Category: The New Depression
I think I need a vacation
Because if you cry or feel your blood pressure go up almost every time you read something, or want to throw something against the wall, it’s somewhat stressful after a while.
I get occasional emails from readers about these hard times. Most of the time, I can soldier on (because I won’t give these bastards who are running the show the satisfaction of taking me down) but I got one yesterday from a C&L reader that moved me to tears, because it’s all so sad and overwhelming:
I was unemployed myself for a year after our business (fine furniture and kitchen design and installation) went belly up, and we almost lost our house (our heating bill for the last year there was over $5,000). We were fortunate to sell it a week before the foreclosure sale, and more fortunate to move into the mobile home on the 10 acres where we board our horses, and by sneaking money out of the closing have been able to purchase the land and trailer from our neighbor. My husband lost his job in January due to budget cutbacks by our utility and now works for $10/hr, half what he was before and has to do construction jobs on the weekends to keep us from going underwater again.
However – we consider ourselves fortunate beyond belief. We lived out of the garden all summer, the chickies lay enough eggs so I can sell enough to pay for chick feed, we shot a couple of deer out at the end of the pasture and have meat in the freezer. I have a stable government job which since it is funded by licensing fees isn’t subject to general state funding, and we will get by.
I guess my point is that people who do not have the ability to fall back on self sufficiency of any sort are really in terrible trouble. I have friends I made when I was at ** who are never going to work again. Women in their 50’s and older who used to be well paid, who have run out of benefits, living in their friends’ basements – basically reduced to begging. Guys who had worked in construction all their lives and have no other skills to fall back on. We have a close friend who had a roofing company started by his grandfather in the 50’s, he has no work, debts up the arse, his wife left him, he lost his house (which he had mortgaged to keep his crew on). I am expecting to hear he’s gone out in the woods with a gun any time soon. The man is destroyed.
I am so fucking sick of all this. I was born in England and lived in Canada for 30 years – people ask me why I won’t become a US citizen. Why would I take citizenship in a country that treats its citizens like dirt.
I can’t vote, not that that has any effect. What are we all going to do to change this? We know that congress won’t vote for public financing of elections, so that’s out.
Revolution????? Why aren’t we out in the streets like they are in Europe? All you see here in Helena is a bunch of pathetic teabaggers, but admittedly even though Montana’s unemployment rate is 7.4%, Helena is pretty stable, even though my husband has to work as a fixit dude for a RV dealership, pretty pathetic. The feeling of powerlessness, with daily revelations of criminal acts by the corporatocracy, is too fucking depressing.
If you or any of your pals have ideas for starting a revolution, count me in.
Thanks for your wonderful writing and being here.
Maybe I’ll feel better in the morning.
Trickling down
Guess people should have paid more attention when he praised Reagan, huh?
WASHINGTON — President Obama said he would consider adopting some of the recommendations in the provocative debt-reduction plan from his fiscal commission, which wrapped up work on Friday with more of a bipartisan accord than even its members had expected.
Soon after the commission finished — with 11 of its 18 members backing the package of deep spending cuts and revenue increases — Mr. Obama issued a statement praising the panel’s work. Without embracing any particular ideas, he said he would review them all as he looks for ways to “correct our fiscal course.”
“The commission’s majority report includes a number of specific proposals that I — along with my economic team — will study closely in the coming weeks as we develop our budget and our priorities for the coming year,” Mr. Obama said in a statement distributed by the White House as the president visited troops in Afghanistan.
Blackmailing the unemployed
Juan Williams is worried about our self-respect
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that Juan Williams is sincere when he says this. To a certain extent, it’s true. As someone who’s been unemployed for more than two years now, I don’t feel anywhere near as polished and professional as I used to be.
But here’s the thing, Juan, something you may not have noticed: There aren’t enough real jobs for all the people out of work. And people are struggling even with the unemployment checks. Yet you and a Fox News talking blonde say that for the sake of some theoretical self-respect (which apparently involves living in a cardboard box on the curb), you’re urging people to take low-paying part-time jobs with no security instead of unemployment checks — a decision that’s clearly against their economic self-interest.
Because you can’t take self-respect to the electric company, or to your landlord. It won’t put gas in the car, or food on the table. Sometimes you just have to swallow your self-respect to keep enough cash flow coming, right?
You, of all people, should understand. After all, you work for Fox!
Juan Williams told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that extended unemployment benefits are harmful to peoples’ work ethic and basic values.
The two were speaking about the fight over the extension of the benefits on Thursday’s “America Live.” Kelly told Williams that a man she knows is staying on unemployment because his jobless benefits bring him more money than a potential job.
“To me it’s crazy because the longer that person is unemployed the more difficult it is then for them to get a job,” Williams said. He continued:
“Because employers, potential employers, will look and see that gee, they’ve been out forever, it doesn’t make sense. And I think that’s partly playing in to this cycle. And at some point then it becomes a matter of you lose your work ethic, your values are impacted, you know, getting up, showing up, dressing well, all that good stuff. So I don’t know that that’s smart.”
Fed wants to strip key protection for homeowners
There’s no obvious reason why the Fed would do this, unless it’s aimed at putting assets back on the banks’ books to cover up their losses:
WASHINGTON — As Americans continue to lose their homes in record numbers, the Federal Reserve is considering making it much harder for homeowners to stop foreclosures and escape predatory home loans with onerous terms.
The Fed’s proposal to amend a 42-year-old provision of the federal Truth in Lending Act has angered labor, civil rights and consumer advocacy groups along with a slew of foreclosure defense attorneys.
They’re not only asking the Fed to withdraw the proposal, they also want any future changes to the law to be handled by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which begins its work next year.
In a letter to the Fed’s Board of Governors, dozens of groups that oppose the measure, including the National Consumer Law Center, the NAACP and the Service Employees International Union, say the proposal is bad medicine at the wrong time.
“At the depths of the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression, we are surprised that the Fed has proposed rules that would eviscerate the primary protection homeowners currently have to escape abusive loans and avoid foreclosure: the extended right of rescission.”
Because the public comment period on the Fed’s proposal is still open until Dec. 23, a spokesman declined comment on the matter.
Bernanke warns of long-term joblessness
Fear of imaginary inflation is the monster under the bed for the politicians — even though the bond market so far has no problem. Politicians and the corporate media are such well-trained lapdogs, they simply try to anticipate what might upset them later:
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Tuesday that a long period of high unemployment could exact a steep social cost, as he and other Fed officials defended the central bank against criticism of its easy money policy.
Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said the Fed’s controversial bond purchase program was needed given a “troubling” slowdown in U.S. economic growth and too low inflation and employment.
The Fed said earlier this month it would buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds to support a weak economy. Core inflation has averaged well below the Fed’s informal target of about 2 percent and the jobless rate remains stubbornly high.
“There are obviously very severe economic and social consequences from this level of unemployment,” Bernanke said at Ohio State University. “So getting new jobs, getting unemployment down is of an incredible importance.”
The Fed’s purchase program has elicited an unusual amount of criticism both at home and abroad, including that it is deliberately pushing down the dollar and fueling asset bubbles. Some U.S. Republicans have warned the policy will lead to runaway inflation.
Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank and known as an inflation hawk, said the Fed faces a delicate task of timing the eventual withdrawal of easy money to avoid a run-up in inflation, but that he doesn’t yet know when that time will be.
“We’ve increased the monetary base tremendously, and there is a lot of people that just look at that and jump to the conclusion that hyperinflation is a threat,” Lacker told a panel in New York.
“I think there’s a little bit of overreaction, a little bit of hysteria out there” on inflation.
‘Uncertainty’
Doesn’t have a damned thing to do with the lack of hiring. It’s only a Chamber of Commerce talking point.
Spineless
I wonder how Obama manages to play basketball without anything to hold him upright?
Helping Hand
As author Mike Whitney points out, it won’t be considered an IMF success unless someone is starving:
This is a black day for Ireland. The Irish people will now face a decade or more of grinding poverty and depression thanks to their venal leaders. As soon as the ink dries on the IMF loans, the second occupation of Ireland will begin, only this time there won’t be armored cars and Paramilitaries in fatigues, but nerdy-looking bureaucrats trained in the art of spreading misery. In fact, the loans haven’t even been signed yet, and already IMF officials are urging the government to cut jobless benefits and the minimum wage. They’re literally champing at the bit. They just can’t wait to get their hands on the budget and start slashing away.
And don’t believe the hype about European unity or saving Ireland. My ass. This is about bailing out the banks. The bondholders get a free ride while workers get kicked to the curb. Here’s a clip from the Financial Times that spells it out in black and white:
“According to data compiled by the Bank of International Settlements, the three largest creditors to the Irish economy at the end of June…were Germany to the tune of €109bn, the UK at €100bn and France at €40bn. These sums amount to 2 per cent of France’s gross domestic product, 4.5 per cent of Germany’s GDP, and 7 per cent of British GDP.”
See? Another bank bailout. Ireland is being asked to cut to social services, slash wages, renegotiate contracts, and dismantle the welfare state so that undercapitalized banks in France and Germany can get their pound of flesh. But, why? They’re the ones who bought the bonds. No one put a gun to their head. They knew they could lose money if Irish banks went south. That’s the risk they took. “You pays your money, and you takes your chances.” Right? That’s how capitalism works.
Not any more, it doesn’t. Not while Cowen’s in charge, at least. The Irish PM has decided to bail them out; make all the bondholders “whole again.” But who made Cowen God? Who gave Cowen the right to hand over his country to the IMF?
No one. Cowen is a rogue agent kowtowing to international capital. After he finishes his work in Ireland, he’ll probably join globalist Tony Blair on the French Riviera for a little hobnobbing with the tuxedo crowd.
It’s revealing to watch the way Cowen works, as though the interests of foreign bankers mean more to him than those of his own people. For example, the Green Party withdrew from the government last night calling for new elections, but even though the government is in a shambles, the slippery Taoiseach wants to stay in power long enough to push through a new 4-year budget that will leave Irish workers on the brink of destitution. Who is Cowen working for anyway?
This is from the Irish Times:
“Opposition parties have today stepped up pressure on the Government as it seeks to push ahead with passing next month’s budget.
Fine Gael again called for an immediate general election and said the four-year budgetary plan should only be implemented by a Government which has a proper mandate….
“What is best for the country is that the negotiation about a programme for four years be done by a government which has four years to serve, that has a mandate from the public so that it has the authority and the credibility to not only develop and negotiate it but to implement it. I think that is in Ireland’s best interest,” he said. (“Opposition steps up pressure”, Charlie Taylor, Irish Times)
The prospective belt-tightening measures will include the firing of 28,000 public employees, a boost in property taxes, a 10 percent cut in welfare benefits, and higher taxes on low-wage workers. Cowen believes that taxing low income families is preferable to making billionaire bondholders eat their losses. The whole thing stinks to high-heaven.