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A New Anthem, Maybe?

The Editors — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:36:07 +0000

By Doug Miller
Just don’t expect a lot of very much poorer minorities to join the choir.

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.

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.

President Obama Proposes Bold American Jobs Act

The Editors — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:19:08 +0000

By George E. Curry
President Obama discarded his carefully-crafted image of Compromiser-in-Chief Thursday night by proposing a surprisingly bold American Jobs Act that calls for nearly $500 billion in federal spending and tax cuts to jolt the sagging U.S. economy.

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.

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.

Study: Young Males of Color Likely to end up Jobless, Imprisoned or Dead

The Editors — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:18:23 +0000

By George E. Curry
“Collectively, the pathway data show that more than 51 percent of Hispanic males, 45 percent of African American males, 42 percent of Native American males and 33 percent of Asian American males ages 15-24 will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead.”

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.

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?

Michigan’s Bait and Switch Gambit on Unemployment Benefits

The Editors — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:27:26 +0000

By Doug Miller
A new idea now being widely touted by conservatives as a way to help ease states’ dire fiscal problems – reducing the number of weeks the jobless can receive unemployment benefits – seems to some employment analysts to be a prescription for social disaster.

Advocacy Group Reports 65 Million Americans Barred From Employment

The Editors — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:26:10 +0000

By Stacey Patton
In this climate, when employers can be especially choosy about whom they hire, and some major companies appear to be engaging in a discriminatory practice that hurts the unemployed, a disproportionate number of them black.

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.

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.

President Obama Signs Compromise Tax Bill; Unemployment Benefits Extended

The Editors — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 18:56:17 +0000

By The Editors
President Obama Friday quickly signed legislation the House of Representatives had passed at midnight Thursday authorizing more than $800 billion in tax cuts and extending unemployment benefits to millions of jobless workers for the next 13 months.

Obama-GOP Tax Plan Prospects Improve; Unemployment Benefits Renewal Nears

The Editors — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:06:42 +0000

By The Editors
The Senate appeared ready Tuesday to pass the controversial compromise tax plan fashioned by President Obama and Congressional Republicans, legislation that would also extend unemployment benefits to millions of jobless workers to the end of 2011.

The Unemployment Benefits Deal: Back From The Brink – This Time?

The Editors — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:54:08 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
The deal between President Obama and the Congressional Republicans has been struck. Whether it will hold amid fierce criticism from some Democratic Party activists and liberal pundits and some Democrats in Congress remains to be seen.

Congress Delays Extending Unemployment Benefits

The Editors — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 20:48:43 +0000

By The Editors
Are America’s long-term unemployed – those unable to find work for six months or more – being pushed further down the road to ruin?

Two million of the nation’s nearly 15 million jobless workers will lose their unemployment benefits between November 30 and December 31 unless Congress once again extends unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.