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New Year, New Hope on the Economy – For Some

The Editors — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:11:20 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
Well, at least many economists feel better. And the President’s supporters feel better. And those who are among the roughly 800,000 or so Americans who have found work over the last six months feel better, as evidenced by recent reports of a sharp increase in consumer confidence.

The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of Color

The Editors — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:51:02 +0000

By The Editors
Barring significant reforms of the nation’s Social Security program to avert a shortfall in funds in the coming decades, a substantial number of black Americans’ golden years may be filled with dross.

“There’s Something Wrong With This Picture.” Blacks/Latinos Hit Particularly Hard As Mortgage Crisis Lingers

The Editors — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:59:46 +0000

By Doug Miller
The study, Lost Ground, 2011, found that low- and moderate-income African Americans and Latino Americans have suffered a disproportionate share of losses.

The Burden of the Poor: Why the Fight for Survival Seems so Unfair

The Editors — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:47:39 +0000

By Tarice L.S. Gray
For a long time in this country the poor have felt like they were written off.

The Jobs’ Crisis Collateral Damage: The Coming Mental Health Epidemic

The Editors — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:12:38 +0000

By The Editors
The U.S. is facing “a silent mental health epidemic” as joblessness lengthens and deepens for millions of once-gainfully employed Americans, a new study is warning.

The Economy and the ‘Political Economy’: More of the Same?

The Editors — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:45:32 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
The condition of America’s political economy – that is, the political war in Washington between the Congressional Republicans and President Obama over how to fix the economy – may well get worse.

Black America: What Will “Catastrophe” Look Like?

The Editors — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:43:30 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
The debt-ceiling crisis that threatened America’s economic foundation has abated for now.
But the jobs crisis and the foreclosure crisis which continue to threaten the present and future of millions of ordinary Americans have not.

Prime-time Fine for Subprime Loans

The Editors — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:33:04 +0000

By Doug Miller
In the largest civil penalty it has ever issued, the Federal Reserve fined Wells Fargo & Co. $85 million to settle allegations that the San Francisco-based bank maneuvered borrowers into taking out costlier subprime home loans and falsified information on mortgage applications.

The June Jobs Report: “No Redeeming Features Whatsoever”

The Editors — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 14:58:41 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics delivered an employment report for June that seemed to stun everyone -- a report one analyst told the Washington Post had “no redeeming features whatsoever.”

Jobs on Tour: Congresswoman Marcia Fudge talks about the latest plan to get Americans back to work

The Editors — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 01:41:17 +0000

By Tarice L.S. Gray
Some Congressional Black Caucus members plan to tour the country as part of a job fair tour and talk back with citizens of their communities, to discuss the problems that are looming due to our economy.

Jobs and the Cities The Slow Road to Recovery

The Editors — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:55:06 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
The nation’s metropolitan areas, overwhelmingly the source of its domestic economic power and jobs, are in for a decade of economic uncertainty – and very likely increased social tension – as they try to recover from the Great Recession, according to a new report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The Insistent Question: Where Are The Jobs?

The Editors — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:33:57 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
The gloomy federal jobs report for May has brought to the forefront again all the questions – and fears – about the economy and the jobs crisis that six months ago were pushed into the deep background by the compromise on unemployment benefits between President Obama and the Republicans in Congress.

Demonizing the Poor for being Poor

The Editors — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:59:23 +0000

By George E. Curry
In the 1960s, we had the War on Poverty. In 2011, we’re now seeing a War on People Who Live in Poverty.

The Long Haul for the Long Term Unemployed: 99ers face a myriad of challenges in their fight for full time employment

The Editors — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 16:24:48 +0000

By Tarice L.S. Gray
The beginning of the month may have felt like April Fool's Day to a significant segment of America’s labor population. That's when reports started pouring in about the new jobless rate and rise in job creation.

Did Tea Party-inspired Republicans Steamroll Democrats?

The Editors — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:46:00 +0000

By George E. Curry
Democrats control two of the three institutions that determine federal priorities and laws, but you would never know that by the way Tea Party-inspired Republicans in the House steamrolled President Obama and Senate Democrats in the latest budget showdown designed to cut $38.5 billion from the fiscal year that is already half over.

The Biography of a Black Financial Services Customer

The Editors — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:43:20 +0000

By Doug Miller
Black financial services customers all too often are part of a separate-but-unequal financial services economy.

State Legislatures to the Jobless: Drop Dead

The Editors — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:14:14 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
Have I become hard of hearing? Or is it true that the paeans to the middle class – their being exalted as “the backbone” of America – have disappeared from the political arena?

In Recessionary Storm, Bank Branches Fall

The Editors — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:08:57 +0000

By Doug Miller
Bank branches responded to the Great Recession by checking out of low- and middle-income neighborhoods and opening in wealthier ones, according to figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and community advocacy organizations—a shifting of resources that once again has left minorities holding the bag.

Black America’s True Religion: Optimism

The Editors — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:44:25 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
African Americans as a group continue to be battered worse than any other Americans by the nation’s three-year-long-and-counting economic crisis. In both stand-alone and comparative terms, from the top to the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, they’ve suffered a severe loss of the little wealth they possessed and have almost no protection against a future economic shock.

A New Year: A Worsening Crisis

The Editors — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:11:50 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
Black America has pneumonia, and the fact that it’s winter has nothing to do with it.

Egypt’s “Days of Rage” – Can It Happen in the United States?

The Editors — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 05:30:24 +0000

By Stacey Patton
Analysts have said that high unemployment in Egypt, and Tunisia, which forced its president out of the country last month, has been a ticking time bomb that created this televised revolution. There have been numerous signs indicating that the U.S. is facing a similar economic Armageddon.

California’s Budget Crisis: Whither Black Leaders?

The Editors — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 17:36:50 +0000

By F. Finley McRae
In California, one day after Governor Jerry Brown touted his plan to close the state’s $28 billion budget gap, the Legislative Black Caucus expressed its concern in a carefully-worded statement. "We must be careful,” it said, “not to balance the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens; children, disabled, the poor and elderly."

Going Through Hell

The Editors — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:50:01 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
Is there a difference between the adjectives “dire” and “terrifying?”

How does one adequately express the predicament African Americans face because of the nation’s three-year-long-and-counting economic crisis? Will the words “looming disaster” do?

Poverty’s Most Dreaded Consequence

The Editors — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:22:48 +0000

By The Editors
The January 14 news article in the Washington Post describes in wrenching detail the struggle of several Washington-area families who, having lost their relatively well-paying jobs, are struggling to hold on to a basic standard of living.

It’s clear that, if they lose that struggle, what likely awaits them is what awaits many others unable to overcome a fruitless search for work: homelessness.

America’s Jobs Crisis: “Ceasing to Exist”

The Editors — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:29:51 +0000

By The Editors
These are the Americans who are disappearing. Their jobs have ceased to exist, and so – because work anchors most people to the civic life of their local communities and the larger society – they, too, are effectively ceasing to exist, vanishing like dust in the wind.