Feb 21
The New York Times article: Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs foretells a future of joblessness for former middle-class workers caught in the current great recession.
Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.
Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department.
Here in Southern California, Jean Eisen has been without work since she lost her job selling beauty salon equipment more than two years ago. In
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Feb 20
Yves Smith and I received a tip at the weekend from a friend who reads the German press regularly about credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek government debt. Read Yves’ piece based on that article here. Below is mine.
Previously, I had mentioned the CDS exposure of the hapless German Landesbanks (banks owned by the individual German states or Länder – hence the term Landesbank). These same companies lost enormous amounts of money in the subprime meltdown – and apparently they have all sorts of other toxic exposure like Greek CDS still on the books.
So I find it interesting that the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine is focussing instead on the AIG CDS connection to Greece. Here’s
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Feb 20
Quicken also sent me a 50% off link to all their 2010 products. Offer good only until 2/22/10. The following Special Offer Code was included in the e-mail: 6321762157. Download version might be better if you plan on returning?
Note: Offer applies only to purchase of Quicken Deluxe, Premier, Home & Business, or Rental Property Manager when you order directly from Intuit by February 22, 2010, 11:59 PM PST.
If you’re not 100% satisfied, return Quicken 2010 software with your dated receipt within 60 days of purchase for a refund of the purchase price (return shipping and handling charges are not included). <
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Feb 19
The New York Times article: A Sight All Too Familiar in Poor Neighborhoods cites University of Wisconsin research by Matthew Desmond on trends in Milwaukee inner-city rentals for uncovering some startling insights – such as Women from largely black neighborhoods in Milwaukee constitute 13 percent of the city’s population, but account for 40 percent of those legally evicted. . Why is this demographic so prone to eviction?
Marriage is an exception among the poor, and single mothers need larger, more expensive housing than single men.
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