As we are all aware, our nation is in the midst of a huge economic crisis. As the director of a non-profit agency serving the needs of the Elderly, Sick, Homeless, and Needy in Connecticut, I have seen first-hand enormous increases in requests for assistance.
In 2008 we found requests for services for the most basic needs such as food and diapers up substantially, and from a wider range of clients than ever before. We are hearing from more and more formerly middle class families who are losing their jobs and their homes in record numbers. Requests for rent, utility, mortgage, and food assistance pour in daily.
We have clients whose homes are falling down around them and there are no programs to help while bank executives fly around the country in corporate jets and dine on caviar. American families are declaring bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills while banks spend millions on Superbowl commercials and to put their names on new stadiums.
Our nation has not faced such widespread financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Congress saw fit to bail out Wall Street in an effort to 'save' our country's economy. What they failed to do, however, was take into account that millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes in record numbers. The banks cannot save our economy. Only the public can, by spending. Without money to spend, everything grinds to a halt.
People with Masters degrees are fighting for jobs at the local Walmart. The construction industry in this country has been decimated. Trucking companies have closed their doors while the oil industry announces record profits for the second year in a row. Jobs are non-existent for teenagers, filled instead with out of work adults.
American voters understand all this. American families are struggling to simply survive. This is why voters spoke loud and clear at election time. 90% of America is made up of average people, who are working just to survive. That same 90% of America is what really runs our nation’s economy. As the ‘real’ economy of the American family and small business withers and dies, Wall Street carries on as if it’s business as usual.
The reality is all of America needs a bailout. Through no fault of our own, thanks to corporate greed, America’s economy is in the toilet and our legislators have decided to turn President Obama’s proposed stimulus package into a partisan war. Despite the fact that America has spoken loud and clear during our recent election, not ONE Republican in the house voted for the stimulus package. Just three brave Republican Senators voted for the bill.
What this tells us is that they do not have the best interest of our country at heart. While there was little resistance in Congress to the bank bailout, the very idea that our new President hopes to help the rest of America is met with political stonewalling. This is absolutely disgraceful!
Our nation is suffering and our people need help. Our elected officials should be doing everything in their power to make this work. This bill has been created with the needs of our nation in mind. Some facts:
Among other things, this bill:
Creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs in the next two years. Our citizens NEED jobs.
Averts "literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs"—and doubles funding for the Department of Education. Our children are our future.
Creates hundreds of thousands of green jobs and doubles our clean energy production. It is critical that we act now to reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.
Immediately gives unemployed folks access to affordable health care coverage. It is unfathomable that health care is not available to all Americans.
Unemployment is rising at an alarming rate in the United States. According to CNNMoney.com the average unemployment rate nationwide is expected to reach 7.5% soon. According to this same report, unemployment has risen in 98% of cities across the nation. These are staggering numbers and our legislators need to get their heads out of the clouds and do what’s right for our nation. Our citizens are suffering. It’s time our legislators from BOTH parties started to listen. The voters are watching. Do the right thing and VOTE YES for the stimulus package.
www.compassionatecommunityservices.org
For more information on the Stimulus Package Visit:
www.barackobama.com
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, October 5, 2007
The Widening Income Gap in America
The idea that economic inequality exists in America is not new. In Paul Krugman’s article “For Richer”, he discusses the growing chasm between America’s poorest citizens and its growing elite. But more importantly, he discusses the political policies that increasingly support this widening gap. It is with these policies that middle America needs to be most concerned.
Initially reminiscing about growing up in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, Krugman notes how the ‘American dream’ was really within reach of all Americans if they worked hard. It was in his words, a “fairly equal society”. Times had changed from the ‘20’s and ‘30’s of what he calls “the Gilded Age”, when generations of families controlled most of the country’s wealth, living lavishly in mansions, with servants and status fit for a king.
But what should concern us all is the fact that these times of ‘American Royalty’, so to speak, are upon us again, and it is getting increasingly difficult for most working Americans to achieve the American dream. The idea that hard work will pay off is no longer necessarily true. And that, sadly, is in large part due to the policies that our government makes to lift up and support our wealthiest citizens, at the expense of the poor and quickly disappearing middle class.
What has changed, though, is who is holding this wealth today. As Klugman demonstrates, roughly 60 percent of the economic gains in our country went to just to the top .05% of taxpayers. When comparing gains overall throughout the taxpayer base, the so-called middle class had economic gains of just 10% from 1979 and 1997 while America’s wealthiest rose 157% (after taxes)! These disparities are alarming. When factoring in the cost of inflation, a 10% gain over almost 20 years actually translates into a loss! And that gain includes the addition of second wage-earners in middle class families. Overall, many families are finding that their debt ratios are on the rise while their standard of living is dropping.
Today’s wealth is no longer controlled by wealthy families through inherited assets, but rather by young CEO’s who are earning sometimes 300 times what the average worker earns! Krugman asks how these salaries can be justified. His theory is that over time, unlike the ‘50’s and ‘60’s when he was growing up, society has accepted the notion that these ‘all powerful leaders’ somehow deserve these enormous salaries. The understanding is that without these types of perks and benefits, corporations will be unable to retain skilled leaders and if they aren’t willing to pay, someone else will.
This type of thinking is obviously flawed, leading to outrage amongst the rest of the working public. This shift in acceptable norms in corporate America will at some point face correction. But it will probably take a huge uprising on the part of middle America before we see any real changes.
Another question, however that Krugman raises is the idea that there was ever a sustainable “middle-class” in the first place. Historically most of the wealth has been controlled by a minority, with huge gaps in income between them and the rest of the public. It wasn’t until after the Depression that economic equality really existed here in the U.S. Krugman questions whether or not this shift back to two general economic classes; the very wealthy, and the relatively poor (or struggling) population isn’t a more normal course of events.
The fact is, the more wealth one holds, the more relative power one holds. And the more power held, the more decisions and policies they can create. And it seems only natural, that in an effort to preserve their way of living, that those policies that are created tend to lean in favor of the policy-makers and the holders of power. It is this shift in wealth that creates the power, which in turn snowballs, creating more and more wealth and more and more power for a select few, leaving the rest of our population holding the bag. Unfortunately, the limited nature of all resources means that in order for some to hold most of the wealth and power, everyone else must lose theirs. It is this sad reality that makes it so critical that these issues not be ignored in our society before we become not one united nation, but a nation divided.
Do you feel that the "Middle Class" is sustainable? Are you finding it harder to make ends meet? If you could speak with your legislators about this issue, what would you want them to know? Do you feel our legislators have lost touch with"average" Americans?
Source:
“For Richer-How the permissive capitalism of the boom destroyed American equality”- by Paul Krugman, New York Times Magazine, October 20, 2002
Initially reminiscing about growing up in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, Krugman notes how the ‘American dream’ was really within reach of all Americans if they worked hard. It was in his words, a “fairly equal society”. Times had changed from the ‘20’s and ‘30’s of what he calls “the Gilded Age”, when generations of families controlled most of the country’s wealth, living lavishly in mansions, with servants and status fit for a king.
But what should concern us all is the fact that these times of ‘American Royalty’, so to speak, are upon us again, and it is getting increasingly difficult for most working Americans to achieve the American dream. The idea that hard work will pay off is no longer necessarily true. And that, sadly, is in large part due to the policies that our government makes to lift up and support our wealthiest citizens, at the expense of the poor and quickly disappearing middle class.
What has changed, though, is who is holding this wealth today. As Klugman demonstrates, roughly 60 percent of the economic gains in our country went to just to the top .05% of taxpayers. When comparing gains overall throughout the taxpayer base, the so-called middle class had economic gains of just 10% from 1979 and 1997 while America’s wealthiest rose 157% (after taxes)! These disparities are alarming. When factoring in the cost of inflation, a 10% gain over almost 20 years actually translates into a loss! And that gain includes the addition of second wage-earners in middle class families. Overall, many families are finding that their debt ratios are on the rise while their standard of living is dropping.
Today’s wealth is no longer controlled by wealthy families through inherited assets, but rather by young CEO’s who are earning sometimes 300 times what the average worker earns! Krugman asks how these salaries can be justified. His theory is that over time, unlike the ‘50’s and ‘60’s when he was growing up, society has accepted the notion that these ‘all powerful leaders’ somehow deserve these enormous salaries. The understanding is that without these types of perks and benefits, corporations will be unable to retain skilled leaders and if they aren’t willing to pay, someone else will.
This type of thinking is obviously flawed, leading to outrage amongst the rest of the working public. This shift in acceptable norms in corporate America will at some point face correction. But it will probably take a huge uprising on the part of middle America before we see any real changes.
Another question, however that Krugman raises is the idea that there was ever a sustainable “middle-class” in the first place. Historically most of the wealth has been controlled by a minority, with huge gaps in income between them and the rest of the public. It wasn’t until after the Depression that economic equality really existed here in the U.S. Krugman questions whether or not this shift back to two general economic classes; the very wealthy, and the relatively poor (or struggling) population isn’t a more normal course of events.
The fact is, the more wealth one holds, the more relative power one holds. And the more power held, the more decisions and policies they can create. And it seems only natural, that in an effort to preserve their way of living, that those policies that are created tend to lean in favor of the policy-makers and the holders of power. It is this shift in wealth that creates the power, which in turn snowballs, creating more and more wealth and more and more power for a select few, leaving the rest of our population holding the bag. Unfortunately, the limited nature of all resources means that in order for some to hold most of the wealth and power, everyone else must lose theirs. It is this sad reality that makes it so critical that these issues not be ignored in our society before we become not one united nation, but a nation divided.
Do you feel that the "Middle Class" is sustainable? Are you finding it harder to make ends meet? If you could speak with your legislators about this issue, what would you want them to know? Do you feel our legislators have lost touch with"average" Americans?
Source:
“For Richer-How the permissive capitalism of the boom destroyed American equality”- by Paul Krugman, New York Times Magazine, October 20, 2002
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