America's Underclass growing? No shit, Sherlock!

[raccoon]

America's Underclass: The Growing Gap Between the Rich and Poor

Posted May 18, 2010 09:00am EDT by Peter Gorenstein in Recession


Macro economic data suggest the great recession is over. But the gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing, thanks, in large part, to a jobless recovery. Wall Street Cheat Sheet’s Damien Hoffman says the growing underclass now accounts for about 10% of the U.S. population.

In this clip, he and his brother Derek, who jointly run the Wall Street Cheat Sheet website, point to several signs America is turning into a two-class society:

• -The foreclosure problem. 2.8 million homes were foreclosed in 2009. RealyTrac expects that number to increase to 3-3.5 million in 2010. Damien Hoffman thinks it could be even higher if "strategic foreclosures" become a more accepted practice.

• - Unemployment. The official rate is 9.9% but the wider measure of under employed and those who have given up on their job search is more like 17%. That's more than 24 million Americans out of work.

• - Record numbers using food stamps. The Agriculture Department said a record 40 million Americans, or 1 in 8 Americans, may not be able to eat without government assistance. “This is the ultimate sign of an under class,” the Hoffman Brothers say.

• - Take a look at Dollar Tree Stores. The discounter's stock is near an all-time high while revenues are up 12.5% this year. In other words, more Americans are chasing cheaper goods.

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/america%27s-underclass-the-growing-gap-between-the-rich-and-poor-487302.html?tickers=dltr,xhb,tlt,^dji,^gspc,kbh,xrt

[bobbolink]

1. And those of us who were poor before are STILL ignored, and getting poorer.

Does it matter?

[Autumn]

2. Sadly enough, no it doesn't matter

and those we have put in charge really don't care. We keep doing the same thing over and over expecting it to change and it doesn't. It just gets worse.

[grilled onions]

3. That $50 "Snack"

that many politicians stick us with the tab for(when they use eating as an excuse to talk shop) can really be used to feed the masses every day of the year. While they talk turkey the money being wasted is fowl in so many ways. They complain about how the lower minions waste food,complain etc while they gorge themselves on costly wines and never eat on budget hours!

[lib2DaBone]

4. There is no such thing as a "jobless Recovery".

That is a Faux news term used to blow smoke at the unemployed and foreclosed.

Mr. Obama should have started a massive public works jobs program and let the banks eat their own Credit Default Swaps.

The banks are going to go belly up anyway by July or September of this year... with $1.5 quadrillion dollars of credit default swaps are out there ready to explode. Let the banks eat them... not the American people.

[bvar22]

5. Jobless Recovery ?

DLC Mission Accomplished!
:patriot:



The DLC New Team

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)

You can NOT be FOR "Free Trade" and "Free Markets",
and be Pro-Working Class/Pro-LABOR at the same time.
The two ARE Mutually Exclusive.

"By their works, you will know them."


"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

[uponit7771]

6. +1, if they're thinking in terms of the middle class you're 100% right