BusinessWeek reveals how businesses are profiting from the nation's working poor.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008:
In the News: After months of investigation by federal immigration authorities, agents today raided a House of Raeford Farms chicken processing plant in Greenville, South Carolina, detaining more than 300 workers. Watch Exposé's "20,000 Cuts a Day" for the story of The Charlotte Observer's extraordinary investigation into working conditions at House of Raeford and throughout the industry, and read the paper's ongoing coverage.

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Wednesday, September 17, 2008:

In the News: The first large human study of Bisphenol A (BPA) exposures finds adults exposed to higher amounts of BPA were more likely to report having heart disease and diabetes. In a meeting of its science advisory board yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration maintained that BPA is safe. Read about the latest research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and updates on the controversy over BPA from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Plus, on the Moyers Blog: BusinessWeek reporters answer your questions about the maximum interest rate companies can charge, financial literacy tests for borrowers, and whether the working poor are being "exploited" by current business practices.

Monday, August 18, 2008:
In the News: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration weighs in on the safety of Bisphenol A (BPA). Read the latest from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the FDA's draft report. Watch Exposé's "Chemistry War Zone" to learn about the controversy surrounding this chemical, which is found not only in household plastics and the linings of metal cans, but also in 93% of the people tested by the Centers for Disease Control.

Friday, August 8, 2008: This week on Exposé: a new episode online and on Bill Moyers Journal (check local listings). Is the cost of being poor on the rise? Lower-income families have long paid more for food, housing and other basic necessities. But corner bodegas, pawn shops, and rent-to-own furniture stores, often staples of poor neighborhoods, have been joined by some newer, bigger competition in recent years.  The finance industry that brought the nation subprime mortgages has now come to town seeking riches in the form of high-interest, high-fee loans. Holding out the promise of credit for everything from cars to computers to medical bills, these new businesses - backed by some well-known financial industry players - have moved in, leading low-income consumers into a potentially unending cycle of debt.

Read all the original reporting and listen to a podcast with BusinessWeek's John Byrne, Brian Grow and Keith Epstein on the story behind "The Poverty Business." Crunch the numbers on the new economics of the poverty business. Ask the reporters about their investigation by submitting questions to the Blog on the Bill Moyers Journal site.