“Nickel and Dimed,” author Barbara Ehrenreich takes to the Takeaway stage against the backdrop of the Presidential convention and new economic figures that bear bad news for American workers. Ehrenreich has blazed a trail as the “voice” of the declining middle class and the growing underclass.
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US consumers have been paying 5.2 percent more for their food over the past year. So the BBC world service embarked upon a little global experiment to see how much consumers were being affected. Every week reporters from eight cities around the world visit the same store, buying the exact same items to compare how the price of food fluctuates over time. Richard Collings joins us with the World Service Food Price Index, next on The Takeaway
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Forget Red State - Blue State politics. But don't forget that all politics is local. The Christian Science Monitor's Patchwork Nation project is redefining political geography based on social and economic data, and in the process is clarifying the issues that will matter to Americans come November.
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With only months left in the term, the Bush Administration is taking a hard look at the legacy they are about to leave. But President Bush’s place in history entirely depends on who you ask. Will he be remembered as the man who misled the country, squandered our savings and endorsed torture tactics? Or will he be the man who freed 60 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq, Left No Child Behind and comforted the nation after September 11? These are the questions Peter Baker put to former and current advisers to the President and to the President’s father for his upcoming piece “The Final Days” in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine.
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In the world of fashion, you get what you pay for, and that’s exactly the point Britain’s House of Lords has taken issue with. Clothing chains like H and M, or Forever 21 epitomize this trend of “Fast Fashion”- where it’s in one day and out the next. Does this simply foster a culture of irresponsible waste- or is this what being “fashion forward” means in the year 2008. The Takeaway talks to their own personal shopper of sorts, The Takeaway contributor Mary Elizabeth Williams.
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Three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast; thousands of folks remain in trailers or are still homeless. The barriers to recovery are complex but the struggles exist for the poorest of folks, particularly in the area of housing and jobs. Sharon Hanshaw, a lifelong resident of Biloxi, Mississippi was and remains one of those thousands of Americans still struggling with recovery.
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Caitlin McNally

I drove from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota, this year as a late spring snowstorm was brewing. Interstate 94, near the state line, closed down and the two lane highways and farm roads snaking westward were covered in hard ice and occasional, demonic flurries of drifting snow. I concocted a route around the storm with some helpful farmers at a gas station. My car limped west then north, west then north, on a maze of empty back roads.

Times Picayune reporter Lolis Eric Elie says that Hurricane Katrina has lessons for the nation. From a frail infrastructure, to a flawed emergency response system, to a society divided along race and class lines, Katrina pulled back the curtain on issues that have long plagued the country. As we mark the third year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we check in with Lolis Eric Elie on the state of New Orleans and what the nation can learn from this disaster.
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With energy prices soaring, the economy slumping and global warming fears taking center stage, there is no end of innovative responses to this new world order. But today, hybrid cars, compact fluorescent lights and low-flow shower heads seem old school compared to the latest energy saving trend: the four-day work week.
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Soaring oil prices, coupled with climate change, is making commercial aviation not only unpopular but maybe impossible. Is the mile-high club about to end for good?
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Are you a brand-loyal consumer? Are you a cookie-eater? If so, you may have noticed a void at the supermarket these past five years. The crème-filled Hydrox cookie disappeared from shelves in 2003, but, with a huge marketing push, is being revived by the Kellogg Company at stores this week—sans trans fat. Which brands would you bring back?

Guest: Mark Bittman, The New York Times
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Guest: Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox, Sociology Professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She's been studying women and childlessness for more than a decade.
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Guest: Michael Grynbaum, The New York Times
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Guest: Jad Mouawad, The New York Times, covers the energy industry
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Guests: Cristina, 18, Lori, 33, and Margaret, 81
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Foreclosures are not just yesterday’s headlines but today’s continuing nightmare. The real estate shakeout continues and with it, growing problems for Mayors for cities big and small who have to oversee abandoned properties and neighborhoods now beset with crime, squatters, drug sales, waste, abandonment, disarray and shrinking tax rolls.
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Five years ago today, a power outage blanketed states in the Northeast, Midwest and parts of Canada. Leaving 50 million in the dark, it was the largest blackout in North American history. The outage highlighted the fragility of our electricity system. And with energy demands rising, and economy in a slump and global warming fears taking center stage, "smart grid" technologies could provide solutions.
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Guest: Katharine Abraham, professor of survey methodology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
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New Orleans has experienced a boom in charter schools and a renewed sense and mission for public education. It’s a grand experiment, and Paul Tough, an editor for the New York Times magazine, tracks it in this Sunday’s edition. Is this is a model for the nation or is it yet another dream deferred?
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Guest: Lynn Zinser, New York Times, reporting from Beijing
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Agriculture is a $31-billion industry in California — no state is bigger for farming. But with California in a drought, state-enforced water rationing is forcing farmers to abandon fields and lay off workers. The Takeaway talks to the mayor of Mendota, California, where hundreds have been left hungry, and with Sacramento Bee reporter Matt Weiser about the difficult choices the state is facing.
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One can hardly turn on a screen in the United States without seeing Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. But, in China, coverage of the record-setting team is slim. Contributing to the collective shoulder-shrug, the Chinese haven’t fielded a competitive men’s swim team in many years. On the other hand, Chinese coverage of judo and badminton — even American badminton — dwarf the American equivalent.
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In a section of Los Angeles, the city council has put a moratorium on new fast food restaurants. The measure is intended to promote healthier lifestyles in a working-class area where obesity is a concern. New York has required calorie labels at chain restaurants to combat obesity — where do government responsibility and personal responsibility intersect?
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This week, the media reported on scientists developing materials they say could create a kind of invisibility cloak. The research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation. It’s just one example of “nanomanufacturing,” which the NSF sees as a way to give the United States an edge as industrial manufacturing wanes.
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Guest: Mitch Lawrence, NBA columnist for the New York Daily
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For the fifth week in a row, gas prices fell. And it looks like the nation owes a tip of the hat to the dollar.
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Guest: Patrik Henry Bass, senior editor at ESSENCE magazine
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Times are tough, so people are turning to credit more and more. The Federal Reserve Board says the rate at which consumers borrowed money in June increased more quickly than in any month since November.
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