Congress, Those Unemployment Payments and the Rent Moratorium

If Congress doesn't get help out across the nation and then only sends $200 in unemployment payments instead of the $600 they were sending but then also doesn't keep the moratorium on evictions during this pandemic?

There could be so many ramifications.

--Putting people, whole families, too, out on the streets.
--Putting people squarely in either poverty or deeper poverty.
--People not able to maybe go, then, to work, because they are on the streets
--Children maybe not able to go to school
--Consequential food insecurity.

All kinds of things, more, much more than I've even poster here, above.

Insane.

This could get really ugly, folks. 

Really ugly.

Think as bad as or worse than the Great Depression.

Yet More Stunning Heartlessness and Callousness from the Congressional GOP Just Now, Today

Check out these two articles from The Hill today. First this one.

Senate GOP to propose cutting unemployment benefits in coronavirus relief plan

So the GOP made sure they gave big, fat tax cuts to the already-wealthy in the nation but now want to cut unemployment benefits from this. the worst, most killing pandemic and also worst economic crisis since the Great Depression because, I guess, the unemployed make and have too much money?

Not done there, of course, they add this little beauty.

Kudlow: GOP plan will include 'increased business deductions for meals and entertainment'

Check that out.

That's their priorities just now, the GOP, Republicans.

They want to make sure they hand out yet more tax cuts to businesses for meals and entertainment just now----but cut unemployment benefits.

During this killing pandemic, with millions unemployed.

You're welcome, America.

Thanks, Republicans.

See you at the polls this November.

A Short List of This President's Accomplishments

Here is but a short list of all Donald Trump's accomplishments, to date, as President.

Thanks, so much, Mr. Trump. You really are running this job like you did your businesses.

Thanks, Republicans.

Donald Trump is Historic, All Right

This Republican organization puts it so right. President Trump is "historic", all right.


God help us.

And vote blue.

Happy Birthday, President Obama!

Yessir. Today, Tuesday, August 4 is President Obama's 54th birthday. And while part of this is to wish him well on his day, part of it for me and a lot of us is to thank him for all his work these last 7 years.

Herewith, some links to pages showing just some of his accomplishments for we, the people. Each has citations and links to their sources:

14 Facts About Obama's Presidency Most People Don’t Know

A List of 305 Accomplishments by President Obama so far

Like did you know...

• We've now had 65 straight months of economic expansion.
• We are currently enjoying the longest period of private sector job creation in American history.
• Unemployment has dropped from 10.1% in October of 2009 to 5.4% by Spring of 2015.
• The stock market continues to set new record highs since President Obama took office.
• The Federal budget deficit is shrinking. It’s been reduced by two-thirds since 2009.
• Under President Obama, government spending has increased only 3.3% annually, the lowest rate since Eisenhower was president.
• For 95% of American taxpayers, income taxes are as low or lower than they were at almost any point in the last 50 years.
• Nearly 20 million more Americans now have health insurance that didn't have it before President Obama. More Americans have health insurance, and fewer are without, in at least decades.

And that's just a short, very short list. There's lots more.

And then there's these, from the world community:

President Obama Named ‘Most Admired Man In The World

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Extend Run as Most Admired

Barack Obama is most admired man for 7th year in a row...

And as if that isn't enough for the Right Wing, there's this, too, from that same article:  Hillary Clinton is most admired woman for 17 th time in 18 years.

Like it, all of it--or accept it--or not.

So here's to you, President Obama, on your day.

Thanks, very much, for all your work.

A Statement I'd Like Every Left Wing, Liberal, Progressive, Democratic Candidate for President to be Able to Say and Commt To

From the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his "Second New Deal", October 31, 1936..

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--and I welcome their hatred.

_________________________

It's that last line I'd really enjoy hearing.

Never Forget

No, never, ever forget.

The United States of America?

It hurts, of course, that there's any truth to this:

Keep This Image In Mind Next From Now to November 2016, America

No Jobs/Infrastructure Bill But A Traitorous Letter to Iran

We have needed a jobs/infrastructure bill for the nation's roads, highways, bridges, airports, sewers and a lot more for more than 6 years, predating the Obama Administrations. I've written about it here before. CBS news' "60 Minutes" covered the story a few months ago as I also noted. Lately, however, the story is coming closer to home, here to Missouri.

MoDOT: 600 Missouri bridges are in poor to serious condition

Thirty-eight bridges in the greater St. Louis area are just "a step or two from being closed" due to deterioration, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

They are among the nearly 600 bridges statewide that officials say are currently rated in poor to serious condition, but aren't funded in the state's five-year plan for improvements.

But during that same five-year timeframe, MoDOT told the state transportation commission Tuesday, the total number of bridges in critical shape statewide could top 1,000. Within a decade, that number could rise to 1,500 bridges.
So, badly as Americans need more and better and better-paying jobs, badly as we need the infrastructure work done on our bridges and highways, etc., and as badly as we need the economic boost, the Congress right now--the Republican Congress, it needs to be said--has been preoccupied trying to further undermine our current president. And their attempt to do it was most especially with a letter to the Iranian leaders against us, to unwind the peace efforts President Obama is trying to gain for the nation and even the world.

So besides undermining peace efforts and our president, they're also ignoring work that needs to be done.

Marvelous, no?

Ironically, coincidentally, when I was writing this post last evening, an additional article came online, showing further our state's infrastructure situation and needs:

I-70 Westbound Lane Closed After Crews Find Crack In Bridge Beam

So still we wait.

At this point, I absolutely implore you to email your Missouri representatives in Congress, asking them, telling them, as politely but firmly as possible, to write, propose and pass a good, strong, helpful jobs/infrastructure bill:

Contacting the Congress: A Citizen's Congressional Directory

It's the least they can do.

And it's long, long overdue.

Link:  Mapping America's most dangerous bridges

What We Need From This Congress

Indeed, what we need from this Congress and what we've needed for some years.

A Great, Fair Even Important Question

So let's ask if of our members of Congress---in both houses.

With This New Congressional Year and Session

Contact your Congressional representatives in the new year. Push them, ask for a jobs/infrastructure bill for the nation. Americans need the jobs, our infrastructure, it's widely known, needs to updating and repairs and the economy needs the boost. It's a no-brainer:

Quote of the Day -- Flashback

True then, 80 years ago, of the Republicans. Still true today.

On that election...

Unlike

Obama bad for America?

Really?

This lazy Congress' gift to the nation

 

 

Email your Senators and Representative.

 

Let's tell them enough.

 

We need a jobs/infrastructure bill from this next Congress.

 

And as soon as possible.

 

 

 

Why America's Middle Class needs help

"Last year, a typical American household had an income of $51,017. The last year it was at that level was 1989 - meaning that America's middle class is making the same amount today as they did 25 years ago."   --Bill Moyers, American journalist and political commentator.

From BillMoyers.com

By the Numbers: The Incredibly Shrinking American Middle Class

Here are some of the most poignant statistics from the site:

• Percentage drop in average real income per family since 2007: 8.3
• The median net worth of a family in 2010: $77,300  and in 2007: $126,400
• Percentage of Americans that are unemployed/underemployed rate: 14
• Number of states in which poverty rates rose between 2007 and 2010: 46
• Approximate poverty rate from 2009 to 2012: 15
• The last time it remained at or above 15 percent for three years running: 1965

So do you think our Congress would be working on these issues?

Oh, heck no.

Jobs bill?  Infrastructure bill?  Either one?

Heck no.

Instead they vote 42 times to overturn legislation aimed at helping the nation afford health care and push for regulating women's reproductive rights, among other things.

All this from the political party that says they're for the country, for the nation.

Clearly not.

What's actually taken place since the historical 2008 election

And this in spite of the Republicans obstructionism.

Unemployment statistics in America and why we need a jobs bill from Congress

Youth Unemployment in the United States

The unemployment rate for those between the ages of 16-24 was 16.2% in April, more than double the national unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate for those between the ages of 16-19 was 24.2% in April.

More than 13 percent of borrowers have defaulted on their student loans, and another 26 percent are delinquent.

More than half of Americans ages 25–34 have saved less than $10,000 for retirement.

According to the White House Council on Community Solutions, the fiscal cost of the 6.7 million Americans ages 16–24 who are neither working nor attending school is $1.6 trillion over their lifetimes.

Congress has cut $1 billion from youth jobs programs over the past decade.

According to the Center for American Progress, nearly 1 million young Americans who have experienced long-term unemployment will lose a staggering $20 billion in earnings over the next decade.

Research shows that workers who are unemployed as young adults earn lower wages for many years following their period of unemployment due to forgone work experience and missed opportunities to develop skills.

Today the unemployment rate among teens is 24.2 percent, higher than it ever was prior to the Great Recession of 2007–2009.

The trends in unemployment indicate that young job seekers have suffered disproportionately in the recession compared to adult workers.

Over the past several decades, employment and labor-force participation among Americans ages 16–24 have declined, while the unemployment rate for this group has risen.

The biggest drop in labor-force participation has been for teenagers, who saw their numbers decline from a high of nearly 60 percent in 1978 to an all-time low of 33.5 percent in 2012.

Since the 1980s the employment-to-population ratio for teenagers and young adults has declined, with the steepest drops occurring in the past decade.

During that time employment among teenagers has dropped the most, falling from 50 percent in 1978 to just 25.8 percent today.

Employment among young adults peaked at 72.9 percent in 2000, falling to 60.8 percent today.

By contrast, employment among Americans of prime working age currently stands at 75.9 percent, about the same as it was in the mid-1980s.

While the overall unemployment rate for teenagers is 25.1 percent, the unemployment rate for black teens is 43.1 percent. And fully half of black males ages 16–19 are looking for work but unable to find a job.

Today Americans under the age of 40 have accumulated less wealth than their parents did at that age more than 25 years ago.

Source: Center for American Progress   So how about it, Congress?  Senators? Representatives? Could we have a jobs bill?   Please?