February Job Losses: U-6 is Now 14.8%

According to th Bureau of Labor Statistics, the official unemployment rate (U-3) has now risen from 7.6 to 8.1 percent in February. Now the less reported U-6 rate is much higher, at 14.8 percent. These numbers are located in the far right column of the table released today. Not good news (see report here).

Social Exclusion in Europe

The Times Online has an interesting article on the possibility of a new "Iron Curtain" between Eastern and Western European countries (see article). This new regime has little to do with communism however, but with the ways in which capitalism is creating gaps between the "haves" and the "have nots."

Eastern European countries gave an apocalyptic warning yesterday of hordes of unemployed workers heading west as a new Iron Curtain divides rich from poor inside Europe

This is a clear example of how economic inequality can matter in generating political inequalities that can threaten the stability of social institutions such as the European Union.

McDonald's Charges More to the Poor

At least in Australia, McDonald's is introducing a "demand-based pricing scheme." In plain speak this means that in poorer neighborhoods, where McDonald's is consumed more often, the prices will be higher. Thus, the people who can least afford it and who likely have fewer available food alternatives, are those who are going to have to pay more for a hamburger. But of course McDonald's bottom line has not been any form of social philanthropy (see article).

Giving Food is Not Enough

Here is an interesting article suggesting, somewhat indirectly, that the amount of money needed to feed the world's poor is underestimated, primarily because it does not account for the needs of individuals to have diverse sources of nutrients (article). As a result, the amount of money required to prevent absolute starvation is quite low, since it does not likely determine nutritional needs.

More than 20 million children suffer from severe, acute malnutrition in the developing world. Half of the 9.7 million deaths of children under five each year are caused by the condition, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). It will cost $5 billion a year alone to feed children under the age of three in developing countries, MSF said.

Asian Americans and Poverty

An interesting study shows that the poverty rate among Asian Americans in New York City is higher than the poverty rate among African Americans, after income from governmental programs is taken into account. This disparity is partly due to the fact that many Asian American immigrants are not aware of the governmental programs available to them (see report here).

Half of CA Seniors "Struggle to Survive"

A recent article by the Mercury News profiles the financial plight of senior citizens in the new economy (see article here). What is interesting about this article is that it highlights the inadequacy of the official poverty line. Instead, a much higher threshold is needed to provide economic stability for senior citizens. According to these new measures of "survivability" 47 percent of senior citizens lack enough resources; in contrast, the official poverty line says that this rate is only 9 to 10 percent. Clearly this highlights the need for a new anti-poverty agenda to take into account cost-of-living indices.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research report measured economic stability by the real costs to eat, travel and pay for medical costs and housing in each of California's 58 counties.
Its findings reveal 47 percent of state residents 65 and older are unable to pay for their basic needs. That's 864,000 seniors, more than half of whom struggle at home alone.
The new data reveal far deeper poverty rates among seniors than was previously known. According to the decades-old standard of measuring poverty, only 9 to 10 percent of California seniors were considered poor, that is, earning less than $10,000 a year. Researchers note that amount is peanuts in high-cost California, failing to reflect the true cost of survival.

Rage Against the Machine

Der Speigel has an interesting article on global protests in the current economic climate. It suggests that Karl Marx was correct when he said that economic conditions engender class revolt (link here).