How Bad is it anyway?
This evening my son and I sat and watched the lead story on 60 Minutes ... a sobering look at the unemployed in a small town near Silicon Valley.
The unemployed profiled in the story included Phd's and folks with multiple degrees, they all had over 20 years of work experience; yet they have been looking for work with no hope of landing a job and collecting unemployment checks for over 99 weeks ... hence the title of the story "The 99's". National unemployment in the US is 9.9% but there in Silicon Valley it is close to 25%. That is incredible and close to the rates for the unemployed during the Great Depression. So why are we still describing the current economic situation as "Stalled" or "Stagnant"? Shouldn't we call it what it is ... A Depression. The only thing missing is the stock market crash.
My son is about to graduate with a degree in the Spring of 2011 and I am a freelance film producer. The story tonight made both of us a bit uneasy for the future of this country ... stalled in an economy that exports all of our jobs overseas to drive prices lower ... and we wonder why there are no jobs here in the US.
We need to wake-up and penalize firms for exporting jobs overseas. Jeez ... Hollywood is producing a show called "Out-Sourcing" and they think that's funny? It is policies like this ... that are killing our country.
The documentary I produced last year "BrokeMovie.com" profiled the consequences of prolonged unemployed in the US. Hundreds of thousands of homes in foreclosure and is still one of the major reasons for the crisis we face today. Zero Prime Mortgages, folks who never had the resource's to pay in the first place now a liability to Banks, Freddie and Fannie. We bailed everyone out except all of the hard working men and women who have paid their mortgages on time. Now there's talk that Fannie and Freddie may need a Trillion dollar bailout and that the foreclosures will double in 2011.
My recommendation ... let Fannie and Freddie fail and burn all of the homes in foreclosure to the ground.
A Wake-Up Call
Scott Pelly visited a town that is unlike any town in America today; where people are struggling to make ends meet. However, the folks profiled in this story this evening could be your neighbor, perhaps your co-worker who lost their job in cut-backs, professionals who had a wonderful life a few years ago. Now they have lost their homes, applied for countless jobs for years with no success, they may have lost their 401K, (their savings depleted long ago) living in a friends attic or a basement apartment with no hope of ever having the life they once knew. That is their reality ... My son and I feel so blessed but fearful for what may lie ahead.
I am hopeful that every American is given the opportunity to find a job and achieve their dreams I will say a prayer for each of them tonight.
Remember ... Electing men and women who put our country and our citizens first should be the only vote you should cast on November 2nd.
God Bless the USA
Gary DeMoss
In My Right Mind
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