This week's news on the work-life conflict, care, the care crisis, the care economy and human well-being.
Friday, May 11, 2012
ARTICLES
From: The Nation
By: Robert Scheer
"Who will speak for the rights of the unborn now that Rick Santorum is gone from the race? Let me give it a whirl from the perspective of one whose own unwed mother had several abortions before yours truly was permitted to emerge."
http://www.thenation.com/article/167363/youre-your-own-kids-end-welfare-we-know-it
RADIO
Never-Married Parents Get Help from Special Court
From: NPR's Morning Edition
By: Sasha Aslanian
"Across the U.S., 40 percent of children are now born to unmarried parents. This demographic shift, primarily among younger, low-income parents, can pose a challenge to a child support system designed chiefly to extract money from paychecks."
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/07/152157287/never-married-parents-get-help-from-special-court
Long-Term-Care Insurance: Who Needs It?
From: NPR's Morning Edition
By: Marilyn Geewax
"Americans routinely buy all sorts of insurance - for cars, homes, health and even pets and boats. But when it comes to long-term-care insurance, relatively few sign up. Out of more than 313 million Americans, only about 8 million have any such protection, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. The low participation rate largely reflects the high cost of long-term-care insurance."
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/08/151970188/long-term-care-insurance-who-needs-it
'Sandwich Generation' Must Make Tough Choices
From: NPR's Morning Edition
By: Natasha Shamone-Gilmore
"Record numbers of families consist of adult children, parents and grandparents under one roof. NPR correspondent David Greene and senior business editor Marilyn Geewax talk about the NPR series 'Family Matters: The Money Squeeze," which focuses on the pressures faced by the "sandwich generation.'"
BLOGS
From: The Nation blogs
By: Bryce Covert
"It may be true that men were first lost the majority of jobs, but the last couple of years of the Great Recession have been particularly brutal on women."
http://www.thenation.com/blog/167743/great-recession-pushing-women-out-workforce
Baby Boomers and the Shrinking Work Force
From: Economix, blog from The New York Times
By: Catherine Rampell
"Among the lowlights of the jobs report for April was the news that the share of adults who are either working or looking for work fell. For men, this measure - called the labor force participation rate - was at its lowest level since 1948, when the government first began keeping track."
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/baby-boomers-and-the-shrinking-work-force/?ref=business
Incentive Perversity
From: Economix, a blog from The New York Times
By: Nancy Folbre
"Economic incentives and rewards often encourage short-term bias, seeking an unfair advantage and neglect of others, an economist writes."
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/incentive-perversity/?ref=business
Food Stamps and Unemployment Insurance
From: Economix, a blog from The New York Times
By: Casey B. Mulligan
"A loosening of some rules on food-stamp eligibility and an expected tightening of rules for receiving unemployment insurance may make more people out of work rely on food stamps."
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/food-stamps-and-unemployment-insurance/?ref=business
From: The Nation blogs
By: Salamishah Tillet
"The real problem with the Hollywood obsession with the celebrity baby bump is not what it shows but rather what it hides."
http://www.thenation.com/blog/167778/price-baby-bump