Making the mortgage crisis personal

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The mortgage crisis has forced people to be creative in moving on with their lives after losing a home. A new blog from PRX, EconomyBeat, found two bloggers who are upbeat, despite tough times.

In Michigan, where the auto industry layoffs have been forcing more and more foreclosures, Michigan Public Radio spoke with people who are having trouble picking up the pieces as the recession doesn’t seem to be letting up in the Midwest.

And in St. Louis, KETC hosted a town hall this week discussing the impact of the mortgage crisis from political, financial and personal angles. Participants and viewers were also able to contact advisers directly for more advice after the broadcast.

Confused on healthcare?

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Chest xray/ Credit: Flickr user Aidan_Jones

If you’re finding the healthcare debate hard to keep up with, you’re not alone. Here are some helpful recent stories to start making sense of it all:

Capitol News Connection talks to Brooks Jackson of FactCheck.org to separate fact from fiction in the healthcare legislation and explains what impact the debate will have on the economy.

KQED’s Forum weighs the current healthcare legislation options with experts Alain Enthoven, professor emeritus of public and private management at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Richard Scheffler, distinguished professor of health economics and public policy at UC Berkeley, and Victoria Colliver, health care reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle.

NewsHour’s Paul Solman answers a tough question from a viewer about why medical costs vary from state to state.

Where are you getting your news about the healthcare crisis?

Focus on Afghanistan

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In the lead up to the Afghan presidential election, there’s been a growing number of stories about whether the vote will be fair, as well coverage about how the ongoing U.S. involvement in conflicts abroad affects our own economy.

When it comes to the impact the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are having on the U.S. economy, Paul Solman at The NewsHour’s Business Desk astutely argues both sides of the coin:

“The wars have certainly hurt the economy of the moment by running up both oil prices and the deficit. A higher deficit arguably drove long-term interest rates higher than they otherwise would have gone. … But once the economy tanked, military spending was a source of consumption at a time when both families and businesses had cut back drastically. Who’s to say the economic crisis mightn’t have been worse without our current wars?”

But will those investments continue? World Focus takes a closer look at the U.S.’ continuing involvement in Afghanistan.

NewsTrust.net has been asking readers to analyze coverage of Afghanistan and pick out the most trustworthy reports from the region, in coordination with Thirteen/WNET‘s WorldFocus.

For more news from Afghanistan, you can follow the coverage from Kabul with NPR Morning Edition host Renee Montagne, who’s been in Afghanistan for weeks following the election story.

Has the weak economy created opportunities for women?

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From increased sales of steamy romance novels to booming health and fitness sectors, lines of work where women tend to dominate are taking the lead in the current economic climate.

The Weekly Standard’s Christopher Caldwell in Time Magazine this week goes so far to say that of the economic climate faster than men, in The Pink Recovery: Why Women are Doing Better. He notes that fewer women have been laid off than men overall, and that when the nation does recover, the workforce could look different as a result:

“What constitutes “women’s work” today? Well, health care, for one; 81% of the workers are female. According to the report Obama cited, 20,000 health-care jobs were gained in July, while 76,000 construction jobs and 52,000 manufacturing positions were lost.”

But are women seeing more opportunity in other areas as well? BusinessWeek recently reported that women may be nearing a majority in the workforce for the first time in history.

Success stories like this piece on a woman boss at a trucking company in the UK from PRI’s The World seem to indicate that despite job losses and a tough economic climate, women are seeing a chance to take the lead. This story uses Hillary Clinton’s recent tour through Africa as a jumping off point to discuss how the role of women has changed in recent years:

“Are women managers different than male ones, with a different approach to problems? It is said that women are more outcome-orientated while men confront. If that’s true, how should a woman leader behave in a traditionally male environment — like a trucking company?”

Forward-thinking companies are helping women get ahead by using technology to create a better work-life balance. Back in June, BBC Washington correspondent Katty Kay, co-author of Womenomics, spoke with Tavis Smiley about how these ‘soft’ types of changes will help companies be more successful in the long run.