Homelessness grows as more live check-to-check

USA Today ^ | 8/12/03 | Stephanie Armour

[Gothmog]

Homelessness in major cities is escalating as more laid-off workers already living paycheck-to-paycheck wind up on the streets or in shelters.

As Americans file for bankruptcy in record numbers and credit card debt explodes, more workers are a paycheck away from losing their homes. Now the frail economy is pushing them over the edge. With 9 million unemployed workers in July, the face of homelessness is changing to include more families shaken by joblessness.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

These must be the children of the Reagan Homeless population that was nowhere to be found during the Clinton Administration. Looks like, after a diligent search, the media has found them.

[samuel_adams_us]

Name any county in the world where you don't pay more than a dollar to anyone for a dollar's worth of work? Other than china where prisoners do all of the work and are taken care of by the communist state.

[samuel_adams_us]

BTW, this country isn't a business, it's a democratic republic.

[finnman69]

It's the chicken and the egg problem and btw, more than half of these people were registered republicans so before you type cast someone, know what you are talking about.

Doubtful. Most Republicans and conservatives don't believe it's up to the federal government to provide them with jobs. The "Where is my job?" signs are the creation of RAT professionals.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Yes, Congress does. But, they recently granted the President Fast Track authority by a very close margin, giving him the power to negotiate new trade deals.
And, besides the growing unemployment concerns, our lopsided trade with Red China is a potential national security risk.
The Mexican border is another potential national security risk, but nothing is being done about that either. Illegals pour over the border every day. And, illegals do take jobs from Americans, mostly from the Americans with fewer savings and assets to survive the current economy; the Americans mentioned in this article.

[mediawatcher44]

one paycheck away here....guess i could get a third job...

yeah,im sorry i voted for george,see,he lied...
said he would work for the best interests of this country,yet does nothing about the millions of illegals pouring over our borders..
or the h1b visa program

or the companies outsourcing tech jobs to india

and now wastes billions on iraq

and now liberia

thanks george and the republicans,thanks worthless democrats

i dont think its even worth my time to vote for these punks...

[Tokhtamish]

The news is based on numbers. The numbers are not good. You can look around and see all the "Going Out of Business" signs and see that things are worse than they have been since the Great Depression. Whining about "lib mayors" does not change facts that are obvious to everyone. Unless you are someone flatly determined to believe only what he wants to believe.

When you examine what happens when three million jobs leave this country, a rational person would obviously see that it means a lot of people who had homes three years ago don't today. Or did you think that 3 million jobs could vanish without manifesting themselves in hard socioeconomic consequences (homelessness, crime, alcoholism, drug abuse) ?

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

And that's not irresponsible? Have you never been introduced to the concept of a savings account?

And forego the recreational drugs and alcohol? Jeez, you are a mean-spirited conservative, aren't you? :O)

[whereasandsoforth]

My family has been here since 1603. My gx4-grandfather was the first Postmaster General of the United States. You may WANT to bow to me, beg my forgiveness for spitting lies and then get down on your padded kness and pray for forgiveness.

[samuel_adams_us]

Whatever, postmaster, wow, now I know I was right.

[samuel_adams_us]

No, people who are looking for work and can't find it. Colorado's unemployment rate is high and the odd thing is according to our governor, we have the most educated work force per capita in the world.

[finnman69]

As reported in the Denver Post, there were 100 protesters, not 4000.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1565230,00.html

A crowd of about 100 protesters stood outside the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, their view of the president blocked by strategically parked buses.

The protesters, critiquing everything from the war in Iraq to high unemployment, waved signs such as ones reading "Bush lied, thousands died," and "Impeach Bush."

[AppyPappy]

I really don't think this would be a "negotiation". I think it will take Congress to hammer the Chinese. They will not agree to anything we propose.

[samuel_adams_us]

I already know that, and I apologize for being wrong but on the way in I heard 4k on the radio, KHOW.

[schaketo]

I remember my homeless years with great fondness.

Then all I needed was a change of clothes, a beach, fishin’ pole, and gas in my pick-up truck.

Now, mortgage, car payments, braces …. You get the picture.

It’s all a matter of perspective. My advice is enjoy it while you can.

Pass the bait and beer amigo!

[Tokhtamish]

Funny how hysterical you "let them eat cake" libertarians get when you are scared.

[Alberta's Child]

Name any country in the world where you don't pay more than a dollar to anyone for a dollar's worth of work?

In case you haven't noticed, all these countries where employers pay more than a dollar for a dollar's worth of work are filled with people complaining that there aren't enough jobs.

Before the First World War, it was considered normal for an employer to pay his workers no more than the raw cost of those workers' labor. I find it interesting (and it's no coincidence) that you never saw people clamoring for "jobs" at presidential campaign appearances before that time, either.

[samuel_adams_us]

BTW, I hope bush can attract more than 350 people to his next benefits, otherwise it sure is going to get lonely out there for him.

[Conservative til I die]

So what you're saying is that this guy is a bald-faced liar. Thought so, thanks for clearing that up.

[Conservative til I die]

How's this the President's job?