Economy

July 27, 2005 - As Congress gears up for a vote tonight on the Central American Free Trade Agreement -- with Texas Rep. Tom DeLay promising a win -- the heart of the fight is in the U.S. South. As the Raleigh News & Observer reported on Monday, the region just isn't going for it:

July 25, 2005 - Here at Facing South, we haven't commented much on the massive upheavals in the AFL-CIO, which are now playing out in the labor federation's convention in Chicago, starting today.

July 15, 2005 - As I write, the president is jetting towards North Carolina again, this time to fluff up sagging support for CAFTA. What is it with Bush and adjacent Southern states? First it was the sojourn to a remote (read: no protesters) location in the Smoky Mountains on Earth Day to celebrate the undermining of air pollution laws.

July 12, 2005 - I blogged recently on how the Greyhound bus line is cutting stops to small towns all across the country, including much of the Southeast.

June 21, 2005 - Amtrak isn't the only transportation system whose service to small-town and rural areas is at risk. "The Greyhound has always been the savior of small-town America," notes the St. Petersburg Times. But not for long.

June 21, 2005 - The recent spate of thefts and lost records at banks and credit companies, which have rendered millions of consumers vulnerable to fraud and identity theft, is nothing new. From Inner City Press:

June 13, 2005 - Today the excellent Center for Responsible Lending -- based here in Durham, N.C. -- announced a major court victory out of Georgia in the ongoing battle to rein in predatory bankers, especially pay-day lending operations.

June 10, 2005 - Yesterday brought news that's becoming all too familiar in western North Carolina:

April 29, 2005 - Today is Worker's Memorial Day, our time to remember the 15 workers who die every day on the job, largely because of dangerous working conditions. The following post from Confined Space is long but worth the read. And as Mother Jones said, "pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."

April 16, 2005 - Katrina vanden Heuvel at The Nation has a post up today about the recent victory in the Maryland General Assembly, which passed legislation requiring companies with 10,000 or more employees to spend at least 8% of their payroll on health benefits for workers.