Americans Face Economic Catastrophe -- Why Do the Political & Media Establishments Ignore Suffering

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Joshua Holland

Many Americans Face Economic Catastrophe -- Why Do the Political and Media Establishments Ignore Their Suffering?
Our leaders appear to be oblivious to the profound economic pain the majority of Americans are experiencing.

January 14, 2011 |


This is what a broken economic model looks like: record profits for corporate America, Wall Street paying out fat bonuses to its execs and the wealthy doing well enough to create a surge in demand for luxury items, while most of the rest of us struggle just to make ends meet in a devastated economic landscape.

You've no doubt heard about the unemployment numbers and the alarming number of Americans losing their homes, but a series of reports that paint a stunningly vivid picture of the human toll of the meltdown – the intense pain felt by the unemployed, the under-employed and the working poor – have gotten less play, in large part because while most of the U.S. remains in the grip of what appears to be a Second Great Depression, the political and media establishment largely ignores -- or at least underplays – the economic catastrophe a huge number of families are experiencing.

Part of the reason for that disconnect is simply that corporate America is sitting on record profits, and the stock market has by and large rebounded from its bottom. It's also due to the fact that a country as large as the U.S. doesn't really have a single economy; we live and work in a number of state and regional economies. And the Washington DC metropolitan area is doing very well – its residents are living in an economy completely divorced from the one in which many Americans are desperately trying to stay afloat.

The unemployment rate in DC is 6 percent – more than a third lower than the nationwide rate of 9.4 percent. It added more net jobs in 2010 than any other area in the U.S. In 2008, before the crash, residents of the metropolitan area enjoyed the third highest incomes in the U.S.; since the meltdown, their wages have remained well above the national average. (It's worth noting, however, that according to the Washington Post, the political class's newfound obsession with cutting the deficit may put a damper on the DC area's fortunes in the coming years as tens of thousands of public sector jobs are killed off.) .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/149538/many_americans_face_economic_catastrophe_--_why_do_the_political_and_media_establishments_ignore_their_suffering/

[FreakinDJ]

1. Because a Few Wealthy Elites are profiting

so they CHOOSE to ignore the suffering of the many

Actually I believe for a long time now, "Think Tanks" and "Astro-Turf Economic Advisory Panels" have force fed our lawmakers "Cooked Economic information and economic models based on Wall St's Global Free Trade Model.

Some one forgot to tell them the working class would have to revert back to the middle ages

[grilled onions]

2. They resemble old Dobbins with his blinders on

On way to their castles of choice they ignore the shanties,tents,homeless. They choose to be blissfully ignorant. Many truly believe if you are not born with wealth then poor you shall stay. They do not believe in caring,sharing or for any system that allows those at the bottom to have any chance at bettering themselves. It fills their ego with satisfaction knowing they are at the top. It is truly sad.

[Donnachaidh]

3. It's not just a few wealthy elites -- our government is using this situation to feed the MIC

When young people have NO economic choices but the military? Have you seen the visually stunning army.navy/marine ads being broadcast ad nauseum on channels young people watch lately?

It's *cool* to join the military. You get to play war games for real in the army - etc.

Our CHILDREN are being targeted for a future as cannon fodder to keep the MIC going AND cover corporate interests worldwide. And another happy thing from all this -- TPTB don't have to institute a draft - running the risk that poor Little Toddy Rich Kid might actually have to go to war.

Daddy Rich Guy makes money off the bones of our children, while HIS kids are protected.

This is NOT the *change* any of us voted for.