99% of us Want our Nation Back!

Many people point out that one half the nation pays no income tax.  This is not a surprise when you consider the following facts.

The official unemployment rate provided by the BLS remains at 9.1%.  There is no indication that the rate will be dropping in the next year or two.  The actual rate is closer to double that figure when the under employed and the discouraged are included.

A total of 46.2 million Americans now live in poverty, according to the latest Census Bureau data, the highest figure in the half cen­tury the bureau has been publishing such numbers. Last year, 1 in 6 Americans lived below the poverty line-defined as an income of $22,314 for a family of four-and the median household income dropped for the third year in a row. A typical American family brought home $49,445 in 2010, a 2.3 percent drop from the previous year and a level last seen in 1996. The number of Americans without health insurance climbed to 49.9 million, equal to the populations, New York,Alabama, and Vermont combined. “We’re risking a new underclass,” said Timothy Smeeding, a poverty researcher at the University of Wisconsin.

 “Your Money” guest on CNN, Lakshman Achuthan, who predicted the last official recession, now predicts we are either in a new recession or heading for one right now.  Guest Ken Rogoff says many feel the recession never ended. 

Now we have sit-ins in most major cities by a leaderless group called OccupyWallStreet.  Their goal appears to be sending a message that the richest people in America must pay for the mistakes made that have impacted the nation’s economy.  Just last night Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, told Lesley Stahl he had done the right thing for his company when he moved thousands of jobs overseas.  Immelt offered no apologies.

I predicted these demonstrations before anyone else.  When congress wakes up perhaps we will have justice.  Then again, we all know who they answer to.