Homeless children 25% - so many school buses now stop at cheap motels

[RamboLiberal]

Unemployment improved a bit last month but it is still nearly nine percent and the trouble is job creation is so slow, it will be years before we get back the seven and a half million jobs lost in the Great Recession. American families have been falling out of the middle class in record numbers. The combination of lost jobs and millions of foreclosures means a lot of folks are homeless and hungry for the first time in their lives.

One of the consequences of the recession that you don't hear a lot about is the record number of children descending into poverty.

The government considers a family of four to be impoverished if they take in less than $22,000 a year. Based on that standard, and government projections of unemployment, it is estimated the poverty rate for kids in this country will soon hit 25 percent. Those children would be the largest American generation to be raised in hard times since the Great Depression.

In Seminole County, near Orlando, Fla., so many kids have lost their homes that school busses now stop at dozens of cheap motels where families crowd into rooms, living week to week.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/06/60minutes/main20038927.shtml?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

Helluva sobering report last night on 60 Minutes - this should shame the country but we know it won't!

[howaboutme]

1. And Obama is now going to allow the insourcing of Mexican trucking

I saw that and it was very sad indeed. There was a discussion here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=573966&mesg_id=573966

But why is Obama going to make it worse? How many American trucking jobs will be lost to Mexicans that will be hired by "USA trucking companies" (there are no longer USA corporations)? This is a very poor decision by Obama at a time when the USA needs economic stability and job growth and not capitulation to big business looking for cheap labor.

[Angry Dragon]

2. The deal with Mexican truckers has been in the works for years

Long before Obama took office

[Vincardog]

4. Do you see him doing anything to stop it?

[Angry Dragon]

5. I believe it is part of the free trade agreement

I don't think he can without breaking the agreement

[Vincardog]

7. What exactly is stopping him from renegotiating NAFTA?

[Angry Dragon]

8. I guess you would have to ask him

I have no idea where the man is going next
Have quit trying to figure him out

[texshelters]

12. Corporate money for reelection

that is why Obama won't renegotiate a trade agreement that makes his large donors millions.

Peace,
Tex Shelters
http://texshelters.wordpress.com/

[howaboutme]

14. Real working Americans have no advocate

Even the Democrats are now basically beholden to the Business Roundtable and Wall St. They are all afraid of being put in the cross hairs of the interests with all the money.

It will take guts on the part of politicians that typically have no guts, but Americans would support politicians regardless of Party if they were supporters of America and Americans instead of what we have which are mostly opportunists looking for donations.

[howaboutme]

6. What about renegotiating NAFTA?

I heard him promise that on the campaign. Apparently that idea got shelved and replaced with I want to work with business and lets give tax cuts to the rich, and let's fire America truck drivers. That inevitably leads to replacing the union workers in LA ports with Mexican ports.

[Angry Dragon]

10. As I said above

I have no idea what is going on in his mind

[BobbyBoring]

13. Rumor had it

That W was going to build a new highway stretching from Mexico to Canada so yeah, it's been in the works for a while. In addition to all the other problems this will cause like countless accidents from poorly maintained Mexican trucks and drug and weapons smuggling, it's going to wreak hell on our trucking industry.

NAFTA needs to go PERIOD

[DCKit]

3. They're not homeless, they're camping indoors.

It's an adventure. :sarcasm:

[RufusTFirefly]

9. "so (chuckling) this is working very well for them."

Don't worry: Before long, public education will be destroyed and these embarrassing stops will no longer be necessary.

What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so (chuckling) this is working very well for them. -- Barbara Bush, that wonderful lady

[Democrats_win]

11. Well, I'm glad corporate America is safe with it's two trillion dollars!

Just think how immoral that is! While our children are suffering, corporations are sitting on cash. Hey, corporations are people too and we should have empathy for "them." Why won't 60 minutes discuss the plight of the poor corporations?

[classysassy]

15. If people are illegal,bribes should be too.

We are beginning to see the light,our elected officials are in the business of accepting bribes and we the people are going along with that criminal act.