GUEST: Jen Gagnon, Food Service Worker, Edmunds School, Burlington AFSCME 1343, 3 years Food Service, Child in BHS
NEWS: Defense Funding.
By the end of 2008, the United States will spend three-quarters of a trillion dollars on defense – this is more then the defense budgets of the rest of the world combined. Adjusted for inflation, the Pentagon's latest budget will be the highest since the end of World War II. Yet, over the past seven years, troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have faced equipment shortages and lack of proper armor.
Direct Effects in VT –
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HUD funding has been cut. The current waiting list for Section 8 housing is 2 years long and they aren’t accepting any new applicants
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Constraints on other stuff too. Health Care, lunch food programs, education.
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Foreclosure Rate in VT
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Up 26% in 2007 from 2006 to a total of 1206 – very modest compared
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Nationally this number went up 75%
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“A Vermont household would need an annual income of $66,000 to purchase a home. 67% of Vermont’s households have incomes below that figure”