Teens use poetry, music and art to talk about their first experience with recession in a new project from Minnesota Public Radio, My First Recession. By collaborating with local artists and musicians, they found ways to express how their families and communities were coping. You can also share your story — no matter which recession was your first — here.
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It’s summer vacation time, when families hit the road and see some of the nation’s most treasured places — national parks. While stimulus funds help keep the parks ready for visitors, many who live near these well-preserved areas are facing hard times.
In Flagstaff, Arizona, near the Grand Canyon, nearly one in three people need government assistance each month, NPR station KNAU reports. Many residents come to Flagstaff from the surrounding Navajo reservations because the city has better resources, but it’s hard to stay.
““We have single parents working two jobs…sometimes these families are just one paycheck away from being homeless.”
Listen to “Poverty With a View”
In Montana, Yellowstone Public Radio’s series on economic hardship in the region last year examined homelessness and job loss in the Yellowstone National Park area. Their reports also addressed “big Sky Grants” given to laid-off local residents and a bill that protects the residents of mobile home parks.
At the same time, federal funds are being freed up to keep park rangers employed so the parks run smoothly all summer long.
WNYC and PRI’s The Takeaway reports on a project that will put a new roof on the visitors’ center at the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.
Do you plan to visit a National Park this summer? How are the parks in your area weathering the economic climate? Share your national parks stories here.
At a forum with NewsHour’s Jim Lehrer, Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke answered questions from the public about the current economic crisis.
The economy has put farmers in a tight spot, but there is good news out there, too.
NPR today reported on dairy farmers in California, the top dairy-producing state in the country. And while they may have funny commercials featuring talking cows, farmers like Joey Mendoza aren’t laughing.
“Mendoza says he’s squeezed between competition from mega-dairies, the high cost of feed and the dip in consumer demand. These days, he’s earning only about half of what it costs for him to produce each gallon of milk.”
From PBS NewsHour’s Patchwork Nation, there’s somewhat comforting news in Tractor Country, a key community the project is following. In Sioux City, Iowa, farmers are not feeling quite as despondent as Mendoza after a damp spring. Blogger Donald King wrote about the start of summer in farmland and shared his thoughts about the current climate.
“For areas like this, agriculture is totally wrapped up with the health of the economy. So it is as hard to ignore the state of the economy in Iowa as it is anywhere these days. I can report that at least in traditionally strong agricultural communities like Sioux Center and Orange City, Iowa, we are holding our own. Sure, everyone is behaving cautiously, spending is fairly flat, but no one is panicking, and unemployment is still below the national average.”
There’s also good news for the industry as a whole. This feature from earth-friendly web site Mother Nature Network features 40 Farmers Under 40 – many of whom are experimenting with new techniques of both growing and selling.
If you’re confused about what’s going on with the economy, you’re not alone. It’s scary to think about the huge amount of information out there and hard to get a handle on what’s really important. And Capitol Hill isn’t faring much better.
While Congressional staffers and aides pore over documents for representatives daily, many legislators are still unclear on some basic financial concepts. Does Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) know what a derivative is? How much influence do lobbyists have over finance issues? Capitol News Connection turned the tables on Congress to see how much lawmakers really understand about the economy, and whether learning these concepts on the fly is sufficient for making decisions that can impact all of us.
Putting lawmakers to the test isn’t a new idea, but it is one that can inspire action. Nonprofit group WhyTuesday.org spent most of 2008 asking American leaders why we go to the polls on Tuesday. Not surprisingly, more than a few legislators were in the dark.
For the answer, watch:
To test your knowledge of the economy, the Federal Reserve of Boston has an in-depth series of quizzes. The topics range from women and the economy (During which year did the labor force participation rate of women peak?) to social security (How many years must a person have worked to qualify for social security benefits? ) to immigration (In the United States, what is the state with the highest share of Hispanic population?).