Convicted of a Crime? Pony Up a 'User Fee.'
In a recession economy, all of us – including government agencies – are doing what we can to make ends meet, and that includes states' legal systems. A new report released by NYU’s Brennan Center for...
View ArticleRe-Defining 'Poor' in America
What does it mean to be poor in America? For years, the country has had a fairly firm answer; in 2010, the federal government maintains the poverty line at an income of about $21,750 for a family of...
View ArticleNewt Gingrich Proposes Radical Change in Labor Laws
GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says we need a radical proposal to "change America's culture of poverty," and put children to work. He advocates allowing kids as young as nine to replace...
View ArticlePoverty and the Social Safety Net
Perhaps it was just a poor choice of words on Mitt Romney's part. Flush with victory after his win in the Florida primary, Mitt Romney appeared on CNN yesterday morning and said this: "I'm in this race...
View ArticleAmerica's Poor Left Out of Fiscal Cliff Negotiations
With less than three weeks to go, politicians on both sides of the aisle seem as far apart as ever over how to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. In the midst of their considerations, there's a lot of...
View ArticleCan You End Homelessness by Providing Homes?
Can you end chronic homelessness by simply giving the homeless homes?In 2005, Utah set out to end chronic homelessness within 10 years by providing each homeless person with an apartment and a social...
View ArticleHow We Can Abolish Homelessness
Inspired by prominent American abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison, who worked for the emancipation of slaves, Philip Mangano is a man on a mission to end homelessness.From 2002- 2009,...
View ArticleHouse GOP Looks to Cut Food Stamps, Increase Military Spending
Citing a need to give the economy a boost and reign in the deficit, House Republicans unveiled their budget yesterday, which calls for huge increases in military spending and big cuts in welfare. Under...
View Article'Buried in Bureaucracy': A Look at Hart Island, the City's Cemetery
For more than 140 years, Hart Island, part of the Bronx, has served as Potter’s Field for New York, the city cemetery where the indigent, and others, are buried. Covering 101 acres in at the western...
View ArticleOccupy Wall Street's Message Doesn't Resonate with All of the 99%
Occupy Wall Street protesters say they represent the 99 percent of the population that’s not wealthy. It’s a big percentage, and includes all kinds of people and income levels. But while Occupy Wall...
View ArticleCharities to Play Bail Bondsman Role
Charities will soon be allowed to post bail for the poor and indigent. A new law recently signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo allows charities to be authorized and regulated by the Department of Financial...
View ArticlePope to New York: Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor...
Also on the pope's busy schedule in NYC: he is attending an interfaith ceremony at the September Eleventh Memorial and Museum. Later in the afternoon, he'll visit a school in East Harlem - Our Lady...
View ArticleMental depletion complicates financial decisions for the poor
Delores Leonard helps her daughter Erin with her homework at the breakfast table before heading to work at a McDonald’s Restaurant in Chicago. Leonard, a single mother raising two daughters, has been...
View ArticleFreedom From Want: FDR's Dream Unrealized as 47 Million Live in Poverty
The 2016 election has brought a lot of noise about the size of the candidates' hands and their bank accounts, contested conventions and unprotected servers.But if you cut through all that bluster and...
View ArticleWealth, Poverty, and The Clinton Welfare Legacy
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.In July of 1996, President Bill Clinton fulfilled a campaign promise to "end welfare as we know it." At the time more than 13 million people...
View Article#2: Who Deserves To Be Poor?
UPDATE: Since this series began, OTM has received numerous inquiries from listeners who want to help Carla Scott. If you’d like to donate, she has set up a PayPal account here. Please note that neither...
View ArticleA welfare check
This week, Reveal’s bringing you an episode we first aired this summer. With Republicans in full control of the Federal government, there’s a good chance Welfare Reform will be an issue they may take...
View ArticleNavigating Holiday Social Situations. Chronicling the Lives of the Working...
Does the thought of family gatherings this holiday season fill you with anxiety? Philip Galanes is here to help! Curator Chrissie Iles discusses the“Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905–2016”...
View ArticleChronicling the Lives of the Working Poor Across America
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, journalist and Columbia Journalism School professor Dale Maharidge crossed the country to chronicle the lives of today's working poor, from farmworkers in southern...
View ArticleIf you can’t afford a lawyer
If you can’t afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you – that’s how it’s supposed to work. But in New Orleans, the lawyer in charge of representing poor people accused of crimes is saying no. His...
View ArticleAre the Rich Really Less Generous Than the Poor?
A series of academic studies suggest that the wealthy are, to put it bluntly, selfish jerks. It's an easy narrative to swallow — but is it true? A trio of economists set out to test the theory. All it...
View ArticleRubio Threatens Tax Bill With Push For Child Tax Credit
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segmentHouse and Senate Republicans forged ahead with their tax bill on Thursday. The plan is to vote on the legislation early next week in order to...
View ArticleGetting Racist Ideas Backwards
Underlying much of the media’s fumbled white supremacist coverage is an enduring assumption about where racist ideas comes from: the poor, the uneducated, and the hateful. Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is the...
View ArticleWhy We Get the Far Right Wrong
When it comes to covering white supremacists, reporters have been tripping over the same stumbling blocks for at least a century — by treating extremists as too normal and failing to convey the danger...
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