Children's Walk

This video is from August 7. 2009 Children's Walk for Family Unity. The kids do the talking here. Adults everywhere can learn from this.

A Government Hand in Helping the Poor Save

Should local government help the poor save for a rainy day?

Middle-income Americans are already encouraged to save through a variety of government policies such as 401(k)’s and Individual Retirement Accounts. In addition, tax breaks on mortgages encourage home ownership as another means of saving money.

These kinds of inducements happen almost exclusively through the tax code and largely bypass the poor. The poor are less likely to own homes or have retirement accounts. And since they pay little or nothing in the way of taxes, tax breaks are not effective incentives.

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IMPROVING SAVINGS INCENTIVES FOR THE POOR

Low-income workers have a low rate of saving their after-tax income. The Federal Reserve reports that only one-third of families in the bottom fifth (incomes of less than $20,291) saved any of their income in 2007, compared to almost three-fifths of households in the middle fifth (incomes between $39,000 and $62,000). Without savings, low-income families have no resources to invest in efforts to increase their human capital, such as education and job training to improve their skills, or in physical assets such as housing and transportation to help them move out of poverty, says D. Sean Shurtleff, a policy analyst with the National Center for Policy Analysis.

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Obama Sets Immigration Changes for 2010

Mr. Obama predicted that he would be successful but acknowledged the challenges, saying, “I’ve got a lot on my plate.” He added that there would almost certainly be “demagogues out there who try to suggest that any form or pathway for legalization for those who are already in the United States is unacceptable.”

But in the most detailed outline yet of his timetable, the president said that he expected Congress, after completing work on health care, energy and financial regulation, to draft immigration bills this year. He said he would begin work on getting the measures passed in 2010.

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Back to school spree: Billionaire, feds give out $175M to aid neediest students around the state

A $200 back-to-school giveaway for needy kids sparked a mad rush for money on the streets of New York on Tuesday.

"It's free money!" said Alecia Rumph, 26, who waited in a Morris Park, Bronx, line 300 people deep for the cash to buy uniforms and book bags for her two kids.

"Thank God for Obama. He's looking out for us."

Thousands of people lined up at banks and check-cashing shops to withdraw the cash that magically appeared on their electronic benefit cards.

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Low-income families often rely too heavily on costly financial services

Millions of low-income families rely on check-cashing companies, money orders and payday loans to handle basic financial needs -- costly services that can undermine tight household budgets -- even as evidence shows many are receptive to buying on layaway and even contributing to retirement savings plans.

"In a sense, we are living in the richest nation in human history, yet it's stunning that nearly 50 million people are living below a living wage," said Eldar Shafir, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University who contributed to the book, "Insufficient Funds: Savings, Assets, Credit and Banking Among Low-Income Households."

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Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?

IT’S too bad so many people are falling into poverty at a time when it’s almost illegal to be poor. You won’t be arrested for shopping in a Dollar Store, but if you are truly, deeply, in-the-streets poor, you’re well advised not to engage in any of the biological necessities of life — like sitting, sleeping, lying down or loitering. City officials boast that there is nothing discriminatory about the ordinances that afflict the destitute, most of which go back to the dawn of gentrification in the ’80s and ’90s. “If you’re lying on a sidewalk, whether you’re homeless or a millionaire, you’re in violation of the ordinance,” a city attorney in St. Petersburg, Fla., said in June, echoing Anatole France’s immortal observation that “the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges.”

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Sales-tax holiday on school supplies starts Friday

Back-to-school shoppers will get a break next weekend with Virginia's sales-tax holiday on many education-related purchases.

For three days beginning Friday, the state is waiving its 5 percent sales tax on school supplies priced under $20 and clothes and shoes under $100. A provision in the law allows all retailers to absorb the tax, if they chose to participate. Many retailers, including Wal-Mart, will extend the discount to such items as computers and other electronics.

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