Posted on 02/22/2010 10:33:38 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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.
Here in Southern California, Jean Eisen has been without work since she lost her job selling beauty salon equipment more than two years ago. In the several months she has endured with neither a paycheck nor an unemployment check, she has relied on local food banks for her groceries.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
All by design...
ANYTHING that made america great must be destroyed....
Including the power of the middle class...
Good Point!
Jean in southern ca, is not poor she is just another peasant according to her neighbors, most whom are illegal and live a much better life than they did back home and wonder what all the fuss is about?
Pick something...anything....that has made america stand out or rise above...and you’ll find Obama has attacked it while talking out the other side of his mouth...
Unintentionally, the NYSlimes shows the evil, cumulative effect that socialism bestows on people, that being the expectation that the instead of themselves, the government will cure the debacle we are currently entrenched in.
I agree
Pick something...anything....that has made america stand out or rise above...and you’ll find Obama has attacked it while talking out the other side of his mouth...
Exactly right. We’re going to see some “unrest”.
The more of these, the better for th all-powerful state. To reduce all to dependence.
If this keeps up, we’ll have 5 - 10 years of UE benefits for folks who lose their jobs. Sure it sucks when someone loses their job, but I would think that 6 months is PLENTY of time to move, retool, or find something else. What we are doing now is insane. The longer you pay someone not to work, the longer they won’t.
We need another Reagan to tell this Carter, “There you go again.” A malaise-buster. I think Sarah Palin could pull it off, if she can pull free of the political obligation to the Rino McCain.
I do not that they should not even give you 6 months. that is way too long
Oh, I totally agree. I was being generous.
— John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar (1968)
Unlike the Old Poor, our New Poor on public assistance are not leeches on society. Its completely different.
Great Point!
“Large companies are increasingly owned by institutional investors who crave swift profits, a feat often achieved by cutting payroll.”
Small companies normally lead us out of recessions, providing 90 percent of the new jobs in the early stages of a recovery. Our president has starved out the private sector in general with unheard of government spending, while killing off small business with plans for huge tax increases to pay for his grandiose govt programs. So the burden of productive work is fallen on large companies, who can only turn a profit by laying off less experienced and less productive workers.
“The declining influence of unions has made it easier for employers to shift work to part-time and temporary employees.”
The declining influence of unions is the only reason private employers can afford to stay in business to the extent that they do. Meanwhile, the proliferation of govt worker unions are accelerating the destruction of our industrial base by demolishing our public school system and bloating the ranks of unnecessary, overpaid, and non-productive govt employees.
You are right.
It’s just going from bad to worse! Only a few years ago, people were refinancing their houses to get the latest flat screen TV.
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