Foreign governments dump U.S. debt at record rate

(Hat tip: KimR) - In a bid to raise cash, foreign central banks and government institutions sold $57.2 billion of U.S. Treasury debt and other notes in January, according to figures released on Tuesday. That is up from $48 billion in December and the highest monthly tally on record going back to 1978. Read more at CNN Read More......

Puerto Rico exports its drug addicts to Chicago

It all started about a year ago when I began noticing more homeless men in the Chicago neighborhood where I work. Back of the Yards is a community that faces some of the city’s toughest problems: joblessness, crime, drug use.  Many of these men would be sitting in doorways or shuffling along, many times asking for money.  One day, I asked one of them: “Where are you from?” He told me a story that I later heard again and again and again.  The men told me they were from Puerto Rico. They were addicted to heroin and they ended up in Chicago because someone in Puerto Rico drove them to the airport and put them on a plane with a one-way ticket to Chicago. They were promised a great rehab place, with over-the-top services and plenty of medical staff. One of them is Angel, a short and dark-skinned man. He’s missing most of his top teeth. He said he came to Chicago from Puerto Rico seven years ago for help kicking a heroin addiction.

Read more at WBEZ
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