Meltdown Pushing Americans to Breaking Point | GED Becoming More Valuable Than PhD?

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace Newsletter January 29th, 2009 More from Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace »

The Financial Crisis Is Driving Hordes of Americans to Suicide By Nick Turse, Tomdispatch.com Pushed past their breaking points, people are robbing banks to pay the rent, setting homes on fire -- even taking their own lives. Read more »   As calls mount to stop fiddling around with ad hoc approaches to the financial sector's meltdown - approaches intended to keep fundamentally unsound financial institutions, what Paul Krugman calls "zombie banks" from going under - and simply nationalize the teetering giants outright, Tim Geithner, our new Treasury Secretary, told Congress, "We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we'd like to do our best to preserve that system." This is a purely ideological goal, and defies President Obama's pledge to enact policies that work, regardless of their pedigree. Check out AlterNet tomorrow for more on the pros and cons of nationalization, in a piece by yours truly. -Joshua Holland Editor, Corporate Accountability and Workplace coverage     The Economic Crisis Isn't All Bad; It's a Chance for Us and Obama to Reimagine How We Live Our Lives By Benjamin R. Barber, The Nation Capitalism is on its knees and now we have a chance to create higher ideals beyond career climbing and mindless consumerism. Read more »   Is a GED More Valuable Than a PhD? By Kai Ma, The Daily Beast In an economy where so many people are overqualified, having an advanced degree is virtually worthless. Read more »   Green Jobs: Economic Stimulus that Is Already Saving Communities By Paul Rockwell, TruthOut.org We can't solve our energy problems until we harness the untapped creativity and yearnings of the poor, who still languish in misery and neglect. Read more »   Republicans Petrified That Economy Will Improve By Dean Baker, AlterNet If the economy begins to turn around on Obama's watch, the GOP can look forward to decades in the political wilderness. Read more »   The U.S. and UK Are on the Brink of Debt Disaster By Ed Kemp, Reuters Soft measures won't cut it: We need widespread corporate defaults, debt write-downs, and inflation to reduce the burden of what we all owe. Read more »   The Next Real Estate Crisis: Shuttered Stores and Empty Malls By Paul Craig Roberts, CounterPunch The 1,120,000 lost US retail jobs in 2008 are a signal that the second stage of the real estate bust is about to hit the economy. Read more »   Resistance to Housing Foreclosures Spreads Across the Land By Ben Ehrenreich, The Nation Community-based movements to halt the flood of foreclosures have been building across the country. And they're not the usual suspects. Read more »   What Obama Left out of His Economic Recovery Plan: Higher Wages and Debt Relief By Mike Whitney, Dissident Voice This is not a normal recession where the mismatch between supply and demand will work itself out over time. Read more »   Let's Bail Out America's Tattered Safety Net By Randy Albelda, Dollars and Sense With the economic meltdown, more and more households are falling toward the social safety net. Read more »   Obama's Economic Plan Is Not Going to Save Us By William Greider, The Nation Dire events are going to push Obama toward economic solutions far more fundamental than those he had intended. Read more »   Firing the Boss: The Man Who Organized Chicago's Factory Takeover Speaks Out By Benjamin Dangl, AlterNet "Because there have been very few plant occupations in the U.S. since the 1930s, we needed to look to workers' struggles in other countries." Read more »   PEEK and Video: The hottest buzz and videos on the web     Stimulus Package Unleashes Onslaught of Republican Lies By Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake They looked like a bunch of petulant, narcissistic brats and did a nice job of making Obama appear measured and statesmanlike by comparison. Read more »   How a Shorter Workweek Could Save Our Economy By Dean Baker, The Guardian Shortening the workweek would create jobs and stimulate the US economy -- and give workers the benefits other countries provide. Read more »   Revealed: Bailed-Out Execs Plotting Against EFCA By Sam Stein, Huffington Post These crooks "are asking us to bail them out and then using that money to stop workers from improving their lives." Read more »   Right-Wingers Trot Out New Misleading Myth About Obama's Stimulus By Amanda Terkel, Think Progress As usual, in addition to throwing out insults, conservatives are distorting and simplifying the facts. Read more »   Will Brothels Help Nevada Weather the Econopocalypse? By Lisa Derrick, Firedoglake Like every state in the union, Nevada faces a financial crunch, but that state has a unique revenue stream: Brothels. Read more »   Employee Free Choice: Winning the Battle by Knowing Where the Lines are Drawn By Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake In being so ready to throw majority sign-up under the bus, they are seriously misjudging where the battle lines lie in this particular fight. Read more »

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