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Economy
Quick Hit
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1:09pm
Mon Apr 11, 2011

The Federal Budget Battle Is Just Beginning

It’s unclear who really won the battle (though a new poll shows Americans crediting Democrats more than Republicans), but we do know the Democrats and the Republicans will continue fighting the budget wars. All sides claimed victory after agreeing to a deal less than an hour before the government was poised to shutdown. The fight that lies ahead now focuses on raising the debt ceiling and the future of already accumulated debt.
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Quick Hit
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12:47pm
Fri Apr 8, 2011
1 comment

Rallies Will Showcase Battle For Bargaining Rights, Workplace Fairness

Over the next couple of days, Chicagoans will rally for the right for workers, including public employees, to bargain over the terms of their employment, and for basic workplace fairness. The rallies come at a time when public workers across the Midwest -- in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio -- have faced down attacks on their bargaining rights unleashed by Republican governors. Here's a preview of what's planned.
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PI Original
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2:51pm
Thu Apr 7, 2011
3 comments

The Impact Of A Government Shutdown

Federal Budget

As the clock continues to tick toward a possible government shutdown, we look at its impact as 800,000 federal workers face furloughs.

Quick Hit
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1:42pm
Tue Apr 5, 2011
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"Radical" GOP Budget Proposal Cuts Costs, Services For Elderly, Sick, And Poor

The 2012 federal budget proposal offered by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) creates what is best described as an exaggerated caricature of the reputation of the GOP establishment itself. “Tax cuts for the rich, program cuts for the poor,” laments Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne Jr. who calls out the proposal’s “radically redistributionist purposes.” The plan seeks to cut more than $4 trillion in federal spending in the next decade by radical restructuring federal programs that give health care to the poor and the elderly while preserving the Bush tax cuts for the rich. 

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Quick Hit
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11:28am
Mon Apr 4, 2011
67 comments

Unemployment Becoming A Black Or White Issue

Recent numbers showing unemployment down got many talking about recovery, but we’re learning the reality isn’t “one size fits all.” While the Bureau of Labor Statistics touted an 8.8 percent unemployment rate in March, the number of whites who are unemployed is even lower at 7.9 percent, while black unemployment was almost double that and actually increased to 15.5 percent. The numbers were released Friday, just one day after the National Urban League released “The State of Black America” report that identified “the economy as the leading area of disparity between black and whites.”

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Quick Hit
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5:12pm
Thu Mar 31, 2011

Gallup: Unemployment Down But Not "Rosy"

Despite what other job reports say, poll data by Gallup shows that while unemployment and underemployment numbers are down, the recent job increases aren’t enough “to significantly improve the jobs situation so far.” In fact, unemployment is higher in March at 10.0 percent (measured without seasonal adjustment) than at the end of January when it was at 9.8 percent.

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Quick Hit
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12:41pm
Thu Mar 31, 2011
1 comment

Number Of The Day: 845,910

That’s the number of people in Cook County who are “food insecure,” according to a report by the Chicago Reporter citing data by Feeding America, a hunger-relief charity. That means 1 in 5 people or 16.1 percent of people here don’t have enough food every day. What’s more frightening is that 36 percent of them are actually living above the federal poverty line.
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