Long-Term Economic Pain - Bob Herbert

[groovedaddy]

The pain coursing through American families is all too real and no one seems to know what to do about it. A rigorous new analysis for the Rockefeller Foundation shows that Americans are more economically insecure now than they have been in a quarter of a century, and the trend lines suggest that things will only get worse.

Rampant joblessness and skyrocketing medical costs are among the biggest factors tearing at the very fabric of American economic life so painstakingly put together in the early post-World War II decades.

The analysis was done by a team of researchers led by Professor Jacob Hacker of Yale University. They created an economic security index, which measures the percentage of Americans who experience a decrease in their household income of 25 percent or more in one year without having the financial resources to offset that loss. (Major medical expenses were counted as a decrease in available income.)

The team’s findings were grim. Simply stated, more and more families are facing utter economic devastation: completely out of money, with their jobs, savings and retirement funds gone, and nowhere to turn for the next dollar.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/opinion/27herbert.html?th&emc=th

[jtuck004]

1. Great post.

But he misses 1 thing. We know exactly what to do about it - invest our money into
our people and our country. Very nearly exactly what FDR did. Rebuild our infrastucture, create demand.
Among the tasks ahead is rebuilding our manufacturing for the 21st century, and educating people so
they know when their money is helping them vs when it is helping another country take their future away.

Unfortunately the current administration seems to be infatuated with the idea of rebuilding the very
hedge funds that created the bubble and then blew it up, by appropriating $15 trillion to do that.

Type Report here...
Tally Report here...

Obama spoke at NN and said recovery would take time. While this is true, it is questionable whether
recovery can really start until someone with the checkbook redirects their effort at investing in
our people and our country, instead of insuring bonuses and profits for traders and speculators.