to Sign Food Safety Bill Giving FDA Power to Order Recalls
The much-debated measure passed the House 215-144 Tuesday after clearing the Senate by unanimous voice vote the day before. Congress acted after a series of tainted food scares in recent years, including an outbreak of Salmonella that led to the recall of more than half a billion eggs. "This win is a powerful testament to the people across the country who came to Washington to tell their lawmakers how contaminated food had killed their loved ones or left them horribly sick," Jean Halloran of Con...

Africa: A continent in constant conflict
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Ivory Coast, the West African state that is the world's top cocoa producer, is on the brink of Civil War -- its second in a decade -- amid mounting violence triggered by a disputed Presidential Election. But the political and tribal turbulence in the former French colony, once a model of stability which was torn by north-south Civil War in 2002-03, is only a small part of the tempest of turmoil that is sweeping Africa these days. What follows is only a samp...

Guest essay: What about economic growth?
A New York Times headline not long ago could stand alone as a call to arms for Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo and the State Legislature in 2011, “One Way to Trim Deficit: Cultivate Growth.” It falls in line with a theme that I, together with many legislative colleagues, have been sounding since the beginning of the state’s current fiscal crisis in late 2008. And as I wind down my own tenure in office, I think it’s worth sounding one more time. As news of New York’s fis...

Unemployment benefits extension in tax-cut deal only goes so far
While Bipartisan tax Legislation signed by President Obama on Friday reinstates Unemployment Benefits for about 1 million it doesn't provide any additional help for those who have exhausted all 99 weeks. The $858 billion measure provides for an extension of federal Unemployment Benefits through the end of 2011 but only for those who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state jobless Insurance or who are working their way through the federal tiers. The White House, Democratic lawmakers and advoca...

Hatch displays stunning lack of knowledge on unemployment insurance
Hopefully Orrin Hatch is reading the local, Capitol Hill news. Last week, he became one of the growing numbers of congresspeople who showed his vast ignorance on the topic of Unemployment Insurance. WASHINGTON -- Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said this week that extended Unemployment insurance "is well over 100 weeks now," making him the latest Millionaire member of Congress to publicly demonstrate that he does not understand the Unemployment Legislation he obstructs.... Hatch joins Sen.Joh...

Lame Duck Produces a Lame Economy
Floyd and Mary Beth Brow, FloydReports.com The Lame Duck Congress and President Obama are retarding the recovery. It’s tough medicine to medicine to swallow — ending Unemployment Benefits for people who have been out of work for three years — but it is necessary if we want recovery. The official U.S. Unemployment Rate has not been beneath 9 percent since April 2009, and it is unlikely to dip until much of the currently unemployed take jobs paying lower wages and benefits. Back in...

Are social media jobs here to stay?
The demand for Social Media jobs has exploded, even as overall Unemployment heads in the opposite direction. But in a fledgling field surrounded by hype, some industry insiders are saying it may be too good to last. With billions of dollars on offer for fledgling Social Media companies and even the biggest corporations refining their approach to the Tweet, the budding Social Media industry seems like a goldmine for young and tech-savvy jobseekers. The demand for Social Media jobs has exploded, ...

Good Teachers Wanted, Apply Within
Tue Dec. 21, 2010 2:07 PM PST A teacher one standard deviation above the mean effectiveness annually generates marginal gains of over $400,000 in present value of Student future earnings with a class size of 20 and proportionately higher with larger class sizes. These aren't just superstars that Hanushek is talking about, either. About 16% of teachers are one standard deviation above the mean, so these are good teachers but not necessarily sensational ones. Karl Smith is impressed: Social value...

Mexico-U.S. produce trade hit by drug war concerns
By Mica Rosenberg Mexico City | Tue Dec 21, 2010 6:07pm EST Mexico City (Reuters) - U.S. importers of fresh fruits and vegetables from Mexico say they are beginning to face losses from delays after U.S. quality inspectors pulled out of Mexico fearing escalating drug violence. The Arizona Department of Agriculture, or ADA, decided last month to stop sending inspectors to northern Sonora state to check fresh produce quality prior to import, citing fears of surging drug murders south of the bord...

Recession forces rise in low-wage families, report says
The Great Recession, responsible for boosting Unemployment to its highest levels in a generation, has sharply increased the percentage of working people who earn wages so paltry that they are struggling to survive, according to a new report. This Story Recession forces rise in low-wage families, report says User Poll: What economic issue are you most concerned about? The share of Working Families earning less than double the official Poverty threshold - $43,512 for a family of four - increase...

Special report: Overselling the American dream overseas
Shanghai/Chicago (Reuters) - In a conference room in an Office Building in downtown Shanghai, Jason Lee is literally selling the American Dream. Lee runs Maslink, a firm that connects cash-hungry American businesses with Chinese investors keen to move to the United States. His company is part of a global cottage industry that has popped up in recent years to profit from a program that allows foreigners who invest in certain small U.S. businesses to get on the fast track to U.S. residency and ci...