Resources to help young people understand and navigate the changing economy.
Youth Radio is helping young people understand the economic climate. Lissa Soep and Denise Tejada discuss the project.
Youth Radio reporter Anyi Howell and Los Angeles Bureau Chief Miguel Macias on the Youth Radio newsroom and their plans for covering the economy, including the cutbacks teachers are facing in L.A.
All these financial terms being tossed around in the news can be confusing to anyone — young or old — who doesn’t have a background in stock market jargon. Youth Radio’s Lauren Silverman didn’t get frustrated when even reading the paper became a chore, instead she got obsessed.
It may be summer vacation for students, but public schools around the country are in the headlines, as they are usually among the first to feel the impact of budget cuts. Already strapped for cash, some are coming up with new ideas to make the most of what they have, both in terms of staff and resources.
In Oakland, California, budget cuts have bred creativity – as well as several species of creatures. Cultivating their own insects and small animals like crayfish for science projects, rather than buying them from suppliers, has saved the district over $200,000.
Youth Radio reports on this unique approach.
In Seattle, teachers are seeing cutbacks beyond classroom resources as layoffs loom. Teacher seniority is the traditional way that layoffs are conducted in the school system. KPLU reports on a group of teachers that is pushing for a merit-based system that retains the best – rather than those who’ve been there longest. But the idea is facing criticism from both the union and the school system.
It’s not just elementary and high school education that are at risk due to the economic downturn. Students have faced increased costs at universities, among them the University of California system. This week, KQED’s California Report spoke with UC President Mark Yudof.
“The budget leaves us hurting badly…it leaves us somewhat less competitive for faculty and staff.”
Listen to The California Report interview with Yudof.
Spiral Galaxy/ Source: NASA
A statistic that gets tossed around a lot in the health care debate is that “Health care is one-sixth of the economy” – but what does that mean? The total U.S Gross Domestic Product is $14.1 Trillion, making one-sixth of that about $2.35 Trillion.
Those numbers for health care include programs like Medicare and Medicaid, as well as individual expenses and prescription drugs, doctors visits, healthcare workers’ salaries, insurance premiums – pretty much anything you can think of that involves the healthcare industry. While what counts as health care is likely loosely defined, no matter how it breaks down, it’s still a huge amount of money that’s really difficult to visualize.
I did a little search for two trillion to try to get a sense of what $2 Trillion looks like. Apparently there are only 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, so that didn’t work. Then I found this – two trillion tons of ice melting in the Arctic – so think of a whole shelf of ice disappearing and being replaced with dollar bills, and maybe you get some idea. There was also this one – two trillion text messages sent every day. I guess I send about five, so if everyone with a cell phone also sends about five, that’s a lot of texts. Needless to say, $2 Trillion is a lot of money.
How does it translate into legislation?
ProPublica’s health care reform primers help analyze the numbers.
Olga Pierce looked at the competing bills:
“Until last week, President Obama took a hands-off approach health care reform. Instead, in February he included eight general principles [4] in the presidential budget. The principles laid out requirements of a plan — it must make insurance available to everyone and address rising costs, for example — but did not specify policies.
That left Congress to debate many of the contentious issues, including whether to have a public option, and whether everyone should be required to have health insurance.”
And for a look at how these changes may affect Americans, a survey from the Public Insight Network asked people to record their most pressing health care need:
A map plots the biggest complaints about health care, ranging from lack of coverage to prescription drug expenses.
Andrew Haeg of American Public Media looked at the responses and featured some of the best in a column.
“But nearly all people, regardless of income, age or insurance status, spoke of making choices — life altering choices — in order to affford health care.
For Jeannette d’Armand of Seattle, Washington, the choice is between doing work she loves and taking a mindless job for the benefits. D’Armand wants to be a singer and a voice coach, but is doing data entry instead because she needs the benefits to pay her $500-plus health care expenses to take care of her Type I Diabetes. “I just feel that if I live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world,” says d’Armand, “I shouldn’t have to choose between health care and career.”
To share your story of dealing with health are woes, Tavis Smiley’s Faces of the Uninsured project is looking for contributions.
Still confused? Here are ten health care terms to know, from Youth Radio.
Credit cards/ Credit: Flickr user Gordon
It’s not even October and already I heard the local news show anchors yammering away this morning about planning for holiday gift-buying. Given that it’s September 29, that has to be some kind of record. That said, it’s always a good time to think about credit cards, credit card debt, and how to create a budget.
Here are a few great resources:
On Tavis Smiley’s Road to Wealth blog, columnist Michelle Singletary answers questions about the drawbacks of paying down debt with other debt.
“When you use debt to pay off debt, you are not paying off the one debt. You are merely transferring it to another loan. You are shifting your debt load, not lifting it. It’s like moving the rock from one hand to the other.”
If you have personal finance questions, submit them to Michelle here.
For those just starting out in the real world, Rochester, NY’s WXXI has a show called BizKids, which teaches kids about business and finance skills. In a recent episode (Episode 205), the show profiles Lauren, a teen who racked up over $1000 in debt. The BizKids look at how credit affects your life – and that starting early with good credit is the best policy.
Youth Radio took a look earlier this spring on how changes to credit card laws could affect young people.
While credit cards may be a challenge for some to manage, are banks doing anything to give for consumers ways to protect against bad spending habits?
The NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown talks to New York Times personal finance reporter Ron Lieber, who says that some banks are allowing debit card users to opt out of overdraft protection.
“And so that way people have the opportunity to say — to weigh all the fees involved and the potential benefits and to raise their hand and take some affirmative action and say, “Yes, I would like to be included in this coverage,” or, “No, I do not want to have it.””
New credit card rules that took affect this summer are also helping to protect customers from unexpected credit card policy changes.
How did Denise Tejada buy a home in the San Francisco Bay Area before she was even old enough to drink? Youth Radio has the story:
From Twitter NPR: Economy Nightly Business Report Marketplace Business Desk WNYC: Economy Economy Story: Featured VideosReporters and producers from around the country are attending "economy bootcamps" to understand the current downturn.
A map of the nation that aggregates data-rich content on the economy.
Find timely economy-related public radio content from local stations, independent producers, and news sources.
Resources to help young people understand and navigate the changing economy.
Allows citizens to provide the questions that journalists ask lawmakers.
Get a global perspective on the economy with podcasts and resources for understanding the impact of the recession.
