The Unemployed Are Slipping Into Poverty

It is no secret that we have far too many people unemployed in this country. The government officially lists about 13.9 people as being unemployed, but then they list another 2.6 million people as being "marginally attached" to the workforce -- which means they have virtually given up looking for a job and haven't tried in the last four weeks. That means there are at least 16.5 million unemployed people in this country (and probably more since the marginally attached group is almost surely undercounted), not to mention another 8.9 million who are working part-time because they can't find full-time employment.

The Republicans think these unemployed people are just lazy and don't want to take the jobs that are out there. That is a ludicrous idea. Recently the McDonald's Corporation hired about 60,000 workers (jobs, but not jobs that could decently support a family). But for every worker they hired, they had about 19 workers that were not hired. People are desperate for any kind of job, but they are just not available.

The only thing that is keeping many of these unemployed workers out of poverty is unemployment compensation checks. In early 2010, about 75% of the Labor Department's officially unemployed people were receiving these checks. And the Census Bureau said that unemployment compensation had kept at least 3.2 million people out of poverty that year.

But things are getting worse. There aren't enough jobs being created to make a real dent in the number of unemployed and more people each month are slipping into the long-term unemployed and those labeled as "marginally attached". Currently only about 48% of the 13.9 million officially unemployed are getting unemployment checks. That means about 52% (or about 7.23 million people) are not receiving a check. When you add in the marginally attached group, the percentage climbs even higher -- about 59.4% (or 9.8 million people) are unemployed and receive no check.

The sad part is that this percentage of Americans without both a job and an unemployment check is going to keep on growing larger. That's because the Republicans in the House continue to block both real job creation and any extension of the time a person can receive unemployment compensation. They figure if they can keep unemployment high and people hurting, they can blame it on the president and use that to win the 2012 election. And amazingly, they actually claim to be part of the "moral majority" -- although I can't understand how forcing people into poverty so you can win an election can possibly be considered moral or ethical.

It's no wonder that record numbers of people are slipping into poverty and the food stamp program's recipients have reached an all-time high. Out politicians have left people no choice. And now they want to slash the social programs that help these newly poor. The Occupy Wall Street protesters are not just right -- they are the only ones speaking up for the Americans that are hurting. The politicians and the corporations simply don't care as long as they can continue to get theirs.

GOP Job Creation

Political Cartoon is by Lee Judge in The Kansas City Star.

Family Research Council Disrespects Families

The Family Research Council (FRC), started by right-wing fundamentalists Gary Bauer and James Dobson, calls itself "the leading voice for the family in our nation's halls of power". They claim to be a defender of decency and family values. But the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) believes that is just baloney. They list the FRC as nothing more than an anti-homosexual hate group who's only real value is hate. So who is right -- the FRC or the SPLC?

One of the latest actions of the FRC answers that question pretty well. They have honored Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Illinois), a teabagger congressman (pictured above), with their "True Blue" award -- citing him for his "Unwavering support of the family". FRC president Tony Perkins said "We thank Congressman Walsh who has voted consistently to defend faith, family and freedom." perkins went on to say he applauded Walsh for his "commitment to uphold the institutions of marriage and family."

I have to wonder just what the FRC's definition of commitment to marriage and family is, since Walsh is divorced and refuses to pay any child support for his own children. As of last July, Walsh owed $117,000 is back child-support payments. And he is still refusing to pay. Walsh is not an example of a father who is jobless and cannot afford to pay. He is a congressman who makes three times the median income of an American worker. He could afford to pay -- he just refuses to do so. He's the dictionary definition of a "deadbeat dad".

That should be more than enough to prevent Walsh from getting any kind of award for commitment to family values, but Walsh goes even further. To pander to his teabagger base, Walsh turned down the congressional health insurance plan for his family -- at a time when he and his current wife were uninsured and she had a pre-existing condition and needed surgery. It turns out he doesn't care for either of his families -- past or current.

So why did Walsh get the FRC award since he won't even support his own family, let alone other American families? Because the FRC isn't really interested in protecting American families. Their only real values are hatred and bigotry -- and those are values that Walsh has consistently supported with his anti-gay, anti-muslim, and anti-familiy (at least poor or unemployed families) votes in Congress.

The SPLC is right -- the FRC is nothing more than a hate group. And Walsh has earned their award for bigotry. But neither the FRC nor Walsh respect families.

In The Pocket

Political Cartoon is by Kevin Siers in The Charlotte Observer.

Surprise - Most Millionaires Support "Buffett Plan"

The picture above is of Warren Buffett -- one of the richest men in America. Recently he made public his view that the rich should be paying higher taxes to help the country's economy out of the mess it;s in (and because most of the rich pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes than middle class workers pay). The idea was immediately dubbed the "Buffett Plan", and Buffett was viciously attacked by Republicans.

I had assumed that most of the rich agreed with the Republicans and were opposed to government raising their taxes, but it looks like I may have been wrong. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal by Robert Frank, a recent poll of millionaires showed that a significant majority of them agreed with Buffett (about 68%). Here is part of Frank's article:

Warren Buffett isn’t the only rich guy who wants to higher taxes on the rich.

A new survey from Spectrem Group found that 68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more)  support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners.

Buffett, as you might recall, has proposed raising taxes on million-plus earners, saying the ultra-rich pay lower rates than everyday workers.

Rich people’s opinions of Buffett remain fairly positive in the wake of his tax-me-more crusade. More than a third of millionaires and ultra-high-net-worths said they have a more positive opinion of Buffett after his tax proposal. Only 19% of millionaires and 22% of the $5 million -plus group said they had a more negative opinion of him after the proposal.

More than 40% of both groups said their opinion hadn’t changed.

In other words, Buffett’s proposal had more supporters than detractors among the rich — though that support declines slightly as you move up the wealth ladder.

Explains George Walper of Spectrem: “What this tells us is that there are a number of wealthy folks who said: ‘Gee, we need to increase taxes to stimulate the economy. No one likes to be taxed more, but the reality is maybe it has to be done.’ ”

Walper added that he was also surprised at the positive reactions to Buffett’s political agenda. “I thought that among this group there would be a feeling of ‘why doesn’t he keep his nose out of it?’”

So Many Stories

Political Cartoon is by Kevin Siers in The Charlotte Observer.

Those Crazy Liberals !

The good folks at PoliticalLoudmouth.com remind us that many of the good things we now take for granted were fought for and won by liberals. It's those crazy liberals who have insured better living and working conditions for most Americans, and insured that their rights were protected.

Unemployment Only 9% ? - Don't Believe It !

The Labor Department has released its official figures on unemployment for the month of October 2011. According to them unemployment fell by 0.1% last month -- from 9.1% to 9.0%. And all the media headlines make it sound like that is something to celebrate. They would have you believe that unemployment is going down in the United States.

But before you pop the cork on that champagne and start the celebration, it would probably be good to examine some of those government figures. According to the Labor Department, there were 84,000 new jobs created in the month of October. That figure alone should be enough to tell you that there must be more unemployed people in the United States after October -- not less. That's because at least about 150,000 jobs must be created in a month just to keep up with the amount of new workers entering the job market.

That means that October ended with about 66,000 more unemployed people in America than at the end of September. In other words, real unemployment actually went up in October instead of declining. So how did the official unemployment rate show a drop? The sad fact is that the Labor Department doesn't count all of the unemployed people in America. They only count those who can be verified as seeking employment in the last four weeks. Anyone who has given up, or don't know where else to look for work, or can't be verified by the government as seeking work (because they no longer go to their local unemployment office) is simply not counted in the official unemployment figure.

Would It Be So Bad ?

Political Cartoon is by Joel Pett in USA Today.

Cain Badly Mishandled The Charges Against Him

When will the politicians ever learn. The United States is a forgiving country, but its people absolutely hates liars. Herman Cain was accused of sexually harassing a couple of female employees when he headed the National Restaurant Association (NRA) back in the late 1990's. And there is mounting evidence that the charges are true, including a $35,000 payoff to one woman and a $45,000 payoff to another. And these are not charges filed long after the incident. At least one of the women reported the improper behavior on the same night it occurred. Here is how Politico reports it:

The woman in question, roughly 30 years old at the time and working in the National Restaurant Association’s government affairs division, told two people directly at the time that Cain made a sexual overture to her at one of the group’s events, according to the sources familiar with the incident. She was livid and lodged a verbal complaint with an NRA board member that same night, these sources said.

The woman told one of the sources Cain made a suggestion that she felt was overtly sexual in nature and that “she perceived that her job was at risk if she didn’t do it.”

“She is a pretty confident individual, and she was pretty upset,” the source, an acquaintance of the woman, said of her demeanor after the encounter with Cain. “Not crying, but angry.”

She described it as an “unwanted sexual advance” to the other source. The woman took the matter immediately and directly to the board member because “she wanted this fixed,” the source said.

POLITICO has learned the accusation was also later brought to the attention of another board member as well as the restaurant association’s general counsel Peter Kilgore, both of whom are said to have looked into the matter. The woman, who now works in New Jersey, left the NRA in May 1998, shortly after the incident — under an agreement that paid her one-year’s salary, in the mid-$30,000s, sources said.

In addition, the second woman's lawyer is discussing the incident with the NRA and asking for their permission for the woman to speak with the media (since she had to sign a confidentiality agreement at the time of the payoff). And she may get that permission from the NRA, since Cain has not been involved in NRA leadership since 1999 and they have nothing to lose by cooperating.

The sad part is that Cain could have settled this matter days ago. All he had to do was say the made a stupid mistake about 12 years ago, he's sorry, and he would never do such a thing again. But he didn't do that. Instead he has denied everything, and then keeps changing his story as more facts emerge. He tried to stonewall it, and that just never works these days.All that did was give the story some legs and make sure it won't die for a while.

But Cain couldn't tell the truth -- his ego wouldn't let him. He's convinced that as a member of the richest 1% of Americans, he doesn't have to play by the same rules that apply to other Americans. And he's not alone in that. Frankly, most of the rich feel that way -- regardless of their age, race, or sex. But that kind of attitude doesn't sell on Main Street, and Cain is probably destroying any slim chance he had of being elected president.

It might not hurt him in the Republican race -- since right-wingers tend to make excuses when their heroes screw up (they're convinced it must be a liberal conspiracy since a right-winger couldn't possibly do wrong). But it's going to cost him with the general public in a general election. And it won't be because of his race, but because of his dishonesty. Americans can forgive a screw up, but that hate dishonesty.

Energy

Political Cartoon is by Joe Heller in the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Bernie Speaks Out For Economic Fairness

As expected, it looks like the Democrats on the "super committee" that was tasked with helping to lower the deficit, is about to fold and give in to the Republicans once again -- causing huge cuts in social programs while not requiring the rich pay their fair share of taxes. And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), the best senator in Washington, doesn't like it even a little bit. He has sent a new e-mail to his supporters, and I repost that here for your benefit. Here is what he has to say:

I want to alert you to a very important issue which needs your immediate response.


As we speak, members of the so-called “Super Committee” are proposing a plan that would call for major cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.


In negotiation after negotiation, the Democrats continue to give the Republicans almost everything they want.  Despite the fact that our deficit problems were caused by the greed on Wall Street which led to the current horrendous recession, huge tax breaks for the rich and two un-paid for wars, the President and the Democrats have gone along with trillions of dollars in cuts in programs for the elderly, the sick, children and the poor.  Meanwhile, the wealthiest people in this country, who are doing phenomenally well, have not been asked to pay one penny more in taxes.  Further, we have not closed one corporate loophole or cut military spending.


Ever since its inception, the Republicans have wanted to destroy Social Security.  We must not allow them to succeed.  Social Security is the most successful and popular federal program in existence.  For 76 years it has paid out every penny owed to every eligible American and has played a major role in reducing poverty among seniors.  Today, Social Security has a 2.5 trillion dollar surplus and can pay out all benefits for the next 25 years.  Importantly, because it is funded by the payroll tax and not the U.S. Treasury, Social Security has played no role in causing the deficit.


We must also defend Medicare and Medicaid.  Today, 50 million Americans are uninsured and many more are under-insured.  Some 45,000 Americans die every year because they do not get to a doctor on time.  Now is not the time to cut benefits for Medicare or throw children or lower-income Americans off of their health insurance.


Poll after poll shows that the American people are very clear about these issues.  They want the wealthy and large corporations to begin paying their fair share of taxes.  They want to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  And that’s exactly what the “Super Committee” should do.


Please sign the enclosed petition demanding no cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  Please contact your Senator or member of Congress with the same message.


Sincerely,


Senator Bernie Sanders

Wait Your Turn !

Political Cartoon is by Randy Bish in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Using God

Far too often in America today politicians troll for votes by bragging about their religious faith (and some even claim that god told them to run for office). This is not an unusual or even a new thing. People have been using religion for thousands of years to justify their actions -- even when those actions are selfish or evil. We must continually remind ourselves that just because a person claims to be following a religion (or god's wishes) does not mean his/her actions are good or even moral. Both good and evil people can claim to be godly, which is why we must separate religion from politics and judge each politician by their actions (or inaction) -- not their claim to have the support of any god.