Business Columnist, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Business columnist at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Bill Virgin
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FROM Bill Virgin
To the Point
Tracking the Great Recession, Region by Region In Detroit, the median price of a home is now estimated at $7500, less than the lowest priced new car on the market. In Lehigh Acres, once a middle-class suburb of Miami, one out of every four people is now on food stamps. What's now being called the Great Recession comes hard on the heels of a massive boom in construction. Construction workers, mostly men without college degrees, are among those most likely to find themselves unemployed. Just as different sectors of the economy are hit to different degrees, so are different regions of the country. Wall Street's been hit hard by unemployment, but New York City is strong and diverse enough to rebuild. Other parts of the country may not be so lucky. We examine the impact of the recession in different regions and their different prospects for economic recovery.
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To the Point
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.