America's Youngest Outcasts are Increasing

Child homelessness is up 33% in 3 years. One in 45 children in the USA — 1.6 million children — were living on the street, in homeless shelters or motels, or doubled up with other families last year, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness.

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Based on New Census Measure, Number of Americans in Poverty at Record High

As as a congressional super committee nears a November 23rd deadline to make more than $1 trillion in cuts to the federal budget, an experimental measure that takes geographic location into account yields highest-ever number of poor Americans. 49.1 million are poor, based on a new census measure that for the first time takes into account rising medical costs and other expenses.

Moreover, using the old supplemental poverty measure, one in fifteen - 6.7% of the population - are among America's poorest poor..  Data shows about 20.5 million Americans make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50% or less of the official poverty level.

Poverty for Americans 65-years and older is on track to nearly double after factoring in rising out-of-pocket medical expenses.   Poverty increases are also anticipated for the working-age population because of commuting and child-care costs, while child poverty will dip partly due to the positive effect of food stamps...that's if those food stamps survive the cuts.

"There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners," said Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. "Recessions are supposed to be temporary, and when it's over, everything returns to where it was before. But the worry now is that the downturn - which will end eventually - will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off and can't recover."

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Are We Living in a Post Racial America? Or, Jim Crow Junior America?

After all, as the New York Times claimed, the election of President Obama into the White House, swept "away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive". Really? Then, why are the African Americans suffering more than any other group of people at this time? Remember, many of the white supremacy members said they voted for Obama to send the country into a tailspin...foment a race war.  One former member, Tim Zaal, said, "The faster this country falls, the sooner white revolution will arise." 

"Could it be that the nomination of Obama finally sparks a sense of unity in white voters? I would propose that this threat of black rule may very well be the thing that finally scares some sense back into complacent whites." -- Neo-Nazi, with the pen name, "LastOfMyKind"

For instance, under Mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD’s practice of “stop and frisk” - — practice of officers stopping city residents on the street and searching them- increased to 600,000 stops performed last year. "87% of those stopped last year were black or Hispanic, a number disproportionate to their share of the population. And just 7 percent of the stops resulted in arrests, meaning the vast majority of those stopped committed no crime. The NYPD argues the practice reduces crime, but it has been coming under increasingly intense criticism in recent months".

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Worse Than the Great Depression!

The working class faces the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression. This depression "recession" is not your typical cyclical downturn that will eventually rebound.   Over 20% of this country's workforce is either underemployed or completely unemployed.  House prices and wages continue to decline.  Nearly 14 million Americans are looking for work, and about 6.2 million Americans, 45.1% of the unemployed in this country, have been jobless for more than six months...that's worse than at the time of the Great Depression. What's more, over "1 million of the long-term unemployed have run out of unemployment benefits, leaving them without the money to get new training, buy new clothes, or even get to job interviews.

Nevertheless, the wealthy took their treasonous tax cuts wherever they could reap the highest return without any concern whatsoever about the state of the American economy.  Never mind that those tax cuts will cost the average taxpayer much more than the cost of the bailouts.

So, what's the solution?  Well,  balancing the budget on the backs of working families - slashing trillions of dollars in social spending - of course.  It doesn't matter that trillions of dollars have disappeared into thin air, and that  proof of the Federal Reserve's unprecedented support to foreign banks during the worst part of the financial crisis is finally released.   The international capitalist elite continue to exploit  the economic crisis - that they caused - to the fullest extent, using it as a giant club to bash the average taxpayer.

Mass unemployment and the eventual elimination of the social safety net will create such desperation that people will take poverty-wage jobs without benefits.  Third world, anyone?

Links: 

Economic Policy Institute (EPI) - The EPI pointed out that the labor force participation rate remained at its lowest point of the recession and that the labor force in May was smaller than it was a year ago, by about 500,000 workers, even though the working-age population grew by 1.9 million in that period. In other words, the improvement in the unemployment rate over the last year (from 9.6 - 9.1%) is due to would-be workers deciding to sit out the economic storm”.

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Why Not Call a Depression a Depression?

We're told that we're in a recovery. We're told that the economy is starting to show signs of improvement. Why? Because, the stock market has shot up and Wall Street profits are through the roof.

Okay, but what percentage of the adult population can live off the stock market and corporate profits? Less than 1%?

What about the millions of Americans who face job loss? Lack of health benefits? Foreclosures? Inability to pay bills? Food stamps? Lack of or zero retirement savings? This used to be a country where you could work your way up the ladder. Now, the ladder has transformed into a very slippery slope. If you're not at the top already, you better make like an octopus, and strap on some suckers because it appears that slope is getting slicker.

It is clear that the American/global ruling class are incapable of setting self-interest aside. So, unless we the people stop playing by their rules, humanity will continue to be subordinated to the dictates of an infinitesimally small group of super wealthy parasites at the very top.

"I couldn't find statistics for local utility shut offs in my area, but I knew we would start to see more and more of this.

Houses everywhere are going vacant. People don't say goodbye, they don't leave a number, they just disappear. With their disappearance we add another vacant house to the street. But families living in housing without utilities is a new sight for me to behold. I spoke recently with a rep from So Cal Edison who, full time contacts residence who have had their electricity turned off due to non payment. She has a negotiator sent in and they work on a reduced payment. It's amazing to me, that now, it is becoming acceptable in California to camp out in your home.

People are losing their homes, losing their cars and losing their dignity. How are we going to afford kids clothes and school supplies for the coming year? How can we expect families to pay for all these additional costs when the economy is in the shape it in. I ask myself this everyday."

Links:
Tumbling from the middle class into a life with less
Not so long ago, Moore and her husband, Seymour, 46, made more than $200,000 a year, vacationed in Fiji and thought nothing of picking up a $400 dinner tab with friends.

But then Moore left her property management job to set up a cat-sitting business, and her husband lost his job as an IT consultant nine months ago. They now scrape by on his unemployment benefits and her Social Security checks, plus a trickle of money from her nascent business. Total income for 2010: $30,000.

Requests for help paying utility bills surge upward
Light switches, furnaces and water faucets aren't the typical gauges of economic health, but at Pikes Peak United Way's 2-1-1 call center, they tell a tale of people who continue to struggle to pay their bills in a weak economy.

According to a report released Monday by the 2-1-1 Information and Referral Hotline, requests for utility bill assistance in the fiscal year ending June 30 jumped 20 percent from the previous year, outstripping requests for help with food and rent.

"That's by far the biggest spike in looking at data year-to-year," said 2-1-1 Center Manager Jessica Johnson-Simmons. "I would guess it would have something to do with recent utility hikes that have gone into effect, but it's also a case of clients just getting too overwhelmed with their...


Recession leads to uptick in utility shut-offs in N.J.
I feel horrible; I know my kids must feel horrible," said Maria Schultheis, who lives in the house with her husband and twin teenage sons. "I'm humiliated because I never had to live like this."

The town water department shut off the Schultheises' water about a month ago after the family fell behind on payments on a $1,700 overdue bill. John Schultheis -- a computer programmer who has been out of work for three years -- watched in disbelief as town workers turned off the water valve near the curb of his three-bedroom bungalow in a quiet middle-class neighborhood in the Lake Hiawatha section of Parsippany.

As the recession continues, utility companies say a growing number of New Jerseyans are falling behind on their electric, gas and water bills. For many, a flood of emergency funding in state and federal aid programs -- coupled with a state-imposed moratorium on utility shut-offs during the winter months -- has helped keep the lights on and the water flowing over the last few months.

But, with much of the state money gone and the winter moratorium ended, utility officials say more and more families like the Schultheises may be losing their electricity, gas or water service in the coming months.

"I do expect shut-off activity to increase the second part of the year," said Victor Viscomi, PSE and G's director of billing and revenue operations. "Some of the emergency-payment assistance money is drying up."

PSE and G, the state's largest utility, has seen a 10 percent increase in families behind on their payments, compared with this time last year, Viscomi said. Many of those are households that had never had a late payment until now.

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The Super Rich Do Not Drive the Economy...They Drain the Economy. Isn't it Obvious?

A nationwide poll by the EARN Research Institute, revealed that more than half (54%) of all Americans, across all income brackets, do not  have a financial safety net. Another 43% said they would have to tap into retirement savings should they lose their income for three months or more.

A nationwide poll commissioned by the EARN Research Institute, revealed that more than half (54%) of American households across all income brackets do not feel they could meet their basic financial needs if income was disrupted for three months or more. Among low-income families (defined as those with annual household earnings of $35,000 or less), that figure rises to 64%.

“As the recession continues unabated, it has become bracingly clear that America’s families do not have the means necessary to weather long-term financial adversity”

This latest poll from the EARN Research Institute shows asset-building conditions worsening across America. A similar nationwide poll conducted by EARN in June 2010 demonstrated that a majority (51%) of American households reported having enough savings to cover basic expenses for more than three months; just six months later, that number has dropped to 46%. This underscores the significance between “income poverty” and “asset poverty,” or households having the financial reserves to get by on the federal poverty level for three months vs. living one paycheck, broken refrigerator, or medical emergency away from requiring public assistance.

On top of that, it appears we have at least three more years of high foreclosure rates, rising mortgage rates and a glut of distressed properties to look forward to, as more and more Americans struggle to provide the essentials for their families.

Chart Porn  , a very cool blog, charted foreclosures in the DC area with the following results:

Here's the thing. We are still the wealthiest nation in the world. Yet, 97% of us are either skating on very thin ice, or have already fallen through. What does that tell you about the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy? The elimination of the estate tax?   The low capital gains tax rate and all of the other incentives for the wealthy?  And, why are we even considering making this infinitesimally small % of the population, who have accumulated, and continue to accumulate so much wealth that their offspring, for generations to come, will never have to work/contribute to society...ever.

There is no way I can say it better than this:

I, for one, am so tired of hearing the poor and middle class in this country scapegoated by the uber wealthy, cutthroat, blood-sucking, cannibalistic, snake-in-suits, corporate psycho leeches that are destroying the country, and planet due to their greed and lust for power. It is not the poor and middle class who control policy, media, politicians, transportation, resources, energy, military and commerce.

Through their stranglehold on all these resources, the super rich and their puppets have managed to twist reality. The poor have little or no way to affect any real changes, while those who do mask their deeds in lies, misperceptions and smoke screens.

The wealthy religious fanatics who do the bidding for these snakes show unbridled hypocrisy. If they were true Christians they would not rest until every child had enough to eat, until all people had access to health care, until every person had a decent place to live. Did not Jesus say, "as you do unto the least you do unto me"? To throw off the shackles of the past we must create a new paradigm and recognize the worth of every being, not just the wealthy and religiously intolerant.

While we're on the subject, why are all these snakes donating their money to the elephants? Yes, I really wonder.

Links


Economy has sent executives to jobs down the corporate ladder.

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We the Servants of the Fed's Multi-Trillion Bailout.

Very recently, it was revealed that the Federal Reserve not only paid out trillions of dollars to Wall Street and the American elite, but they included the international elite as well. 

"The financial crisis stretched even farther across the economy than many had realized, as new disclosures show the Federal Reserve rushed trillions of dollars in emergency aid not just to Wall Street but also to motorcycle makers, telecom firms and foreign-owned banks in 2008 and 2009."

Meanwhile,  in the rest of the United States, where we the people reside, the prices of basic necessities - food, energy, and healthcare - continues to rise, as about 2 million Americans are set to lose their unemployment in December (despite proof that unemployment insurance pays off in more ways the one) and millions more will start the new year with less income due to cut-backs in state and federal government spending, underemployment, frozen wages, and frozen Social Security cost of living adjustments (COLA) which have not kept up with inflation for years as it is.

So, the transfer of wealth continues, just as,  unemployment rates, which have remained stubbornly high, since the economy crashed in 2008, continue. It's fairly safe to say that unemployment is a chronic and deep-rooted problem. Yet,  we seldom hear about the detrimental impact that unemployment can have on the economy due to insufficient income going to those who would surely spend it - we the people -  thus returning earnings back to the stream of purchasing power necessary to the circular flow of production and income.

In other words, who is going to buy back the output of the economy if most of the "income" is in the hands of the wealthy?  The rich have the option of saving and/or investing their income, and not necessarily in the United States, therefore increasing their wealth at the expense of people who have no choice but to spend their income short-circuits economic flow.

Nevertheless, despite a $13 trillion national debt, the push to give tax breaks to billionaires goes on. Republicans are demanding a two-year extension of all Bush tax cuts.

This means that the historically long duration of unemployment will more than likely have a snowball effect on the employment and earnings recovery of too many Americans, even as the economy appears to be recovering in general.

And, as always, the poor get hit the hardest:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States fell from $51726 in 2008 to $50221 in 2009.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 29 states reported lower median incomes than the U.S. median, while 20 states and the District of Columbia reported higher median incomes than the overall median.

The government’s formula for poverty is only based on the states with the lowest cost of living, therefore, double the federal poverty level is normally required throughout most of the US, to provide a family with basic necessities such as food and housing, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty.

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Recession Over in June 2009?

What? The recession ended over a year ago?  Is that when the Depression started?  Must be, because while trillions of dollars were thrown at banks and corporations in bailouts, tax cuts, stimulus programs, etc, more Americans than ever are slipping into poverty.  That's 43.6 million Americans in 2009 according to the latest Census Bureau report (The US Census Bureau calculated the threshold for poverty in 2009 for a family of four at $21,756). Not only that, the number of Americans without any health insurance rose by over 4 million people, from 46.3 million to 50.7 million.

The following are 20 signs that the economic collapse has already begun for one out of every seven Americans:

#1 The Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in 51 years of record-keeping.


#2 In the year 2000, 11.3 percent of Americans were living in poverty. In 2008, 13.2 percent of Americans were living in poverty. In 2009, 14.3 percent of Americans were living in poverty. Needless to say the trend is moving in the wrong direction.


#3 In 2009 alone, approximately 4 million more Americans joined the ranks of the poor.


#4 According to the Associated Press, experts believe that 2009 saw the largest single year increase in the U.S. poverty rate since the U.S. government began calculating poverty figures back in 1959.


#5 The U.S. poverty rate is now the third worst among the developed nations tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.


#6 Today the United States has approximately 4 million fewer wage earners than it did in 2007.


#7 Nearly 10 million Americans now receive unemployment insurance, which is almost four times as many as were receiving it in 2007.


#8 U.S. banks repossessed 25 percent more homes in August 2010 than they did in August 2009.


#9 One out of every seven mortgages in the United States was either delinquent or in foreclosure during the first quarter of 2010.


#10 There are now 50.7 million Americans who do not have health insurance. One trip to the emergency room would be all it would take to bankrupt a significant percentage of them.


#11 More than 50 million Americans are now on Medicaid, the U.S. government health care program designed principally to help the poor.


#12 There are now over 41 million Americans on food stamps.


#13 The number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program increased a whopping 55 percent from December 2007 to June 2010.


#14 One out of every six Americans is now being served by at least one government anti-poverty program.


#15 California’s poverty rate soared to 15.3 percent in 2009, which was the highest in 11 years.


#16 According to an analysis by Isabel Sawhill and Emily Monea of the Brookings Institution, 10 million more Americans (including 6 million more children) will slip into poverty over the next decade.


#17 According to a recently released Federal Reserve report, Americans experienced a $1.5 trillion loss in combined household net worth in the second quarter of 2010.


#18 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.


#19 Median U.S. household income is down 5 percent from its peak of more than $52,000 in 1999.


#20 A study recently released by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College University found that Americans are $6.6 trillion short of what they need for retirement.

America is the richest country in the world only if you isolate the statistics regarding gross domestic product, and/or if you add the wealth of the wealthiest 1% who, despite the recession, saw their income explode while their taxes were cut dramatically. However, include the statistics regarding we the people, and we're talking third world here.

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Economic Recovery for Who?

Economists expect the "recovery" to remain "firmly on track" over the next two years, although job growth is likely to remain slow...very slow. So, with 15 million people out of work, six million of them out of work for more than half a year, and no idea when or where these "new" jobs will emerge from, where is the recovery? If recovery means regaining a former and better state or condition, then how can we be experiencing a recovery with "millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits"?

Historically, a correlation between increased economic production and job creation could be counted on as fairly reliable. However, with technology advancing at an exponential rate, the increasing trend to outsource work to countries where costs are lower, and the never ending shareholder pressure to boost profits, employers will do their very best to avoid the long-term cost of hiring full-time employees.

Today, the US Senate voted to advance a $15-billion package , a mere drop in the bucket, aimed at spurring job creation. A few Republicans, including Scott Brown, broke ranks as legislators voted 62-30 to end debate on the measure, clearing a 60-vote requirement and setting the stage for final approval.

The centerpiece of the bill includes a payroll tax break for employers who hire new workers, unemployed for more than 60 days. It also includes measures aimed at improving access to capital for small businesses, an extension of the current federal subsidy formula for road and bridge repairs carried out by states, and a modest expansion of federally subsidized bonds to help local governments raise funds for infrastructure projects.

Again, what about the millions of unemployed who face years without jobs?

Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department.

Oh, wait a minute. This must be what they mean, when they tell us we're experiencing a recovery.

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- "The 400 highest-earning U.S. households reported an average of $345 million in income in 2007, up 31 percent from a year earlier, IRS statistics show. The average tax rate for the households fell to the lowest in almost 20 years. The figures for 2007, the last year of an economic expansion, show that the average income reported by the top 400 earners more than doubled from $131.1 million in 2001. That year, Congress adopted tax cuts urged by then-President George W. Bush that Democrats say disproportionately benefit the wealthy."

Well, it seems the "recovered 400" earn much of their income from capital gains on their investments, many of which have sky-rocketed thanks to we, the taxpayers. Their incomes have grown five times what they were in 1992 and their tax rates (capital gains) have plunged 15 percentage points, to a mere 15%.

So, it is clear who is in "recovery", as if they had anything to recover from. And it is also very clear that the ever increasing population at the bottom of our economic system, with no political power, are experiencing something as bad, if not worse than the Great Depression, with no end in sight. Yet we allow the mainstream media to lie to us and create the impression that the country is experiencing a recovery.

Until we grab the control from the infinitesimally small group of elites, who control our political system, ensuring they, and only they benefit from government policy, nothing will change.

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Are We Facing an Infrastructure Nightmare Too Expensive to Prevent?

Seventy-years ago, the United States started to create the world's most superior infrastructure that served to tie America together, creating a superpower. By 1961, when much of our infrastructure was practically brand new, and in working order, still realizing the importance of a solid underpinning, we allocated 12% of the federal budget for that cutting edge infrastructure.

Today, after decades of neglect, and as communities start to confront horrifying infrastructure breakdowns, we have chosen to allocate only 2% of our federal budget. The backlog of problems is now too big for any state budget to handle; resulting in each city sitting on a minefield of potential time bombs, because when infrastructure doesn't do its job, the results can wipe out entire communities, which begs the question: Why do people have to die before it becomes a national agenda?

On August 14, 2003, one line shorted that resulted in the blackout that put New York City, a large portion of six states, and Ontario, Canada in the dark, providing one of too many examples of the truth about infrastructure in America. When the electricity stops, everything stops, and we're back to the 1800s. The longer that blackout lasts, the farther back in history we go. As it stands now, the industry needs to spend $5 Trillion by 2030 to repair and expand the power grid.

Speed is everything in the global economy, yet, compared to the rest of the world, America is stuck in the slow lane, because rather than investing in our future - roads, bridges, highways, transit systems, rail systems, airports, dams, sewage system, power grid, levees, pipes - and rebuilding our assets, we chose to spend the money frivolously, investing in nothing. Meanwhile, our aging infrastructure, so intrinsic to our society, is rotting, crumbling, eroding, and obsolete. Double, triple, quadruple the demand on these deteriorating fundamental facilities and systems and you have a formula for disaster.

Take the Delaware Aqueduct (85 miles long), five feet in diameter, between 300-1,500 feet in the ground, and 70 years old, it is the longest continuous tunnel in the world. The water tunnel's chiefly responsible for quenching New York City's thirst, which requires two billion gallons of water a day. Constructed between 1937 and 1945, when high-grade materials were scarce; it's no surprise that today it is leaking massively. There are communities sitting on top of that pipe. Literally they're flooding from underneath and the result is that they're sinking into the ground. However, the Aqueduct hasn't been shut down for inspection since 1957, because engineers fear it could collapse without the pressure of water surging through the system. Planning is underway for an eventual shutdown, but it's going to cost billions of dollars, and that's only if we're lucky enough to get to it before it totally collapses. At that point, the cost will be incomprehensible.

Then there are America's roads and highways. They are headed for a crashing collapse because federal, state and local governments haven't spent the hundreds of billions of dollars needed for maintenance and repair. Built to last 50-years, two-thirds of our busiest roads are now 50-years or older and 33% of our major highways are in poor or mediocre condition.

We can't afford to ignore the most crucial issue - our nation's crumbling infrastructure - absolutely necessary to remain economically competitive any more. Already, it has deteriorated so badly that it is threatening our nation’s economic viability, possibly to the point of plunging the status of America to that of a third world country. Rather than remain a third world country waiting to happen, we must make sure we do not pass up this critical opportunity, to not only prevent total disaster, but also create new jobs on a vast scale at the same time.

Links:

Under-taxed Americans are Too Broke to Finance Sustainability Infrastructure

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Hyatt Exploits Recession to Boost Profits

This past Wednesday. Tom Ashbrook, host of On Point interviewed Barbara Ehrenreich, author most famous for Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America and two women, hotel housekeepers, recently fired by Hyatt Hotels Corp who hired replacements at half their wages.

The two women were part of a group of 98 employees Hyatt mercilessly fired from housekeeping - some of whom gave over 20 years of service, and who were tricked into training their replacements unknowingly - in a cost cutting measure in August, with absolutely no warning whatsoever. Many of the fired housekeepers made $16 an hour while the replacements make $8 an hour. Hyatt will now have the burden of maintaining the same quality of service, considering the replacements, paid only half the wages, will be responsible for double the work load (from 16 rooms to 32 rooms per day).

As Barbara Ehrenreich pointed out, Hyatt's problem was not the housekeeper's hourly wages, rather it's the executive salaries, bonuses and stock options that cost the corporation. In other words, corporate greed trumped common sense, and hopefully Hyatt's despicable cost-cutting measures will come back to bite them in the same place their brains obviously reside.

Today, after experiencing negative publicity, a threat to boycott from the Governor and taxi drivers, and public outcry against the hotel company, Hyatt said "it’s arranged full-time jobs through an outsourcing firm for the 98 housekeepers it recently fired from its three hotels in Boston and Cambridge and replaced with cheaper outsourced workers".

"Hyatt has faced withering criticism and even a boycott threat from Gov. Deval Patrick over the firings, which sparked protests yesterday in Chicago, where the company is headquartered".

However, these women, who were ruthlessly replaced, want to return to their jobs.

“Hyatt’s latest proposal is simply a smokescreen designed to trick people into thinking Hyatt is doing the right thing. It does not provide the women with the one thing they really deserve.

These women have made it clear that they want to be returned to the jobs they have held for years, and Hyatt’s PR scheme does not diminish their determination.” -- Janice Loux, president of United Here Local 26

Currently, Gov. Deval Patrick spoke with local Hyatt management and worker representatives, and is reviewing the proposal.

Unfortunately, Hyatt is only one of many hotel chains who treat their employees so unfairly.

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Debtor's Revolt?

A college education is no longer a privilege, but a necessity, if one hopes to secure his future, yet attending college and securing a foothold on the career ladder in America continues to get more difficult as we enter the new millennium.

Consider the unlikelihood of the dark cloud hovering around the horizon of our economy lifting anytime soon.

Consider the skyrocketing cost of a college education

Consider that only 19% of '09 graduates are employed currently.

Consider the unemployment rate is 15.3% amongst 20-24-year olds.

Then, consider the widespread proliferation of unpaid internships, and then consider many of these unpaid internships require payment!

Consider agency fees working people often pay to find employment despite the The Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933


Consider why, in a world of over abundance and continually advancing technology, it's so difficult for young people to start a career, achieve independence, start a family, etc.

Consider the destruction of usury laws that protected citizens from predatory lending.

Consider the $156 million spent to pass a bill to weaken bankruptcy protection for citizens.

Consider the more confusing and complex the financial arena becomes, the more personal responsibility is stressed (For ex. Bush's attempt at privatizing social security).

Consider stagnant incomes amidst skyrocketing costs of everything.

Consider housing over-valued by as much as 40%, which created an illusion of trillions of dollars of inflated wealth and that that wealth was the only wealth most Americans relied.

Consider the retrenchment of security nets for households over the last three decades.

Consider why the economy grows increasingly stacked against our young people and us.

Consider why it is so important to further divide society into two tiers: the haves and have-nots.

Then consider what's in it for whom, to keep Americans locked into a lifetime of debt servitude.

Debtors' revolt anyone?

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President Obama: Visual Aid for Hate Groups?

Prior to the November election, in October of 2008, I remember listening to radio (NPR) show that was discussing the new, more "evolved" "progressive" white supremacists, who planned to vote for President-elect Obama. Of course, my first reaction was disbelief until I heard the reason why they - Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, the National Socialist Movement, the Creativity Movement, the National Alliance, American White Knights, and some skinhead groups - planned on voting for Obama, and it made perfect sense.

You see, according to Ben Klassen, founder of the Creativity Movement, and author of several books espousing the white supremacist philosophy that states "the natural destiny of the White Race is to rule the world and thus fulfill the purpose of the universe", an African American president fits right into their overall vision, as he will provide the spark for the "all-out war with the 'mud races' (people of color, homosexuals, Jews, most Christians, especially Catholics, and White "race traitors").

Candidacy Fits Into Ideology

Part of the problem is that Obama is playing into the neo-Nazi and white supremacist narrative, said Brian Levin, who studies hate and extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

What the groups were saying — "Jews and blacks coming out of the urban areas are going to take over this white nation of ours" — has occurred, he said.

You only have to look to the Internet to see how white supremacist leaders such as David Duke are using Obama to rally their troops. Duke has called Obama a "visual aid for hate groups."

He says an Obama presidency would provide indisputable proof that whites have lost control of America.

"This is a cultural and racial battlefront," said Levin. "Barack Obama is symbol No. 1 of the worst the future has to offer."

While Obama may be an easy focus of discussion for haters, he hasn't unified them. In fact, in many ways, he has managed to divide the movement.

Catalyst For A Race War

Tim Zaal, a former white supremacist from Los Angeles, says the split Obama has created is almost generational — between old-school Ku Klux Klan types who are viscerally against a black man running for president and a new wave of haters.

"You have the more — kind-of strange to say it — progressive white attitude: The worse it gets, the better," said Zaal.

Zaal says the new generation is particularly focused on what they see as the coming race war. They have been trying to spark one for years. Some think, even hope, that an Obama presidency will do just that.

Zaal says some will actually vote for Obama to send the country into a tailspin. "The faster this country falls, the sooner white revolution will arise," he said.

That mindset is all over the neo-Nazi Web sites. On one, a man with the pen name "LastOfMyKind" wrote, "Could it be that the nomination of Obama finally sparks a sense of unity in white voters? I would propose that this threat of black rule may very well be the thing that finally scares some sense back into complacent whites."

This is what worries the police and the FBI.

Fast forward to April 7, 2009 and the Department of Homeland Security is reporting that "right-wing extremists in the United States are gaining new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of the first black U.S. president."

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The "Shining City on a Hill" Only Shines for a Select Few.

Over twenty years ago President Reagan told us of how he envisioned "all" Americans living in the "shining city upon a hill," economic rhetoric that President Bush twists his tongue around every chance he gets. The reality is we are not all living in the "shining city upon a hill." Only a very small percentage of Americans reside in this "shining city" while most of us are struggling to make ends meet. This year seems twice as bad as last year for the poor and middle-income America.

The Bush administration evaluates our economy from the perspective of investment. They emphasize the performance of the stock market, deemphasizing the purchasing power of the average worker's paycheck or the financial conditions of those who are working too hard to find out what's going on. These hard-working people are the silent majority and that's the way Bush wants to keep it. God forbid the "silent majority" have the time, or are not so enmeshed in their own financial struggles that they figure out conservative Republican supply-side or trickle- down economics is the very reason they struggle and worry every day if they will have enough to eat tomorrow, next week or next month.

The buying capacity of the same wages Americans earned last year has eroded to the point where people are struggling to keep up with the cost of living. Higher rent, food, gasoline, energy and medical bills are making the lower half of middle-income America live more like the poor, and the poor -- unless they can figure out all the bureaucracy involved in finding poorly funded social services -- are left to fend for themselves the best they can. Some are lucky enough to find a church or other charity group to minister to their needs but others are left to eat and live like wild animals.

Whether it is illness, death, divorce or job loss, too many people today live on the edge, one unfortunate event away from plunging into financial ruin. This shouldn't be in a country as wealthy as ours. We have more than enough resources to make sure every citizen can find ways to meet the most basic of needs -- food, shelter, medical care, and hope, for without hope of improving one's circumstances, life is not worth much.

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