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Bumping Along the Economic BottomJuly 22, 2009
Patchwork Nation's Hardship Index a short-term barometer of how communities are faring each month rose in July, indicating that the country's not out of the downturn quite yet. The economic index combines foreclosures, unemployment and gas prices to measure the relative economic pain of Patchwork Nation's different community types. This month's index, unlike last month's positive outlook, revealed that unemployment and foreclosures are both on the rise and gas prices, while relatively low compared to last summer, spiked in June. "I do think we'll be bumping along the bottom for a while in the economy. I just don't see any hopeful signs that we're going to break out of this anytime soon," Project Director Dante Chinni said. Listen to Chinni's full interview:
"Foreclosures were up in almost every one of the 12 community types, except in the Emptying Nests (where) it was flat. Unemployment was up in every one except for Service Worker Centers where it was essentially flat." The small-town Service Worker Centers still have highest hardship scores while Tractor Country communities, places whose economies are driven by agriculture, have the lowest. Read Chinni's full post Bumping along the economic bottom on the Christian Science Monitor's Patchwork Nation site. |
Recent Patchwork Reports
Recent Reports  How to Not Let Mistakes Define YouSkeptics of prison reform should take note of one Anthony Cardenales, a former inmate who did 17 years for homicide. He earned an associate's and then a bachelor's degree through the privately-funded Bard Behind Bars, and is working his way up the management ladder at an electronics recycling company -- and working up fast.
 Saving: Brought To You By the Letter 'S'How to get us to save, the importance of self-control. Weighty issues deserving of discussion in the light of last Friday's visit to Sesame Street. But what America wants to know, I'm guessing: What's it like to interview Grover? (Not the tax-axing Norquist, of course, but the non-political blue blur of fur whose first name alone suffices, in the manner of Madonna, Bono, or Snuffleupagus.)
 A Young Vet and His DogIn this web exclusive video, we profile 26 year old Chris Goehner, who deployed twice to Iraq as a hospital navy corpsman (which is similar to a paramedic, Goehner says). He's one of the 18 1/2 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan vets who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression since coming home.
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