As in any other playoff, candidate rhetoric let loose during the U.S. presidential race can be tough. We’ve held a front row seat to the 2012 showdown for over a year, with tensions still rising as the general election looms nearer. Some of the barbs launched along the campaign trail have been laughable: Newt Gingrich’s television ad incriminating Mitt Romney for his ability to speak French comes to mind. Others are not. The dialogue surrounding U.S. poverty and inequality, two issues that are hotter than ever during a deep recession that the nation has shown incapable of simply shaking off [...]
Foreclosure
Occupy moving into foreclosed homes in LA
The Occupy movement, evicted from public parks, moves to the next frontier: foreclosed homes. Some protesters will “occupy” foreclosed homes, while others will encourage families to fight eviction and disrupt foreclosure auctions. Since the Occupy movement protests the excesses and inequalities of Wall Street and big banks, many see this new cause as a... »
Recession forces household sizes to grow
The 2010 Census found that after a 50-year decline in household size, more people are living together under the same roof. The recession, unemployment and housing crisis are currently forcing people to double up with family or friends. Increases in the numbers of immigrants and of young adults who live with their parents after... »
Study finds Bronx residents have homelessness on the mind
A poll conducted by the Institute for Children and Poverty found that Bronx residents are among the most apprehensive in New York City about becoming homeless. Forty percent of those questioned struggle to afford basic necessities, compared with 30 percent citywide, and one out of three fear losing their homes. The telephone poll, which... »
Once booming suburbs now bust
Suburbs that were growing rapidly before the recession as young families moved out of the cities to raise children are now suffering more economic stress, a study by the Associated Press found. Kendall County in Illinois, in 2007 the first county in the nation in terms of population growth, now suffers from a foreclosure... »