Some Recovery

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Things have slowed down in bankruptcy world, and now I have an idea why: People are too broke to care.  The latest census report shows that nearly half the population is either "in poverty" or "low income".  In other words, half the country either can't afford to file or has so little worth that filing is pointless.  When exactly was it the recession ended?


Of course the Heritage Foundation (The only "heritage" that foundation has is shilling for the 1%.  Just saying.) trots out its "poverty expert" Robert Rector (Oh, it's such a strain not to do naughty puns on his name.) to say that they're not really poor (by Mumbai standards), that we do enough for them already (Look at all the taxes rich people have to pay.), and that we just need to teach them how to be "self-sufficient."  Of course, this toady has been shoveling this line for decades.  Don't believe me?  Google him.  Or look at this article from 11 years ago where he's claiming the gap between rich and poor isn't so bad because of all the poverty programs the rich have to pay for (First, note how he conflates "income gap", which is bad enough, with "wealth gap", which is more accurate and is absolutely obscene.  Second, note that the gap has only gotten worse, due in large part to policies the Heritage Foundation promotes.  Don't believe me?  I'll let those Commies over at Forbes lay it out for you.  And while I'm over at Forbes, took a look at this article on 1% wheels.  Don't you love that remark by the Bugatti CEO, "The crisis cannot keep a Bugatti buyer away from buying a car for financial reasons”?).  Or this article, in which he claims the poor don't need more food because so many are already overweight (conflating "underfed" and "undernourished").  Or how about his remarks to the New York Times saying all but a very few people are merely "constrained" in the type of food they buy, so there is no hunger problem.  Just to show you you what level of dinkage this guy operates on, he's also the Heritage Foundation's "expert" on abstinence-only sex "education".  News flash:  That's the kind of sex education we had when I was a kid and on before that, and ignorance really wasn't a terribly effective contraceptive.  The difference is that, back then, a 17-year-old could get a job that could support the girl and baby.  Those jobs are gone, and the Heritage Foundation led the charge to destroy them.



OK, rant over.  The bottom line is that things are not improving.  If unemployment figures are going down, it's because people have dropped out of the work force or are holding jobs that barely qualify as jobs.  People are hungry and cold and desperate, regardless what the paid shills say.  And it's getting worse, not better.