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Monica Roberts takes photographs of

an empty storefront in downtown

Nanticoke during ‘ ’ sponsored by Poverty

Scholars Program Saturday afternoon.

S. John Wilkin/The Times Leader

Rebekah Phillips, from Media

Mobilizing Project, shoots video of

downtown Nanticoke during a ‘Reality Tour’ sponsored by

Poverty Scholars Program Saturday afternoon. She was one

of nearly 110 community organizers from around the country

participating in the program.

S. John Wilkin/The Times Leader

Select images available for purchase in theTimes Leader Photo Store

July 10

Community organizers get lesson ineconomics through Northeastern Pa. tourPoverty Scholars Program aims to abolish poverty by havingleaders study the past and present.By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com

Business Writer

NANTICOKE – Some of what James Hasalem saw on East Main Street reminded him of

back home in Vermont.

There were empty lots and storefronts and a mix of older and

newer buildings along the main thoroughfare in downtown

Nanticoke.

“It’s very similar to a lot of our towns,” said Hasalem of

Burlington.

A member of the Vermont Workers’ Center, he was among the

nearly 110 community organizers from around the country

participating in the Poverty Scholars Program Wilkes-Barre

Regional Leadership School over the weekend at King’s

College.

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Organizing Center hosted the

school that started Friday and runs through today with the aim

of educating people like Hasalem to become leaders in the

effort to abolish poverty by studying the past and the present.

The downtown Nanticoke stop Saturday afternoon was a page

in their textbook on the history of the region. It was one of the

sites on the Wilkes-Barre Reality Tour that took them by bus

past the derelict Huber Breaker in Ashley, the busy Arena Hub

shopping area in Wilkes-Barre Township and the

entertainment, dining and gambling mecca of the Mohegan

Sun at Pocono Downs casino in Plains Township.

Huddled under the shade of a tree on the corner of East Main

and Broadway streets, some of the program participants

listened as Mitch Troutman, communication director of the

NEPA Organizing Center, talked about the changes in places

such as Nanticoke, which has experienced the loss of

manufacturing and mining jobs.

“This is just a good example of what has happened to one of

the downtowns,” said Troutman.

It didn’t look like his city of Philadelphia, said Daniel Jones, a

student at New York University who is attending leadership

school.

But, he noted, just like in a small town, a big city sustains a

loss when industries and jobs move out.

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Paulson is #39 on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest billionaires[1] and is worth approximately $16

billion as of the 2011.[1] On April 16, 2010, the New York Times reported Paulson had earned $1 billion in

2007, $2 billion in 2008, and $2.3 billion in 2009

On January 28, 2011, it was reported in various news media on television and online that John Paulson

earned at least $5 billion in 2010.[29][30]

Paulson's donation of $15 million to the Center for Responsible Lending is the largest contribution the

non-profit received. The organization works to persuade banks to provide better mortgage terms to

applicants with less than stellar credit.[31]

In 2009, Paulson donated $20 million to New York University Stern School of Business to fund the school's

faculty research, scholarships, and campus renovation.[32] In 2010, he donated $15 million to build Latin

America's largest children's hospital and birth hospital complex in Guayaquil, Ecuador, his father's place of

birth.[33]

In 2011, Paulson donated over £2.5 million to the London School of Economics for the John A Paulson Chair

in European Political Economy. This endowment contribution is to research economic issues which affect

European countries.

eiram3 ....Those people you listed, colletively, employ tens, maybe hundreds of thousand people, many of

their employees earn 6 or 7 figures. Those people drive the economy. ..Ah, ..er, How many people do you

employ? Don't sit by the computer and be bitter and jealous. Be thankful they are hiring your fellow man.

Class warfare.

Some people in America get paid over a billion dollars per year.

Mr. Barletta and his party leadership do not want to raise their taxes

They follow the wrong idea that jobs and healthcare will trickle down.

If poor people would learn to vote they could change America for the better]

It starts with education!_

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John Paulson, who reportedly earned

$4.9 billion.

Bridgewater Associates' Ray Dalio with

$3.1 billion,

Renaissance Technologies' Jim Simons

with $2.5 billion,

Appaloosa Management's David Tepper

with $2.2 billion

SAC Capital Advisors' Steve Cohen with

$1.3 billion.

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