Greenwich Cove (Photo by Bob Plain)
You don’t need to a degree in economics to understand why rent is skyrocketing while wages are stagnant. As the middle class is squeezed, fewer can afford the American dream of home ownership. So they rent instead. Demand then has its way with supply and the landlords win while the working class loses. Yet another failure of the trickle down theory.
Meanwhile one constantly hears, from Republicans and Democrats alike, that something needs to be done about our outrageously high unemployment rate. But no one really said much when the state Department of Labor and training laid off 65 employees earlier this year. Their jobs, by the way, were to help unemployed people get back into the workforce. Now, thanks to a federal grant, we’ll hire back about 20 percent of the laid-off DLT employees. It’s not enough.
Speaking of the war on the working class in Rhode Island, GoLocal has a list of the communities with the most – and least – home foreclosures.
And speaking of GoLocal, Dan McGowan makes a great point about former Governor Don Carcieri: “…the fact that URI’s funding was nearly cut in half between 2002 and 2010 is a black eye for the former Governor. One of the biggest complaints from business owners is that the state’s doesn’t have a prepared workforce and cutting funding to the state’s largest college certainly doesn’t help matters.”
East Greenwich Town Council President Michael Isaacs admits the town’s restrictions against political signs violate the First Amendment. Unfortunately, simply not enforcing unconstitutional laws isn’t sufficient. The Council should rescind the ordinance.
The irony in Scott Brown attacking Elizabeth Warren for her Native American heritage is he accuses her of using her roots for professional advancement … while the Washington Post refutes that claim, Brown is pretty clearly using Warren’s Native American heritage to advance his career!
No one should ever want to see another Supreme Court, state or federal, determine another election but there are so many reasons to doubt the veracity of the results in the William San Bento vs. Carlos Tobon Pawtucket Democratic primary for a House seat that we’re glad the ACLU stepped in. San Bento is a solid liberal on economic issues but he isn’t all that healthy and some doubt he can successfully fulfill his commitment to the district.
A little bit of Rhode Island’s rich history with pirates, privateers and the slave trade, also the Cranston Herald explains the difference between pirates and privateers.
Today in 1960, Ted Williams hits a home run in his final at bat at that “lyric little bandbox of a ballpark.” Here’s John Updike’s famous New Yorker essay on the event aptly titled “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.”
“Demand then has its way with supply”
Then what is preventing supply from increasing to meet demand? The builder in the article lays much of the blame at the uncoordinated efforts of regulators.