The Huffington Post is launching a year-long exploration and examination of the lives of middle class and poor Americans in a series called "Breakdown: Americans on the Edge."
I applied to 53 jobs in July, according to the tally marks I carved into my parents' dining room table while playing the harmonica. But the big sack I bought to hold all my salary never filled up, and I began to suspect something just wasn't right.
Could it be, I asked myself? Could these activists and my niece's generation be defining themselves in terms of rigorous quantitative analysis on inequality in top economics journals?
Seasonal patterns help show us what's really going on in the housing market, which is important because they give us hints about when we should search, list, buy, sell or build.
To solve the problems of youth unemployment restoring global growth is crucial, as are policies to support job creation and credit. None of this can be achieved without global cooperation.Â
By the Reagan era, the "culture of poverty" had become a cornerstone of conservative ideology: poverty was caused, not by low wages or a lack of jobs, but by bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles.
We can't simply tell a young generation that the American Dream is a nightmare for them. We can't have a prosperous economy if the middle class is sinking. We will not long be a democracy if the wealthiest pocket the rewards and check out of building the nation.
Let Santorum and Romney duke it out for who will cut taxes on the wealthy the most and shred the public services everyone else depends on. The rest of us ought to be having a serious discussion about a wealth tax.
Economic inequality will lead to greater political inequality, and those who are further empowered politically will use this to gain a greater economic advantage by stacking the cards in their favor -- a quintessential vicious circle.
New analysis shows what a lot of younger Americans have probably noticed for themselves: even if you're lucky enough to have a job, it's still tough to get ahead.
We're not adding jobs at breakneck speed, for sure, and we're still repairing the damage done by the great recession to the living standards of millions. But this month's report makes another addition to a solid and improving trend.
After years of incompetence, intransigence, malevolence and whatever else may explain how mortgage companies have managed to screw over millions of troubled American homeowners, a fix is finally at hand. This is how the Obama administration invites us to view the broad, $25 billion state and federal foreclosure settlement it struck last month with the nation's five largest mortgage companies.
Economic justice is at the root of all social justice. Today, we must make Dr. King's dream real by actually making free enterprise and capitalism work for the poor and the under-served.
Living on less than $2 per person a day is one World Bank definition of poverty for developing nations. Unfortunately, this threshold is increasingly relevant to the United States.
It will only happen if we all get involved. If we use our intelligence, our money and our influence to make a difference. It will only happen If we are willing to make some sacrifices in the name of compassion.
I believe this is an Amber Alert time for millions of our nation's poor children and that everyone needs to be on the lookout for the children, to ensure the children's health, safety and education, and to see that justice is done.