Economy Is Getting Worse & Republicans Are Getting Meaner

The recent volatility of Wall Street markets is because of fears that the economy may not be doing as well as the economic pundits had predicted -- and may even slip back into a second official recession. This bad news doesn't come as any surprise to the folks on Main Street though. They know the country is yet to come out of the first recession and is still going downhill.

For those that pay attention to something other than GDP (which will be lucky to finish the year in positive territory), this also comes as no surprise. Last month's unemployment rate remained above 9% (and that didn't count the millions of people considered "marginally attached to the work force who are counted by the government, or the nearly nine million who have to work part-time because there are no full-time jobs available). Things are even falling apart in the Republican "economic miracle" of Texas -- where the unemployment rate climbed from 8.2% to 8.4% in July (which has to be an embarrassment for "job creator" Rick Perry).

And its not just poor GDP numbers and high unemployment numbers. The percentage of homeowners who are in danger of a home foreclosure is once again edging upwards. The Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting that in the second quarter of this year the number of homeowners who have missed at least one house payment rose to 8.44% (a rise of 0.12% over the 8.32% of the first quarter of the year). That's still below the 10% mark hit last year, but the numbers are edging back up toward that mark (which is incredible considering the number of homes that have already been foreclosed on). The percentage in a normal non-recession year is about 1.1%.

And the bad news just keeps on coming. The number of Americans receiving food stamps is at another record high -- now 46 million Americans. That's a full 15% of the population that needs help from the government to put food on the table for their family (an increase of 74% since 2007). About 40% of those families receiving food stamps actually have someone working full-time -- they just aren't making enough to lift the family out of poverty. Making matters even worse, it is estimated that another $23 million Americans could qualify for food stamps, but they either don't know it or are too embarrassed to request the help.

Amazingly, the worse the economy gets, the meaner and stingier the Republicans get. George Bush tried to sell the country on the concept of "compassionate conservatism" -- and then drove the country into the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Today's Republicans don't even pretend to be compassionate. We already know they would like to cut food stamps and other social programs (including Medicare and Social Security), abolish the minimum wage, cut unemployment compensation, and give big tax cuts to their rich buddies (even though they are the only ones making record profits in this recession).

Could they get any meaner? Well, YES! Now they want a tax increase. But not for the rich or the corporations. No, they want to raise taxes for the working and middle class people of America -- the people who are already falling further behind with each passing month the recession continues. President Obama wants to extend the payroll tax cuts for workers that will expire at the end of this year. If they are not extended, payroll taxes will go up on January 1st for nearly all working Americans -- except for the rich and the corporations. While they refuse to raise taxes on the rich and corporations, the Republicans think it's fine to raise taxes on all other Americans.

In a saner world the government would be trying to help the people being hurt by the recession. But sanity (or compassion) are not Republican values. They care only for themselves, their rich cohorts, and the corporations. They are perfectly willing to throw most Americans under the bus to protect the rich and the corporations. And just when I think they couldn't get any meaner, they find a new low to aspire to reach.