• I teared up myself when I saw this story on “Today.”

    • Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

      U.S. Unemployment hits 8.5%

    This number doesn’t include the under-employed, i.e. part-time workers, or the folks who’ve just given up.

    The National Endowment for the Arts releases their report on Artist Unemployment Rates (March 4)

  • Artists are unemployed at twice the rate of professional workers, a category in which artists are grouped because of their high levels of education.
  • Unemployment rates for artists have risen more rapidly than for U.S. workers as a whole.
    Artist unemployment rates would be even higher if not for the large number of artists leaving the workforce.
  • Unemployment rose for most types of artist occupations. Artist jobs with higher unemployment rates are performing artists (8.4 percent), fine artists, art directors, and animators (7.1 percent), writers and authors (6.6 percent), and photographers (6.0 percent).
  • The job market for artists is unlikely to improve until long after the U.S. economy starts to recover.


    • Brave New Voices premieres on HBO April 15
    First of all kudos to Kamilah Forbes, who brings the Hip Hop Theatre Festival to NYC, SF, Chicago, and DC (maybe other places). Kamilah is Co-Executive Producer for Russell Simmons Presents Brave New Voices, a youth slam poetry series on HBO. “Def Poetry Jam” meets “American Idol”? Check it out.

      Is Iowa the new California?

    The Iowa Supreme Court this morning upheld a Polk County judge’s 2007 ruling that marriage should not be limited to one man and one woman. DesMoines Register


    I think the trees have reached their peak, but there have been lots of tourists walking along the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Lots of free activities. The parade is tomorrow (Saturday, April 4) along Constitution Avenue. I drove past the Tidal Basin yesterday. But I took a walk past the trees I helped plant in front of a school in my own neighborhood several years ago. The green leaves are starting to sproutm and the wind and rain have been a strain on the petals. Catch them while you can.

    Now the questions: “What is good debt? What is bad debt?”

    Protests in London during the G20 Summit
    Think Buenos Aires, Argentina 2002

    Quote of the Day:
    “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.” President Obama at the meeting of the Financial CEOs as reported to Politico.