#middle-class

#middle-class

Happy trends are easy to overlook.The bad news you probably already know.Mortgage costs are brutal at the moment, putting homeownership out of reach for millions of Americans.The pace of inflation is coming down but remains high, meaning consumer goods keep getting more expensive.Businesses are bracing for a recession.

China's Foreign Ministry condemned a resolution passed by the European Parliament concerning Hong Kong's shrinking rights to free speech, even as Beijing seeks to restore economic links with the EU.The EU body overwhelmingly adopted a resolution Thursday citing the deterioration of the city's freedoms since the imposition by Beijing of a sweeping national security law in 2020.

Obama takes to the road to promote his economic agenda with other priorities in limbo President says the "stakes could not be higher" for job creation Top Republicans in Washington mock Obama's agenda Jacksonville, Florida CNN For the third time in two days, President Obama left Washington on Thursday to deliver the message that it's time for politicians to refocus on economic policies that help the middle class.

D iscounts on the cost of hiring a Boris bike could be given to low-income Londoners under an ambitious plan to boost cycling in London by a third by 2030.Transport for London wants to increase the number of daily trips by bike from about 1.2m to 1.6m by the end of the decade by expanding the appeal of cycling to a more diverse range of Londoners and moving away from focusing on cycle commuters.

A guide to the features that define different styles.Okay, yes, sure: DC is a city of monuments and museums and those federal buildings every American knows.But it's also, crucially, a city of rowhouses, and that important history is explored in a deeply researched new book, The Row House in Washington, DC.

About 10 percent of offers to New York City's most elite public high schools went to Black and Latino students this year, education officials announced on Thursday, in a school system where they make up more than two-thirds of the student population overall.The numbers which have remained stubbornly low for years placed a fresh spotlight on racial and ethnic disparities in the nation's largest school system.

A few months ago, a rumor started spreading through the leafy streets of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, and eventually made its way to the local city councilman, Justin Brannan.Mr. Brannan's constituents, he said, complained that someone had built an illegal driveway next to their home by drilling through the concrete sidewalk.

Calls by senior Tories to abolish inheritance tax (IHT) have been met with scepticism from senior economists and tax experts.More than 50 Conservative MPs, including former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, have urged prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt to scrap the tax, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Spreading across a highway so that no cars could pass, 100 or so protesters banged saucepans in a deafening racket that echoed through this remote valley of eastern France last month.They were marching toward a nearby castle where the French president was due to arrive, determined to stand in his way and create cacophony around the visit.

As part of a wide ranging interview on TV channel TF1 on Monday night during which he also announced that France would begin training fighter pilots for Ukraine Macron promised 2 billion in tax cuts for middle earners by the end of his presidential term in 2027.He had previously said that he wanted to help those people who are, too rich to be helped [ie do not qualify for benefits or government financial aid] but not rich enough to live well.

Fred Siegel, a passionate urban historian whose rejection of the liberal establishment's response to crime, poverty and public civility transformed him from a spokesman for the Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern in 1972 to a voter for Donald J. Trump in 2020, died on Sunday at his home in Brooklyn.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee on Tuesday announced her campaign for US Senate in California, joining a competitive Democratic primary to fill retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein's seat.Today I am proud to announce my candidacy for U.S. Senate.I've never backed down from doing what's right.And I never will.

Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee producer, is about to change the game for organic coffee.Many reading this might be surprised to learn that Vietnam even makes coffee, but trust meyou're likely already drinking it.Even the biggest names in specialty coffee source a significant amount from Vietnam; that house blend from you-know-who is usually 40% Vietnamese beans, but no one dares to claim it.

With the recent Chicago Auto Show, talk of electric cars has kicked into high gear.It's hard to turn on a radio or television and not hear joyful coverage of our grand transition to electric.But forgotten amid all the happy hype is the fact that electric vehicles are still a small percentage of the whole.

The question of China's "investability" first came up late last year when Beijing's harsh regulatory crackdowns on big tech and real estate companies wiped trillions of dollars off foreign investors' books.The answer seems sealed after President Xi Jinping outmanoeuvred rival political fractions to pack China's top leadership with his long-time aides at the Communist Party's Congress last weekend.

Call them snowplow parents, lawnmower parents, or helicopter parents - the point is that their care is more mechanical than mothering of fathering.These parents clear a path and remove obstacles so their kids can get ahead without having to avoid or surmount obstacles.Sure, this all comes from a place of love, but it also comes from selfishness and status obsession.

(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

Higher-income people are fleeing California to live in lower-tax states.For years, we denied that.Maybe it wasn't even happening.But it definitely is now.It's logical given our high taxes, high housing costs and high costs of living, period.And there's new evidence of it.

Where else but Chicago could a nickname like "Decent Dever" be the kiss of political death for a mayor?Elected 100 years ago, William Dever was defeated for reelection four years later by William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson, a former mayor and awesome boodler.Graft is an art form in Chicago, and Dever was an uncompromising apostle of reform.

If President Biden sometimes sounded a lot like Donald Trump during his State of the Union address, boasting about a record of economic nationalism, the imitation may soon run the other way.Biden's attacks on congressional Republicans for being allegedly eager to cut Medicare and Social Security were a clear preview of how he hopes to run against the G.O.P. in 2024.

WASHINGTON Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who emerged as one of President Donald J. Trump's chief congressional tormentors from his perch atop the House Intelligence Committee, announced on Thursday that he would seek the Senate seat long held by Dianne Feinstein.I wish I could say the threat of MAGA extremists is over, he said in a video on Twitter.

Nationwide polling published this week shows that the majority of Americans don't believe GOP leadership in the House of Representatives will change things for the better.The results from the Monmouth University poll, conducted from December 8-12, also demonstrate that most Americans don't believe the Republican Party will enact policies that will benefit them.

Dozens of American companies are in Vietnam this week in hopes of pushing further into the fast-growing Southeast Asian economy, which has emerged as an attractive potential alternative to China as companies seek to diversify their markets and supply chains.Senior executives from 52 US firms are taking part in the biggest business mission ever organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council, the trade lobby told CNN.

Starbucks will open more than 400 stores across Asia Pacific in 2023, marking its biggest expansion in the region in five years.The coffee chain plans to add the new outlets in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos and the Philippines, where it aims to expand beyond major cities.It will open one outlet in Laos, a Southeast Asian market the company only entered last year, it said in a statement Thursday.

Swell the full chorus to Solomon's praise, a very full chorus sings in Handel's Solomon, elegantly performed by the English Concert and Clarion Choir under Harry Bicket on Sunday at Carnegie Hall.In the 1730s, as Handel's London audiences gradually broadened into the middle class from the aristocracy, they lost much of their interest in his Italian-language operas, which had thrilled the cognoscenti for years.

With the recent Chicago Auto Show, talk of electric cars has kicked into high gear.It's hard to turn on a radio or television and not hear joyful coverage of our grand transition to electric.But forgotten amid all the happy hype is the fact that electric vehicles are still a small percentage of the whole.

Democrat Nikki Budzinski has been declared the winner in the 13th U.S. House District.The Associated Press called the race for Budzinski, reporting her winning 54.7% of the vote to Republican Regan Deering's 45.3% with 94% of precincts reporting.Budzinski, of Springfield, ran in one of the tighter downstate congressional races against Deering of Decatur in the 13th District, which encompasses Champaign on the north before snaking southwest through Decatur and Springfield into East St.

Before he was a dungeon-pilfering rogue, a Starfleet captain, or a handsome prince, Chris Pine was an English major.And while he's ended uplike many an English major before himmaking a living in a different field, dude still loves to read.And he reads everything when we met at his house in Los Angeles a few months ago, the volumes in his on-deck circle ranged from Lucy Ellman's Ducks, Newburyporta stream-of-consciousness novel told in a single run-on sentence that stretches over 1,000 pagesto Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner's page-turner Heat 2. Ahead of our meeting, he'd agreed to give us a top-five list of recent favorites; by the morning of the interview, he'd managed to narrow it down to around twenty.

I used to have, or rather hoard, a lot of books.Still do, I think, at least by the standards of the average home, but I'm doing my best to get rid.In the last couple of years I have given away hundreds.If the thought of this fills you with horror, then maybe look away from this next part, where I confess that sometimes I even put them in the recycling.

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day-but your help is essential.If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us.Thanks for your support!Good Morning, Portland!About the weather.

Want to solve homelessness and make it so people aren't paying nearly all their income on housing?Look to Vienna



Graben Square, Vienna.Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Note: GJEL Accident Attorneys regularly sponsors coverage on Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog California.Unless noted in the story, GJEL Accident Attorneys is not consulted for the content or editorial direction of the sponsored content.

My dad is entitled to a rebate from his electricity provider which got more and more urgent when temperatures dropped to -8C.He doesn't have central heating, he's 6ft 4in but only weighs about 8 stone.He needs the space heater on, but electricity has been costing him 15 a week.To claim the rebate on his behalf which isn't paid in cash, it just credits his account I have to go to a post office with one of three forms of ID: either a passport, a driving licence or a utility bill.

Elections hinge on the people in the middle.The same goes for Jeremy Hunt's autumn economic statement this week.In the space between the statement's modest increases in personal taxes on the richest on the one hand, and its increased support for the poorest on the other, Thursday's package was marked by a major revenue-raising squeeze on the living standards of the many millions in the middle.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says his company has to work on cutting costs globally in order to keep electric vehicles affordable for the middle class.Among the cuts are reducing the number of the automaker's factories because electric vehicles cost about 40% more than those powered by gasoline.Without cost reductions, EVs will be too expensive for the middle class, shrinking the market and driving costs up more, Tavares told reporters Thursday at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas.

In the Housing Act of 1949, Congress set out a laudable goal for one of the world's wealthiest nations: to provide, as soon as feasible, "a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family."More than 70 years later, amid a deepening housing crisis, that objective remains frustratingly unrealized.

Unfinished apartment buildings at the Phoenix City residential project, developed by Country Garden Holdings Co., in Shanghai, China, on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022.The crisis engulfing China's property sector is impacting its biggest developer, with Country Garden's shares and bonds hammered amid fears that a reportedly failed fundraising effort may be a harbinger of waning confidence.

The name Jodana comes from the Hindi word meaning 'to join'.It references not just the modular nature of the cooker, but also its user base, the lower-mid-income residents of Mumbai who gather from all over the country to make a living in India's 'City of Dreams'.The Jodana represents the literal melting pot that is Mumbai, and offers a unique way to combine cooktops as well as cultures and cooking techniques.

Most people do not see a cucumber and turn it into a cream puff, top that with a dill pickle meringue, or pair it with melon sorbet.Then again, most people - or pastry chefs - don't think like Rachel Bossett.They don't fill their molded chocolate bonbons with cheddar-caramel popcorn crunch or mayonnaise caramel.