ABC News has a special report this week on America’s Middle Class and Economic Concerns.
The on-line content that compliments the ABC World News with Diane Sawyer reports includes these details:
Average incomes for people who call themselves middle class are about $55,000 a year, versus about $35,000 for those who call themselves working class [...]

My co-worker Charles Slat followed up on the annual Board of Review tax assessment appeal process to see what was happening with property values this year in Monroe County, Mich.
And Charles had this report for Sunday’s edition of The Monroe Evening News: Fewer seek tax appeals.
Here’s the sidebar: Land values likely to keep falling.

The Detroit Free Press has a Cover Story package starting today about underwater mortgages. There are lots of charts and articles that include average home sale prices, unemployment rates and foreclosure filings in Michigan.
The piece that should be a must-read for any Michigan resident considering such a move is Lenders crack down. A snippet:
Many states [...]

The headlines from Michigan and Ohio are frustrating to read these days.
Someone lost his job because of budget cuts. Another office has scheduled unpaid furlough days every two weeks. The food pantry organizers are reporting higher demand on their services. The debate is boiling as to whether to issue another extension for jobless benefits.
If you [...]

And now from the Just for Fun files …
CNN reports that Spider-Man’s alter ego Peter Parker will soon be unemployed.

The Detroit News has this report today: Divorcing couples leave out lawyers.
A snippet:
With depressed home values and a dicey job market, divorces in Metro Detroit are down, as unhappy couples ride out the financial storm, the theory goes.
But of those who do file for divorce, more are financially strapped and duking it out [...]

The Detroit Free Press is reporting on the increasing popularity of a folk custom observed by some Michigan homeowners who seek help from above.
The tradition involves burying a small statue of St. Joseph in the yard of the home you want to sell.
A snippet from St. Joseph getting more prayers:
“Our sales on the St. [...]

I overheard a conversation the other day in which someone remarked how it seems like some southeast Michigan residents are spending quite a bit of money these days, despite the recession.
“How do they do it?” he wondered.
Well, one can talk about budget-cutting details all day. I’ve written many such posts myself. Go to my Downsized [...]

The Toledo Blade has a report today that 26 percent of borrowers in Ohio and 39 percent in Michigan owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

The Charlie’s Travels series for the Detroit News has this very sad look at the metro Detroit job environment today: Blue-collar workers hanging on by a thread.
A snippet:
Schaefer Screw is in an industrial section of Garden City north of Ford Road, about two miles west of Detroit.
My brother Bill Parker and his wife [...]

If you live in Michigan, it’s hard to ignore the potential impact of state budget cuts on the K-12 public school districts. (Article from today’s edition of The Monroe Evening News.)
To be fair, this school budget crisis is not entirely Lansing’s fault. The  legislators can only allocate whatever money is coming in. There is a [...]

This piece by The Atlantic is getting a lot of links and buzz, and for good reason. You do want to read it. How a new jobless era will transform America.
A snippet:
A few of the solutions—like more-aggressive support for the unemployed, and employer tax credits or other subsidies to get people back to [...]

I’ve seen several headlines on the recent Center for Labor Market Studies research about who is getting hit by the recession. But Jackie at the MLive Michigan Job Search blog has pretty much nailed the analysis:
Their findings are stunning. If you used to make more than $30,000 but less than $70,000, you’re in [...]

Life is pretty rough in southeast Michigan these days, but it’s no picnic either for our neighbors and friends in northwest Ohio. Just drive 15 miles on I-75 from Monroe, Mich., to Toledo, Ohio, and here is a headline of the day …
The Toledo Blade is reporting today US ranks Toledo as nation’s 8th-most impoverished.
A [...]

The Michigan Job Search blog at MLive has this report: Kelly services sees steady rise in temporary staffing in Michigan.
A snippet:
Michigan’s temporary staffing jobs are on the increase as well, according to Chris Stark, Troy, Michigan-based Kelly Services territory leader for Detroit. “Temporary staffing serves as a bellwether for permanent hiring, and [...]