February 3, 2009

From ACORN, a Half in Ten partner—

Bertha Lewis
CEO and Chief Organizer, ACORN

Think the economic recovery package was all about contraceptives and a $4 billion payout to ACORN? (We wish.) Think again.

What conservative bullies like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are not telling us in their drearily familiar, windbag attacks on the desperately needed economic recovery package is that it contains a wealth of provisions that put money directly into the economy through programs aimed a low- and moderate-income families.

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Lucia Mutikani
Reuters

WASHINGTON – Chaun Frost ran up her credit cards when the U.S. economy was booming, and now the single mother is paying a heavy price.

To service her debt and buy food for her two children, she has taken a second job selling pizza on weekends and some week nights, supplementing the $2,200 a month she earns from her job coordinating volunteers at a children’s hospital.

“We have been hurt by the current state that the economy is in,” said Frost, 32. “I am part of the new working poor.”
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The Compass
The Columbus Dispatch
January 15, 2009

A coalition of 36 major Christian organizations today urged President-Elect Barack Obama to put poor people first when designing an economic stimulus package.

Christian Churches Together, which says its represents 101 million church members, said talk of bailouts and stimulus packages have focused too much on the middle class instead of the poorest citizens. Read more »

By Mary Clare Jalonick
The Associated Press

President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for secretary of agriculture says that if he is confirmed he will work to boost the economies of farm communities, promote nutritious foods and help poor families put meals on the table.

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Jason Hidalgo
Reno Gazette-Journal

A struggling Northern Nevada could benefit from President-elect Barack Obama’s proposed economic recovery plan, which would create jobs and provide federal aid, according to proponents who urged legislators Thursday to support it.

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Kamika Dunlap
Oakland Tribune

Eleven months ago, Pat King was a successful loan officer making about $10,000 a month. Today, the economic crisis has left the unemployed single mother living on pennies to raise her 17-year-old son in West Oakland.

“I saw it coming,” said King, 45. “Loans were flying out the air, and people could put anything on paper. Then slowly loans that I was trying to get approved started to be more difficult, and the industry began to put in more restrictions.”

King is among scores of Oakland residents who are struggling, out of work or in serious financial trouble. She said she is “just hanging on day by day” and not living out the American dream.

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December 18, 2008
Workday Minnesota

ST. PAUL – With large corporations and small businesses slashing jobs at record rates, the country can’t afford to wait for an economic recovery plan, a coalition of Minnesota organizations said Thursday. The group announced a “Jobs and Economic Recovery Now!” campaign to have a plan on President Barack Obama’s desk soon after he takes office.

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By Louis Uchitelle
The New York Times

With the economy deteriorating rapidly, the nation’s employers shed 533,000 jobs in November, the 11th consecutive monthly decline, the government reported Friday morning, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent.
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Enact Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act

An editorial from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

The recent release of state and U.S. unemployment rates is just the latest indication that the global economic crisis is quickly becoming an employment crisis as well.

Nationally, new claims for unemployment benefits last week spiked to a 16-year high of 542,000, which brings the four-week average to 506,500. Those are the worst numbers in 25 years, and it’s likely November’s unemployment rate will go even higher than October’s 6.5 percent.
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An editorial from the St. Petersburg Times

With so much attention being paid to whether American automakers should get a bailout, Congress should not lose sight of essential legislation to extend unemployment benefits. Senate leaders have bundled together an auto industry rescue with the extension of unemployment benefits. But if it turns out that Democrats can’t muster the votes needed for passage of a combined measure, the jobless benefits should be approved separately.
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