Recession cut into employment for half of working adults, study says, By Michael A. Fletcher, June 30, 2010, Washington Post: “The recession has directly hit more than half of the nation’s working adults, pushing them into unemployment, pay cuts, reduced hours at work or part-time jobs, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The economic shock has jolted many Americans into a new, more austere reality, which is likely to have lasting consequences for an economy fueled mostly by consumer spending. More than six in 10 Americans say they have cut down on borrowing and spending, the survey found. The reason: Nearly half of the survey’s respondents say they are in worse financial shape as a result of the downturn, which destroyed 20 percent of Americans’ wealth…”
Month: June 2010
Electronic Benefit Transfers and Casinos – California
- California welfare cards can be used in many casino ATMs, By Jack Dolan, June 24, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found. The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found. State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards…”
- Confusion over use of welfare debit cards at casinos, By Clark Mason, June 29, 2010, Santa Rosa Press Democrat: “Several Indian casinos on the North Coast and a poker cardroom in Petaluma are listed among gambling venues where welfare recipients have used state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash. In the wake of a newspaper story that found California welfare recipients could use their cards in a majority of the 57 casinos in the state, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to ensure the ATMs at the casinos no longer accept the cards. But a spokesman for the governor said Monday that it could be several weeks before the welfare cards are deactivated at the gambling establishments. ‘We said we need to prohibit these cards from being used in casinos,’ said Governor’s spokesman Aaron McLear. ‘They’re going through the process of reprogramming them now.’ Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said it is ‘deeply disturbing’ that welfare recipients are using the debit cards to gamble. Casinos are ‘taking advantage of folks that are on welfare and allowing them to use welfare debit cards to gamble and lose at the tables and slots,’ said Huffman. ‘Already, people view casinos as preying on the poor. This only fuels the perception,’ he said. He also said it is upsetting that it was allowed to happen at all. ‘It clearly tells us we have some work to do and ought to take some simple, but firm steps right away to make sure it never happens again,’ he said. After last week’s publication of a Los Angeles Times story on the topic, state officials acknowledged welfare recipients used the debit cards to withdraw more than $1.8 million in taxpayer cash in casinos and card rooms between October 2009 and last month…”
Health Care Reform and Part-Time Workers
Health-care overhaul will improve insurance options for part-time workers, By Michelle Andrews, June 29, 2010, Washington Post: “Sarah Rose Nordgren works 25 to 30 hours a week as a waitress at an upscale restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C. She also tutors high- schoolers on their college entrance essays and has an editorial internship at a book publisher. But if something were to go seriously wrong with her health, she’d be in trouble because none of her three jobs offers health insurance. She’s been looking for a full-time job with benefits for several months, but there’s nothing on the horizon. So she shuttles between jobs and hopes that she stays healthy. Nordgren’s situation is not unusual. Fewer than a third of employers that offer health insurance make it available to their part-time workers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is a program of the foundation.) And even if health insurance benefits are offered, part-timers, who often work in lower-paid retail, restaurant and service jobs, may not be able to afford them…”