Foundation Journal

Missouri workers face unprecedented attacks on their livelihoods, especially as they try to weather the ongoing economic recession. Missouri legislators are working this legislative session to further reduce state TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) benefits and force applicants to undergo drug testing . No pending legislation is requiring corporate executives or employees of large businesses receiving government subsidies to be tested for drugs, though fraud and corruption by those recipients of government benefits greatly exceed fraud by low-income workers. Missouri already provides one of the lowest allowable receipt of state TANF benefits in the U.S.; it's one of 15 states that max out a family's annual benefits to between 10 and 20% of poverty level. The federal poverty level is $18,310 for a family of three. Over the last 15 years, the national TANF caseload has declined by 60 percent, even as poverty and deep poverty have worsened. The numbers of fam...

A report highlighted on Huffington Post showed KC ranked #8 among "The U.S. Cities Hit Hardest By The Recession". The full report based on a study by the Brookings Institute and the London School of Economics focused on two key indicators -- employment gains and income growth -- of a cities health or resilience during the recession. The global financial crisis of the late 2000s precipitated an economic downturn of such magnitude and reach that many now refer to the period as the “Great Recession.” According to the International Monetary Fund, global economic output, which had grown at an annual rate of 3.2 percent from 1993 to 2007, actually shrank by 2 percent from 2008 to 2009. A precarious economic recovery is now underway. Kansas City's employment rate dropped 2.8% during the 2007-2009 recession and another 2.8% during the 2009-2010 period the authors describe as "recovery". The chart shows Kansas City ranked among cities around the world, but #8 a...