Excerpt from “Poorer, but At Least Not Sicker,” the Economist, September 17, 2009 -
“Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said this week that the recession was probably over. But unemployment could stay high even as output recovers, reckons Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank. She thinks the poverty rate will peak above 14% and stay as high as 13% for a decade or so. Joblessness can scar those who experience it, she worries. People’s skills deteriorate and they may eventually become discouraged from seeking work.”
Excerpt from “The Evolution of Divorce,” National Affairs, Fall 2009 -
“The emergence of the divorce and marriage divide in America exacerbates a host of other social problems. The breakdown of marriage in working-class and poor communities has played a major role in fueling poverty and inequality, for instance. Isabel Sawhill at the Brookings Institution has concluded that virtually all of the increase in child poverty in the United States since the 1970s can be attributed to family breakdown. Meanwhile, the dissolution of marriage in working-class and poor communities has also fueled the growth of government, as federal, state, and local governments spend more money on police, prisons, welfare, and court costs, trying to pick up the pieces of broken families.”
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