| Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times has gotten | | | | jobless, underemployed or have just given up |
| it right. Speaking about the upset of upsets | | | | looking for work altogether. One out of 8 |
| whereby Republican Scott Brown defeated his | | | | Americans is on food stamps. And, one out of 8 |
| Democratic challenger, Martha Coakley, for | | | | mortgages is either in default or foreclosure. |
| Senator Ted Kennedy's vacant Massachusetts | | | | To make matters worse, corporations have |
| seat, Rutten cites growing American anger as the | | | | shirked their responsibilities to provide their |
| root cause of this unbelievable political turn of | | | | employees with the pension benefits that once |
| events. The electorate is flat mad at Washington | | | | were the guaranteed locked-in retirement nest |
| and the overall state of their lives in Great | | | | eggs that would define their retirement years. |
| Recession America. | | | | American employers left profit-damping pension |
| We are involved in two unpopular wars, both | | | | programs in droves for very high risk 401(k) |
| debacles, unwitting participants in the bailouts of | | | | programs, a certain boon to their bottom line |
| the richest of the rich on Wall Street, and our | | | | profits. |
| President, for whom we had had so much hope, | | | | The economic crash vaporized $5 trillion from |
| is trying to do too much simultaneously while | | | | American employees' retirement accounts. We |
| much of it seems to be going nowhere fast. All | | | | were not prepared to become our own equity |
| the while, the overall condition of the American | | | | investment gurus. And we lost out. The corporate |
| Family is in the toilet. | | | | world did not. I've always said that if left to my |
| It's been a presidency aimed at reform on many | | | | own devices, I would have squandered all my |
| fronts with the end result thus far cloaking the | | | | post-retirement pension benefits if somebody, the |
| perpetuation of the of the same-old elite | | | | school district I taught for for 30 years, had not |
| money-grubbing regimes. As far as health care | | | | forced me to contribute to my retirement |
| reform is concerned, for example, 30 million | | | | pension with every paycheck. I had no choice, |
| people do not have insurance. That is horrendous. | | | | thank God. It was required. I was saved from |
| However, the reform we are being pitched is | | | | myself. But, not most Americans. My current |
| becoming watered down into nothing. The 270 | | | | employer got out of their pension program years |
| million of us who do have health coverage will gain | | | | ago, so I have no choice but to participate in the |
| almost nothing for this so-called "reform." Not so | | | | good old American Retirement Ripoff: a 401(k). |
| for the big insurance corporations. They'll continue | | | | Yippee! |
| being profitable as always, no matter what | | | | Elizabeth Warren has the goods once again: "By |
| happens. They're too big to lose any profits and | | | | the early 2000s, families were spending twice as |
| they have the lobbying clout to prove it. | | | | much (adjusted for inflation) on mortgages than |
| The bottom line is that Americans are angry at | | | | they did a generation ago, for a house that was, |
| everybody and everything. The President's, | | | | on average, only 10% bigger and 25 years older. |
| Republicans' and Democrats' approval ratings are | | | | They also had to pay twice as much to hang on |
| under 50 percent. Massachusetts had been as | | | | to their health insurance.... Families today spend |
| liberal and progressive as a state can get. Now | | | | less than they did a generation ago on food, |
| this Senate shocker. What on Earth is going on? | | | | clothing, furniture, appliances and other flexible |
| It's a general anger rising up in the American | | | | purchases, but it hasn't been enough to save |
| People. Dissatisfaction with all things governmental | | | | them." |
| and financial. For the nation at large, opportunity | | | | Employers today use layoffs, firings, downsizing |
| has left the building. | | | | and forcing employees to work harder and longer |
| Here's Rutten's take: "The truth of the matter is | | | | hours as a tool to keep the profits rolling in. And, |
| that, if you adjust for inflation, the average | | | | the focus on employees' potential retirements is |
| income of American males has not grown in real | | | | no longer in the corporate profit picture. Rutten: |
| terms since the 1970s. Most families have | | | | "This shift of economic risk onto the backs of the |
| compensated for that by sending mom to work | | | | middle class has allowed the top 5 percent of |
| outside the home. (The simultaneous push for | | | | income earners to amass a share of the |
| equality by the women's movement masked the | | | | country's wealth unmatched for a century." |
| fact that significant numbers of women now in | | | | The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. That's |
| the workforce were drafted by economic | | | | what this financial, economic and moral collapse |
| necessity.)" Now that is very interesting and | | | | dubbed "The Great Recession" is all about. It's the |
| disturbing all at the same time. | | | | true reason Americans feel frustrated, |
| Things are even worse than the stats suggest. | | | | demoralized, broke, fleeced and discouraged. The |
| Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law professor and | | | | American Dream has become The American |
| bank bailout overseer, has become the champion | | | | Delusion. They, WE, are angry. That's what Scott |
| of the vanishing American middle class. She has | | | | Brown's victory was all about. |
| found that 20 percent of all Americans are either | | | | |