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Baby Boomers Are Staying in the Workforce Longer
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2009 Comment (8)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
New data show older folks are working longer, squeezing some young people out of the workforce. From Pew:
When it comes to work, the recession is having a very different impact by age, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends project. The downturn is keeping older adults in the workforce longer and younger adults out of the workforce longer. Both of these trends pre-date the current downturn, both have been intensified by it, and both appear poised to outlast it. They are a result of a mixture of demographic, economic and attitudinal changes.
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Even Another Speech May Not Save Obama's Healthcare Plan
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2009 Comment (16)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The president sure needs to do something to bolster his flagging healthcare reform effort. But I'm not sure one more speech, even if it is an address to a joint session of Congress, is the answer. In fact, one wag suggested he might edge closer to success if he would cut back on the public appearances, he who so clearly prefers a solitary flood of limelight to a shared stage.
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Diane Sawyer Replaces Charles Gibson But Nightly News is Now a Pink Collar Ghetto
Tweet Share on Facebook September 2, 2009 Comment (13)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
That Charlie Gibson is leaving his post as anchor of World News Tonight and Diane Sawyer is replacing him may be emblematic of the declining power of the network evening newscasts. I grew up watching Walter Cronkite as a nightly family activity. I used to work for NBC Nightly News. But I haven't watched a network evening newscast in decades. Now Diane Sawyer will replace Gibson in the anchor's chair.
First Katie, now Diane. It should be an historic moment for female newscasters, who now outnumber men by 2 to 1 on the three major commercial broadcast networks. Instead, it feels like an after-thought.
Funny, I never thought I'd live to see the day when the network newscasts became a pink collar ghetto. But with Rachel Maddow now almost more prominent than Katie Couric and Bill O'Reilly much more frequently in the news than Charlie Gibson, it's fair to say that day has arrived.
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An Iraq Vet Fights For Access to Her Daughter
Tweet Share on Facebook September 1, 2009 Comment (6)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Today's New York Times has a troubling story about a mother who was forced to leave her year-old daughter in order to fulfill her National Guard duties in Iraq. Back a year later, the child's father (not married to the mother) is limiting the mother's access to the child, with permission of a family court judge:
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Obama’s Approval Rating Tumbles as He Learns on the Job
Tweet Share on Facebook September 1, 2009 Comment (63)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The President is slipping down a slick slope in public approval ratings. A new Rasmussen poll shows his public support down by 19 points since the beginning of the year:
Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That's the lowest level of total approval yet measured for Obama. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove. Eighty-one percent (81%) of Democrats approve while 83% of Republicans disapprove. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 66% disapprove.
