Thursday, January 13, 2011

Foreclosures Hit Record

Jan. 13 2011 | Home foreclosures are topping 1 million for the first time ever in 2010, with Nishu Sood, HIS Analysis.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Delta Smelt & Undocumented Farm Workers: How Federal Policy Is Failing CA's Central Valley

California's Central Valley is a 450 mile long stretch of flat and fertile land that produces much of the food that we enjoy every day. But the people in small towns like Mendota (the cantaloupe capital of the world) are suffering these days, in part due to two federal policies.

In order to protect a threatened fish species called the Delta Smelt, much of the water that used to be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to farms on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley is now allowed to flow into the ocean. The result is predictable: hundreds of thousands of acres of farm land lies fallow and tens of thousands of jobs have been lost. In Mendota, the unemployment rate is over 40% and food lines are the norm.

But people going hungry in a region dominated by agriculture is only one of the contradictions in the Central Valley.

Nearly all the valley's farm workers are immigrants from Mexico and Central America, and many of them are undocumented. These people are crucial to the valley's economy, but they're breaking the law according to the federal government.

To learn more about the Central Valley and its discontents, we spoke to Robert Silva, mayor of Mendota; Kim Sullivan, a small business owner who makes gear drives for irrigation pumps; Maria Angel, a cafe owner and GED instructor; and Chris Collins, who recently authored a special Fresno Bee series about illegal immigration called "In Denial".
Approximately 8 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

Visit Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Portugal Bailout Inevitable

Jan. 11 2011 | Portugal says it is doing all it can to avoid external aid, but the country is "just a small economy in the massive sea of the euro zone", Piers Curran, head of trading at Amplify Trading told CNBC. "Portugal will inevitably have to ask for a bailout because the bond yields will not allow them to continue to fund their deficit," he said.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Portugal Under Pressure

Jan. 10 2011 | Portugal is under pressure to seek EU/IMF Aid, with CNBC's Guy Johnson.

2011 The Year of Financial Defense - Victor Adair

Victor Adair with a look ahead at 2011