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Our list of the best student credit cards features two Discover credit cards: the Discover it® Student Cash Back and the Discover it® Student chrome. Compare Discover it Student Cash Back and Student Chrome Discover it® Student Cash BackDiscover it® Student chrome Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Read our review Read Our Review A looong arrow, pointing rightNeither the Discover it® Student Cash Back nor Discover it® Student chrome offer a conventional welcome bonus. In case it's not clear at first glance, the rewards structure offered by the Discover it® Student Cash Back is almost universally preferable to that offered by Discover it® Student chrome. Given the similarities between the Discover it® Student chrome and Discover it® Student Cash Back, a comparison of the two boils down to their different rewards structures, and on that count, the Discover it® Student Cash Back is unequivocally superior.

☆ Old trailer parks are being torn down, driving up homelessness as one of the last options for low-income renters fades away
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Anita Snow | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Residents of mobile home parks in Arizona are being asked to leave, so student housing can be built. Mobile homes, not always mobile, are hard to repair so they're being razed. "We are in the deepest affordable housing crisis we've ever experienced," said Joanna Carr, acting head of the Arizona Housing Coalition. Efforts under way to revitalize old mobile homes have limits. Many park residents are Spanish-speaking immigrants earning minimum wage as landscapers or restaurant workers.

☆ For-Profit Schools to Face Penalties for High Debt Loads, Low Incomes of Graduates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Gabriel T. Rubin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-profit-schools-to-face-penalties-for-high-debt-loads-low-incomes-of-graduates-a2234cd8

☆ Blue-collar workers could save the US from recession as the tech industry withers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Andy Kiersz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

After a pandemic-era tech jobs boom — and now bust — more and more Americans are returning to blue-collar work for better pay and more security. As AI stands poised to potentially remake white-collar work, blue-collar work may emerge even more resilient. The Biden administration has been devoted to turning that around, pouring billions into projects devoted to bringing manufacturing jobs back stateside. And another key to the puzzle is treating blue-collar work with respect, like any other work — including high-paying tech jobs. Are you thinking of taking the plunge into blue-collar work, or have you already?

☆ Quiche is the official coronation food. Prices are up 21% in a year
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Still, quiche from a store is just one of a number of items that are outpacing the painful rise in British food prices, according to the ONS analysis. Average annual food price inflation was more than 19% that month. Food price crisisUK taxpayers will pay tens of millions of pounds towards the cost of the King’s coronation, according to estimates published by British media. But, for many Britons, including fans of the royals, the expense feels particularly galling while millions of people struggle to make ends meet as prices rise. Food price rises show no signs of pulling back.

☆ As cost of living crisis bites, some Brits are questioning spending money on glitzy coronation As cost of living crisis bites, some Brits are questioning spending money on glitzy coronation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

The church operates the cafe alongside a food bank which offers free food, clothes, household items and other necessities to locals who are struggling. When it first opened before the pandemic, the food bank was serving mostly homeless people. Liz Coopey, left, a volunteer at the Given Freely Freely Given food bank in Doncaster, helps local resident Angela Davis with her shopping bags. The Given Freely Freely Given food bank in Doncaster offers its clients other items than just food, including household goods and clothing. Liz Coopey, one of the volunteers there, said she understands the idea of having to rely on a food bank might be scary to many.

CNN —Growing up, Sindile Mavundla would cycle to school every day on a red BMX bicycle – then a rarity in Khayelitsha, a township in Cape Town, South Africa. In Africa, in addition to Mavundla, there is a bicycle mayor in Botswana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, and two in Nigeria. As bicycle mayor of Cape Town, Mavundla is on a mission to create a more diverse and accessible cycling culture in South Africa. He has also worked with mobility non-profit Qhubeka to donate 1,220 bikes to Thembelihle High School, in Cape Town. “If you look at the poorer people in South Africa, a lot of their money goes in public transport.

☆ US consumer confidence hits nine-month low; housing market bottoming out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Consumers have shown resilience despite high inflation and a rise in interest rates, keeping the economy afloat, thanks to a strong labor market. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 101.3, the lowest reading since July 2022, from 104.0 in March. The survey's so-called labor market differential, derived from data on respondents' views on whether jobs are plentiful or hard to get, rose to 37.3 from 36.5 in March, consistent with a tight labor market. "Take consumer purchase plans with a grain of salt," said Tim Quinlan, a senior economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina. That skepticism also extended to home purchase plans.

☆ UK food banks give out record amount as rising living costs drive hardship
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest food bank network said the amount of emergency food parcels it distributed rose 37% to a record 3 million in the year to March as more people faced hardship in a cost-of-living crisis that shows little sign of easing. The Trussell Trust, which supports a network of 1,300 food bank centres across the United Kingdom, said on Wednesday more than a million parcels were provided for children. It said over the year, 760,000 people used a food bank in its network for the first time, an increase of 38% year-on-year. This included an unprecedented rise in the number of employed people, who are no longer able to balance a low income against rising living costs. The Trussell Trust also noted that the number of parcels provided in the year to March was more than double the annual amount distributed by food banks five years ago.

in order to cast their ballot when polling stations open in local elections next week, sparking concern that some parts of the electorate will in effect be disenfranchised by the change. Large parts of England vote in local council elections on May 4, and a national election is expected next year. In Northern Ireland and many countries in Europe, the need to produce photo ID is established and not unusual. But rapid adoption of this new system in England leaves campaigners fearing that voters will be caught out by the change. "There's a lot of risk in doing what is essentially the biggest change to our elections for a generation," she said.

☆ A Maine senator lays out why everyone should be a YIMBY: Building more housing could bring families extra income and help solve the labor shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, told Insider the lack of affordable housing is "a national crisis." Maine is facing a severe shortage as it's welcomed a surge of new residents in recent years. The law also eliminated all single-family zoning, eliminates some regulatory restrictions on multi-unit homes, and incentivizes the construction of affordable housing. New Mainers, though welcomed in an aging state in need of more workers, have exacerbated the housing shortage. A lack of affordable housing is central: the state housing authority reported last year that the average price of a house in nearly every county in Maine was unaffordable for the average household income.

☆ How to avoid getting dropped from Medicaid as states narrow coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

As a pandemic-era policy winds down, millions of people on Medicaid may lose their coverage — even though they remain eligible, advocates say. For the last three years, due to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, states have been required to provide continuous Medicaid coverage to enrollees in order to get federal funding. That meant people on Medicaid couldn't be dropped from the program during that time. "From March 2020 to March 2023, people could only enter Medicaid, and no one was at risk of losing coverage," said Kosali Simon, professor of health economics at the O'Neill School at Indiana University. Here's how to avoid losing your Medicaid coverage if you believe you remain eligible.

☆ Gen Zs don't have a lot of money, but they're traveling anyway
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Gen Zs aren't easing into the travel market — they are exploding into it. Source: Morning ConsultYet unlike past generations, Gen Zs aren't waiting until they have high-paying jobs or a nest egg of savings to travel. Rather, "they are finding ways to fit it into their budgets now," according to Morning Consult's report on Gen Z travel trends. Only 11% Gen Zs who travel frequently come from households earning $100,000 or more annually, according to Morning Consult. Gen Zs and millennials also want — and will shell out more for — pools and pet-friendly accommodations, according to Hopper's "2023 Travel Trends Report."

☆ How Severe Is the Housing Shortage? It Depends on How You Define ‘Shortage’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Josh Zumbrun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

How many new homes does the U.S. need to build to restore normalcy to the housing market? While everyone seems to agree there’s a housing shortage, there’s little agreement on its magnitude. The National Low Income Housing Coalition says the U.S. has a shortage of 7.3 million units, Realtor.com says 6.5 million, mortgage-finance company Fannie Mae says 4.4 million and Up for Growth, a policy group focused on the housing shortage, says 3.8 million units. John Burns Research & Consulting, a real-estate industry consultant, puts it at just 1.7 million.

UnitedHealth is among the largest players in the Medicare Advantage market, where private insurers offer an alternative to the original Medicare - the federal government's health insurance plan for people aged 65 and older or those with certain disabilities. Medicare and Medicaid memberships make up a third of the company's health insurance business. It added 655,000 Medicare Advantage members and 570,000 Medicaid members in the quarter. Meanwhile, a slow recovery in non-urgent procedures helped lower medical costs at its insurance unit, driving the company's first-quarter profit above expectations. The company's medical cost ratio - the percentage of payout on claims compared with premiums - came in at 82.2%.

☆ Analysis: No China, no deal: Bid to break sovereign debt logjams gets weary thumbs up
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Libgeorge Marc Jones | Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - The latest bid by the world's leading institutions and creditors to speed up debt restructurings and get bankrupt countries back on their feet has been greeted by a mix of cautious optimism and weary scepticism by veteran crisis watchers. The somewhat loose framework around sovereign restructurings has seen Beijing seek to influence the traditional rules of engagement in these processes. The Common Framework platform introduced by leading G20 nations in 2020 aimed to bring all creditors, including China, together and streamline negotiations. Anna Ashton, director of China research at Eurasia Group, said this week’s developments underscored the benefits for China to give some ground on some of its concerns. "China is a difficult partner to talk to but we need China at the table for the solution of debt problems, because otherwise we won't see any progress," Lindner said.

☆ No China, no deal: Bid to break sovereign debt logjams gets weary thumbs up
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Libgeorge Marc Jones | Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

☆ Young people in Greater China are blowing their paychecks every month — even if they don't have to
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"Yue guang zu" ("moonlight clan") refers young singles in Greater China who go broke at the end of each month, or live paycheck to paycheck. Hsu belongs to a group of people in Taiwan, typically young and single workers, called the "yue guang zu" — the so-called "moonlight clan." Eric Hsu Civil engineerBut when a serious knee injury took him out of work for two weeks without pay, Hsu realized he was unable to support himself. "Young people would rather give up that dream and spend money on things they are guaranteed to get today." After his experience, he canceled his credit cards two years ago and committed to saving one third of his salary each month.

☆ Churches are building tiny homes across the US to help house the homeless
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Churches are working with homeless charities to build micro homes across the US, The AP reported. The homes can be built on spare church land and use existing water and electricity supplies. Tiny homes are becoming an increasingly popular solution to help tackle the homelessness crisis. APWashington-based social purpose company Pallet has seen rising interest in its tiny homes that cost $5,500 and can be set up in less than an hour. Donald Whitehead, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, told The AP he welcomed the churches' moves and regarded tiny homes as a "great emergency option".

☆ You can now test drive solutions to the Social Security crisis from raising the retirement age to cutting benefits in a new Animal Crossing-like game
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An online tool from the American Academy of Actuaries lets users simulate various Social Security proposals. Users can make decisions about what Social Security measures get funded, how, and when, and then see the results. "There are ways to address the Social Security challenge," the site tells visitors upon entering. And the game walks you through the different types of problems that people depending on Social Security payments encounter. "It's important to keep Social Security strong," the website tells visitors.

REUTERS/Thomas Suen/File PhotoJOHANNESBURG, March 28 (Reuters) - China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building "Belt & Road" infrastructure, according to a study published Tuesday. People's Bank of China (PBOC) swap lines accounted for $170 billion of the rescue financing, including in Suriname, Sri Lanka and Egypt. China's rescue lending is "opaque and uncoordinated," said Brad Parks, one of the report's authors, and director of AidData, a research lab at William & Mary College in the United States. China is negotiating debt restructurings with countries including Zambia, Ghana and Sri Lanka and has been criticised for holding up the processes. In response, it has called on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to also offer debt relief.

☆ Number of Chinese kindergartens drops in 2022 for first time in 15 years-media
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HONG KONG, March 23 (Reuters) - The number of kindergartens in China has dropped for the first time in 15 years, falling by more than 5,000 on the previous year, financial news outlet Yicai reported, citing data from the country's Education Ministry. There were a total of 289,200 kindergartens nationwide in 2022, the Education Ministry said on Thursday. The fall compared to previous years was due to fewer students enrolled in the kindergartens, Yicai said. The number of rural kindergartens is decreasing along with urbanisation as residents move to more urban cities, Yicai said. China's birth rate last year fell to 6.77 births per 1,000 people, from 7.52 births in 2021, the lowest on record.

☆ Trump's plan to build 10 new American cites is a right-wing dream of 'trad havens for beautiful families,' the internet's favorite architecture critic says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Architecture critic Kate Wagner says Trump's plan to build "freedom cities" is nothing new. There's a whole eco-system of classical architecture proponents on Twitter with Roman statues as their avatars who decry modernism. The order made classical architecture — think columns, marble, symmetry — the preferred style for federal buildings. Wagner says Trump's embrace of classical architecture echoes the right-wing war on modernism that began in the 1980s. "For some reason, there also emerged alongside of those advocates a group of people who started to make statements that people neurologically prefer classical architecture."

I had very limited access to financial support for college, so I dropped out after a semester. I dropped out of college after a semester, and it has worked out great for me. And that's when I realized that college wasn't a necessity. College is worth it for many, but it wasn't for meSo, is college worth it? Based on my experience, I don't want my son to think he doesn't need to go to college.

☆ Bank of America: Buy these 22 stocks that will outperform as people look for ways to save in a recession that will push even high-income Americans to spend less
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The firm has picked the stocks it thinks will win — and lose — as customers cut their spending. Bank of America thinks a recession is coming, despite the fact that the US economy is still holding up fairly well right now. "We see risks to higher-end exposed US stocks this year, in part due to an amplified wealth effect," Hall wrote. Hall thinks those could include winter clothing maker Canada Goose, home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, electronics retailer Best Buy, and consumer products companies like Clorox and Kimberly-Clark. But the following 22 companies all have "Buy" ratings from Bank of America, and Hall expects them to benefit from the oncoming economic slump as high-earners cut back on spending.

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