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Economic Woes
We should all take a look at the very sad and very disturbing column by Bob Herbert
that discusses the distress caused to ordinary Vermonters. Herbert
based the column on letters written to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
by citizens of that state:
Senator
Sanders asked his constituents to write to him about their experiences
in a difficult economy. He was blown away by both the volume of
responses and “the depth of the pain” of many of those who wrote.
A
55-year-old man who said his economic condition was “very scary,”
wrote: “I don’t live from paycheck to paycheck. I live day to day.” He
has no savings, he said. His gas tank is never more than a quarter
full, and he can’t afford to buy the “food items” he would like.
His
sense of his own mortality was evident in every sentence, and he
wondered how long he could continue. “I am concerned as gas prices
climb daily,” he said. “I am just tired. The harder that I work, the
harder it gets. I work 12 to 14 hours daily, and it just doesn’t help.”
A working mother with two young children wrote: “Some nights we eat cereal and toast for dinner because that’s all I have.”
Another woman said she and her husband, both 65, “only eat two meals a day to conserve.”
A
woman who has been trying to sell her house for two years and described
herself as “stretched to the breaking point,” told the senator, “I
don’t go to church many Sundays because the gasoline is too expensive
to drive there.”
Two
thoughts: first, members of Congress should reach out as Senator
Sanders has and let their constituents know that they have the space to
vent and put forward good ideas for economic recovery. The second
thought, echoed in this Boston Globe article about young people and gas
prices, is that politicians must find a way to address the problems
caused by high gas prices responsibly. We should not be trying to
reduce gas prices. We should be finding ways to use govern to ease the
problems prices are causing for us at the pump, something Democrats
seen to be picking up on this year. Senator McCain's ridiculous call
for a gas tax, on the other hand, demonstrates that he is not willing
to press the American public to be serious about national sacrifice and
environmental planning. Progressives should capitalize this fall, but
still reach out to the majority who is hurting right now.
Cross-posted at http://politicaldissonance.blogspot.com
Comments (2)
If you don't mind....
From the source:
THE COLLAPSE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
Dear Friend,
As gas and oil prices soared and as the nation slipped into recession, I made a request to Vermonters on my e-mail list. I asked them to tell me what was going on in their lives economically. That was it. Frankly, I expected a few dozen replies. I was amazed, therefore, when my office received over 600 responses from all across the state, as well as some from other states. This small booklet contains a few of those letters.
It is one thing to read dry economic statistics which describe the collapse of the American middle class. It is another thing to understand, in flesh and blood terms, what that means in the lives of ordinary Americans. Yes, since George W. Bush has been in office 5 million Americans have slipped into poverty, 8 million have lost their health insurance and 3 million have lost their pensions. Yes, in the last seven years median household income for working-age Americans has declined by $2,500. Yes, our country, for the first time since the Great Depression, now has a zero personal savings rate and, all across the nation, emergency food shelves are being flooded with working families whose inadequate wages prevent them from feeding their families.
Statistics are one thing, however, and real life is another. The responses that I received describe the decline of the American middle class from the perspective of those people who are living that decline. They speak about families who, not long ago, thought they were economically secure, but now find themselves sinking into desperation and hopelessness.
These e-mails tell the stories of working families unable to keep their homes warm in the winter; workers worried about whether they’ll be able to fill their gas tank to get to their jobs; and seniors, who spent their entire lives working, now wondering how they’ll survive in old age. They describe the pain and disappointments that parents feel as they are unable to save money for their kids’ college education, and the dread of people who live without health insurance.
In order to try and break through the complacency and isolation inside the Washington Beltway, I have read some of these stories on the floor of the Senate. It is imperative that Congress and the corporate media understand the painful reality facing the middle class today so that we can develop the appropriate public policy to address this crisis.
Let me conclude by thanking all of those people who have so kindly shared their lives with me through these letters. I know that for many of you this was not an easy thing to do.
Download the booklet:
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/files/middle-class-booklet%20.pdf
June 15, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congress has caused this mess. They won't fix it, because they don't care about the middle class.
The Congressional Republicans and Democrats all play for the same team: the US Plutocrats.
June 15, 2008 2:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
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