With 50 Million Food Insecure and 59 Million Uninsured, No Wonder Dems Lost
In the last week or so, two public reports have cataloged the growing insecurity of Americans.
Last week, CDC reported that the number of people without health insurance topped 59 million in the first quarter of this year (up 400,000 from last year and 2.7 million from 2008).
And today, USDA reported that 50.2 million were food insecure in 2009 (up 900,000 from the previous year, though it does say the increase may have been due to statistical sampling).
A sixth of this country doesn’t have the bare necessities. A tenth of this country don’t have jobs.
Is it any wonder that Dems lost two weeks ago?
And the other thing that bugs me about this is that this is what “security” is all about. But it gets defined as “al Qaeda threat” instead, and we dump all the money into Rape-scan machines rather than into jobs and safety net.
Moreover, they showed almost no sense of the desperation growing in the country. The “tell” was their refusal to do anything meaningful about jobs, or help people and not hurt them with their mortgage “reforms” (great job you’ve done reporting that, EW).
God, those Rape-scan machines have to go. We’re canceling plans for our vacation because we don’t want to fly and take a chance our daughter would get felt-up by some TSA creep.
Telling people they have to be sexually molested for their safety is the height of Orwellian madness.
My kids will not fly at all due to this.
Thanks for the post EW.
A few weeks back I linked to an article that also stated that 40% of the homeless are families and most are now living in cars.
So much for family values.
I met a family in this very situation. The family belongs to our health club. They use the club for fitness, showers, kids’ activities and meals. The family has been trying to get housing but they have not had success. They have a nice van. They keep everyone neat and clean and take the kids to the library at night to do all their homework.
They have been saving money to buy a small Katrina cottage and a small piece of land.
Their family feels like they are lucky compared to others. Their lives are able to have enough money for food but not shelter.
The family bought their membership long before the family got hit by the financial crisis and had paid for the year. However, the family sees the health club providing more healthy options for them rather than temporary housing through non-profits. The family does check into a hotel every couple of nights. The family has noticed that the kids participating in their swimming and sports activities at the gym, showering after the activities, eating and going to the library to do homework, has established a healthy routine to keep them all going despite being homeless.
Our town has what many consider to be a homeless problem. Nice weather and no tough rules a few years ago, and there were lots of homeless people.
However, I discovered, much as you, that there are two types of homeless (maybe more than two as you break the two or three groups down).
One group is a group of hard working people, couples and singles, who just don’t make quite enough to afford a decent housing situation. They are working a full week or close to it, but can’t quite get over the amount needed to get a place. Yeah, the ones I have met use a gym membership to keep clean, etc.
The other group is the one that pisses people here off and makes a bad name in general of the homeless, but, unfortunately, they are the most visible group. Yeah, that’s the out and out bum who sits on street (and, many you recognize for years) with a sign saying “money for beer,” etc.
This is not the noble homeless person, but really something very different. But, they get in the way and hinder efforts to help the first group. They are a small percentage, but again most visible.
Now, I was once part of the first group for almost a year, so I know what it is like, and it ain’t easy. I distinctly remember riding my beat up 3 speed bike through the hard, cold rain in winter to go to my crummy job 5 miles away from where I’d crash generally and wondering “What the hell?”
Others I knew in the first group weren’t too happy with group #2 either.
You obviously missed the helpful suggestion in the comments in a prior thread that those who are unhappy with Obama should put their money where their mouth is.
I guess after infusing billions via the fed, Obama and his Professional Unlefts’ take is, “let ’em eat quantitative easing”
Huh?!? The Dems lost because they weren’t conservative enough. Just ask Obama!
I won’t willingly fly commercial again. Not because of fears of AQ, but because of fears of TSA.
Boxturtle (A pilot license will run about $5K. A 182 rents wet for about $120/hr)
You can rent a pilot also.
Well, at least most Dem politicians have the support of the Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times as they try to re-implement Hooverism. I’m fairly sure that’s all they care about.
Who are terrorists again?
Anybody who’s skin isn’t European white and who’s religion isn’t American Protestant.
Boxturtle (I said “and” above and I’m wondering if I should have said “or”)
Obama is finding out what happens when you spend your time bargaining with the MOTUs and sacrificing real people, rather than fighting the MOTUs on behalf of real people. I just hope he gets an FDR moment and decides to start fighting the aristocracy of privilege, and turns the DOJ loose on the law-breaking aristocrats who are trying to sell us down the river.
Bob in AZ
Nope. The time for that would have been when he had the power, mandate and unheard of congressional majorities. He pissed all that away.
Well, the 2012 campaign is about to heat up.
I was surprised when Obama didn’t use the 2010 campaign to turn loose DOJ prosecution of Republican fraud and abuse. He missed a big opportunity.
Bob in AZ
“…it does say the increase may have been due to statistical sampling”
The actual number will most likely be even higher.
The survey used to estimate the number does not cover folks like those klynn reports about in post #4, because it is done in conjunction with the U.S. Census Bureau annual surveys — which usually undercounts the homeless (attempts to fix this problem have been met in the past with loud and massive political oppositions). Additionally, if you look at http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10101.html for the requirements for applying for food stamps, you find that you need proof of income, proof of paying rent or mortgage — along with utility bill payment records, etc. Things that the homeless often don’t have.
If you’re jobless, broke, and your house is being foreclosed on, you still might not be eligible for food stamps – because the house is still considered an asset.
O/T Ginni Thomas Stepping Down From Conservative Group She Founded
LINK.
One state in the USA, viewed in GDP terms, is the world*s 8th largest economy. The state has a voter registration which provides the Democratic party a 13% margin over Republicans. The state is CA. It has only one statewide elected official who is Republican, the new state AG; and some people have yet to call that close contest*s results. The state*s exiting Republican script-reading governor did his utmost over 2 terms to implement a vitiating agenda of the national RNC, with few exceptions; upending local government budgets and education priorities. At the national level, Bush2 and Chris Sleep at the Wheel Cox, prosecuted a 2 term plan for emptying LargeDogClinton*s surpplus coffers. Senators Murkowski and Landrieu worked to chain and leash the EPA in the hope of preventing EPA from controlling CO2 emissions emanating from oilco interests in their 2 states. Dems **lost**, but the world*s eight largest econmomy, CA, is resetting its compass under continued strong Democratic party leadership. The electorate, additionallly, approved a change to the budget writing process which will return the Republican minority to having less obstructive influence, as new budgets will pass with a simple majority, according to the just-passed initiative. I have hope for the new SEC*s directions under Schapiro*s leadership, as well.
Nicely stated.
Well John, they now have no excuse do they?
Having run the state into the ground, we will see who they blame in a few years. You can bet it won’t be them.
Since voters also kept the 2/3rd’s majority for tax increases, and put in a new 2/3 rd’s vote for fee increases rule, the Democrats favorite playbook of raising taxes will not happen, so what are they going to do? They can pass a budget with 50%, but with no new taxes or fees, what are they going to do?
The GOP is lucky to finally be out of it because they will get no blame for the train wreck coming.
The only consolation is that Brown generally has a level head, and he seems to recognize that the tune soon to be the #1 hit will be “Cuts, Cuts and more Cuts.”
I’ve heard Harris is ahead, in the latest count.
Way to go, Harris is the better candidate for AG.
It is a wonder that any incumbents were re-elected at all.
If you want to know why things never get better:
“Don’t read too much into a few isolated early primaries (see: Robert Bennett) or into polls where vast majorities of Americans disapprove of Congress or even indicate their willingness to vote for the challenger.
Incumbents still dominate congressional elections.”
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/how-many-bums-did-the-american-people-throw-out/
A lot more than a 10th of the country don’t have jobs. As you know, the way the government figures out who is jobless is not in fact by measuring who is jobless but sampling who has looked for a job in the last six months.
This was changed under Bush I to make the unemployment numbers look better than they actually are. If you’ve completely given up on looking for legit work then you are not considered unemployed by official government statistics.
Your description is not quite right. Unemployment statistics are calculated with respect to the “Labor Market.” The jiggery pokery of unemployment then becomes in how the “labor market” is defined. Thus, people who are no longer looking for a job are not considered part of the labor market. Furthermore, people who are unemployed because of a disability are likewise not considered part of the labor market– until they apply for vocational rehabilitation (VR) services and are accepted, because the premise of VR is to help people with disabilities become employable, so when they become employed, Voila! they are now part of the labor market.
Also, the labor market is somewhat age-defined (18 to 65). Seniors who don’t retire are considered part of the labor market, but those who do drop out of the labor market.
And by the way, “employment” statistics are calculated differently than “unemployment” statistics. The naive reader might think that %employed + %unemployed = 100%. Wrong! The denominator of those two quantities is different.
Bob in AZ