JimH wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
. ..
Chuck Gould wrote:
On Jan 30, 8:47 am, HK wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:
On Jan 30, 6:42?am, "JimH" wrote:
Gee, I wonder why ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and CNBC are trying their hardest
to
make sure we dump into a recession. ?
Bad news outsells good news.
Some might think, "They're trying to throw the election to the D's!"
I disagree. They just want to create enough uncertainty in the market
that more folks will tune in every day to "see how bad things are
getting", thereby increasing ratings and creating some justification
for raising ad rates.
Also, the companies that survive economic downturn often do so by
*increasing* their advertising, particularly for consumer goods.
You can't be serious. Either that, or you are totally disconnected from
the harsh reality facing many millions of your fellow citizens who are
jobless, homeless, losing their homes, health-insurance-less, and
without much hope for the future.

How are social services doing in Seattle these days? Still pretty
miserable for those in need?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
About 1-2% of the homes in the US are in, or at risk of, foreclosure.
Yet it's headline news in every paper and the subject of "specials" on
radio and TV. In some of the worst hit communities, the number is as
high as 5%, meaning that 950 out of every 1000 households in those
worst hit communities have no reason to fear losing their home to the
bank or mortgage company.

The health insurance issue has nothing to do with economic cycling.
We have had a broken health services delivery model in the country for
at least 30 years. We have had booms and busts along the way, despite
the fact that our health insurance system is designed first to make
corporations wealthy, and only then to see about making people well.


There are somewhere between 30 and 40 million Americans living in poverty.

Sleep tight.


What is your definition of poverty because my daughter may meet that
threshold yet she is doing fine.

How many times do you see folks paying for food with food stamps while they
wear all sorts of expensive bling and are talking on their cell phone.

I am not saying that there are not needy people........I am saying some
folks take advantage of the system.




Jim, there is all manner of anecdotal information available, including,
I am sure, stats on the number of poor people on food stamps who are
standing in line in front of you at the supermarket and using a cell phone.

For all you know, they have no household phone and scraped to buy one of
those "prepaid" cells so they could stay in contact with a few people.

I take it you are retired or semi-retired now. So is my "conservative"
father in law. He and his "liberal" wife, also now retired, spend
virtually all their time helping the poor, and according to both, there
is no end to them. They visit sick people in the hospital, set up and
run soup kitchens, help rebuild houses in poverty stricken areas,
counsel pregnant and single young girls and arrange decent care for
them, et cetera.

My father in law, a very bright guy who worked his entire career for a
major corporation and retired as a significant executive, says, "I had
no idea there were so many needy people in this land of opportunity."
His exact words.

Yes, as you say, there are some who "game" the system. But there are
tens of millions of poor folks who do not.