As the current recession has turned into what may be the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, we all witnessed televised coverage of the CEOs of big banks, investment houses, mortgage companies and auto makers testify before Cong
As the current recession has turned into what may be the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, we all witnessed televised coverage of the CEOs of big banks, investment houses, mortgage companies and auto makers testify before Congress and plead for financial bailouts.
They argued that bankruptcy of these corporate behemoths would result in a national economic catastrophe. So American taxpayers got strapped with bailing them out to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. Never mind that many of those corporate executives presided over colossal business failures while receiving multi-million dollar compensation packages.
President Barack Obama and Congress are preparing economic stimulus legislation to jump start the economy, a desperately needed measure to help the millions of American families heading for the jagged shoals of financial disaster as a result of job and home loss.
Even before the dramatic growth in unemployment, now at 7.2 percent, more than 37 million low-income Americans scrambled to survive one day at a time, including about 13.3 million children— one in six. Among poor children, 5.8 million live in extreme poverty—in families with incomes below half the poverty line (in 2008, that was $10,600 a year for a family of four).
These are households struggling to hold on to the basics from a minimally adequate diet to keeping a roof over their heads.
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