Category: Political
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The minimum wage buys less than it used to
Noelle Swan Spare Change News At 24 years old, Michaud is not backpacking abroad, sharing an apartment with friends, or beginning to build a professional resume. He is working 30 hours a week selling stuffed animals for $9 per hour in order to help his mother, a certified nursing assistant, support his three younger siblings.…
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Noam Chomsky: The Spare Change News Interview
Noam Chomsky’s new book, “Occupy,” is printed as part of the Occupied Media Pamphlet Series and lays out many arguments first articulated at student meetings and in front of gatherings of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) activists. Professor Chomsky’s interest in Occupy is consistent with his support of previous grassroots movements for change and can be…
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PATRICK ADMIN OPPOSED TO SENATE AMENDMENT CHANGING SHELTER ELIGIBILITY
From State House News Service: With the Senate ready to begin debate on its fiscal 2013 budget Wednesday and a majority of senators apparently backing an amendment to eliminate tighter restrictions on shelter eligibility for homeless families, Undersecretary for Housing and Community Development Aaron Gornstein said the Patrick administration is urging the Senate to reject…
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MAJORITY SUPPORT SEEN FOR SENATE HOMELESS SHELTER AMENDMENT
From State House News Service: A Senate budget amendment that eliminates tighter restrictions on shelter eligibility for homeless families has attracted majority support in that branch a day prior to budget debate, with 22 senators signing on in support. The Senate budget, released from the Ways and Means Committee last week, restricts to four “narrow”…
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Editorial: A Fight Over Scarce Resources
The Patrick administration and homeless advocates are at odds for the second consecutive year over how scarce funds for homeless programs will be spent in the next state budget. The administration wants to limit the amount of money it spends on homeless shelters and motels, and move the savings into permanent housing and the support…
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The Case for a Third Party in America
Aaron James Spare Change News Do you realize that you can influence and even write our laws? It does not matter what your economic situation is, we all are given a voice. And when we look back at our history, it is not always those with the biggest wallets that leave the greatest legacy, rather…
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Mitt is Mean: Why Romney is Still Dogged by Seamus
Leanne O’Brien Spare Change News When Mitt Romney fastened a carrier containing Seamus, the Romneys’ Irish setter, to the roof of the family car, he could not have predicted the firestorm of controversy that the event would ignite almost 30 years later. The story was first unearthed in an exhaustive 2007 Boston Globe profile of…
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Boston Bounty Bucks Gives SNAP Discount At Farmers Markets
Robert Sondak Spare Change News Beginning in May, which is the start of the farmers market season, the Boston Bounty Bucks program will mark its fourth birthday. So far, 20 Boston-area farmers markets will participate in this double value food program, which allows households with food stamps (SNAP) to make food purchases at any of…
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Editorial: Romneycare and Obamacare
The same reasons for passing near-universal health care in Massachusetts were behind President Obama’s national health care reform. Yet national reform is now under challenge by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who helped to pass the Massachusetts law only to blur his position now that he’s catering to a different set of voters. And now…
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NEW STATE FORECLOSURE HOTLINE RECEIVING UP TO 300 CALLS A DAY
By Michael Norton STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, MAY 3, 2012….Distressed Massachusetts residents have pounded a week-old state hotline with as many as 300 calls a day seeking assistance to prevent their homes from being foreclosed upon. “We’ve gotten about a 1,000 phone calls,” Attorney General Martha Coakley told Fox 25 during an…