Wall Street Journal Readers Out of Touch

The latest poll shows 52% approval rating for health care reform. This includes the 13% of Americans who wish the reform was more liberal [single payer, public option etc]. As your WSJ readers show only 21% in favor of HCR, it indicates your readership doesn't reflect the public mood.
Perhaps, your readers are enjoying company-paid health benefits. They haven't lost their jobs, their insurance and their homes.

"Security Needs" Doom US Recovery

Economic Prospects for Citizens Grim to 2019

If the COLA for food stamps is frozen over the next eight years, NPP analysts project a 19% erosion in the buying power of those stamps due to inflation. This means that, by the end of 2019, a similar family of four, eating at exactly the same level, would be paying $611 a month for its food, or $100 more, while still receiving that same $321.

In other words, if the 2011 budget and its projections proceed as planned, a great many Americans will be hungrier and still jobless in a harsher, meaner world, while what budgetary savings are achieved on the backs of the poorest Americans will be gobbled up by wars, weapons, and other “security” needs. Ordinary Americans will largely be left in a sink or swim world and the waters will be very, very cold.

Jo Comerford, National Priorities Project

Racism and Bigotry Trump Liberty

During 300 years of slavery black people were well aware of how white folks felt about them. The relatives of the 1,000,000 Muslims slain in Iraq and the 4,000,000 made homeless know the hatred of whites first hand.

Everyone is aware of the mountain of abuse that has been heaped upon the Obama family.

The last three generations of white Americans too many have chosen racism and bigotry over liberty. They are the last ones entitled to complain about the USA collapse.

by jbpaz

Bushvilles: Parking Lot Sleeping for the Homeless

Bushvilles

David Neiwert, Alternet

Reading a CNN report on a homeless woman in California (video here), I came across this:

Harvey now works part time for $8 an hour, and she draws Social Security to help make ends meet. But she still cannot afford an apartment, and so every night she pulls into a gated parking lot to sleep in her car, along with other women who find themselves in a similar predicament.

There are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness. These lots are believed to be part of the first program of its kind in the United States, according to organizers.

The lots open at 7 p.m. and close at 7 a.m. and are run by New Beginnings Counseling Center, a homeless outreach organization.

It is illegal for people in California to sleep in their cars on streets. New Beginnings worked with the city to allow the parking lots as a safe place for the homeless to sleep in their vehicles without being harassed by people on the streets or ticketed by police.

Well, we all know that California is usually several steps ahead of the rest of the country in fashions -- cultural, economic, and otherwise. I fully expect we'll be seeing similar programs cropping up wherever the Big Shitpile is hitting the fan, compliments of the economic stewardship of George W. Bush & Co.

Can't afford a home? Well, you can take up residence in your car in a parking lot at night, just like these fine middle-class housewives do.

These transient homes for the once-prosperous deserve their own name, too. I propose we call them Bushvilles.

You all remember Hoovervilles from your history books, don't you?

They were products of an eerily similar economic policy: favor the wealthy, soak the poor, and screw the middle, then let God sort it out:

A Hooverville was the popular name for a shanty town, examples of which were found in many United States communities during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The name Hooverville has also been used to describe the Tent Cities commonly found in America.

The word "Hooverville" derives from the name of the President of the United States at the beginning of the Depression, Herbert Hoover. They used Hoover's name because they were frustrated and disappointed with his involvement in the relief effort for the Depression. In addition to financial troubles during the Depression, a drought in the Mississippi Valley forced farmers to auction their land for taxes and reside in Hoovervilles.

These settlements were often formed in horrible neighborhoods or desolate areas and consisted of dozens or hundreds of shacks and tents that were temporary residences of those left unemployed and homeless by the Depression. People slept in anything from open piano crates to the ground. Authorities did not officially recognize these Hoovervilles and occasionally removed the occupants for technically trespassing on private lands, but they were frequently tolerated out of necessity.

There's certainly no shortage of parking lots these days. And no shortage of the newly homeless. In a world in which economic failure is just a matter of survival of the fittest, the two obviously go together well -- though I do wonder what happens when the occupants can no longer afford the gas to drive their cars, either. Most likely those parking-lot slots will become semi-permanent homes, and the lots themselves little cities.

Bushvilles. Has a certain ring, doesn't it?

[A hat tip to sadlyyes.]

Finding Life in an Extended Family

With the current economic situation, many younger adults have found refuge in parental homes. It recalls an earlier time when extended families lived under one roof. This is not easy, but it can be enriching.
When my family of four came to America, my brother-in-law threw us out and my mother gave us shelter. She and my wife never got along. Eventually, my wife took our sons back to the old country.
After my mother had a stroke, I moved back to take care of her. After several years she needed a nursing home. We traded the house to ensure lifetime care for her.
I retired to Israel to be with my son and to write books.
Thanks to the decline of the dollar the value of my Israeli pension has risen from $500 to $1000 per month.
The State Department is dragging its feet on my Social Security. They are angry with anyone who writes about stolen nuclear secrets.
My mom did me a good deed and I reciprocated. I think it worked out well for both of us.