Rants 'n Raves

After they were elected into the majority in November of 2006, the 110th Congress was sworn in on January 4, 2007 - This is the date where they took control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Several months later, the current recession started and unemployment began to climb.

After Obama (a Progressive Democrat) was elected in 2008, the Democrats now had full control of the U.S. government and began appointing judges in 2009 favoring their ideologies.

I suppose it could be argued that the unemployment rate "stabilized" in 1934 as well, while FDR (also a Progressive Democrat) was President, who was elected 2 years earlier in 1932.

The United States House of Representatives elections of 1934 occurred in the middle of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term. The Democratic Party continued its progress, gaining another 9 net seats from the opposition Republican Party, who also lost seats to the Progressive Party. The Republicans were reduced below one-fourth of the chamber for the first time since the creation of the party.

The 1934 elections can be seen as a referendum on New Deal policies. Conservatives and people among the middle class saw New Deal programs as radical, but the ordinary people overwhelmingly voted in this election cycle to continue implementation of Roosevelt's agenda.

Anytown, U.S.A. in 2010 - Because of the 8.4 million lost jobs thusfar, the rate of foreclosures is still going up and tax revenues are continuing to go down.

What will happen when state and local governments finally start doing REAL budget cuts, and we begin seeing massive layoffs in the government sector as well? (The "Stimulus Fund" won't last forever). We will see less fireman, less police, and less teachers...and other non-essential support personnel. But how deep will the cuts have to go before government can actually sustain itself?

Will the unions strike and protest like they're now doing in Greece? How violent and destructive can it get? Will this only be the beginning of things to come?

Will the remaining 80% of the workforce (who are still working) take up the slack by paying increased taxes? Or will they also go on strike and protest the higher taxes with the newly unemployed government workers?

Government may need to re-hire the police they earlier laid off just to control the increasing riots!

A vicious cycle, a continuing spiral...What will it be like by December 2012 at the end of the Mayan calendar?

Will we oust all the Democratic Left-Wing Progressives in office and elect a Conservative president to lead us out of the Second Great Depression?

Or will it really be the end of the world as we know it?

Tune in later to find out.

The Employment Situation for March 2010 is scheduled to be released on Friday, April 2, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT)
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Related posts on the current unemployment situation:

Unemployment - Foreclosures, Might See Rise in Suicides
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/10/unemployment-foreclosures-might-see-rise

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

NY Times - Joblessness Likely to Remain for Years
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/05/ny-times-joblessness-likely-to-remain-fo

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Extended Unemployment Benefits in 2010 - Fully Explained
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010

As far back as 2008, ABC Predicted suicide rates would go up, just like during the last Great Depression.

"Desperation Economy"
by Jocelyn Hanamirian (Excerpted)

(ALSO READ: How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America)

As the nation's unemployment rate climbs, some mental-health experts worry that we may see a corresponding rise in suicides.

Anecdotal evidence of the problem has been around for months.

Empirically, it's too early to tell, because national statistics for 2008 won't be available for another three years. But given the preliminary data and historical trends, health experts do fear that the recession's toxic mix of stressors (unemployment and home foreclosure) will be reflected in the nation's suicide rate.

Historically, the suicide rate has been linked more to the unemployment rate rather than the stock market, investment frauds, or other financial phenomenon, says Dr. Lenny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology.

During the Great Depression, for example, the peak unemployment rate, 25 percent, coincided with an increase in the suicide rate.

"Any time there is a significant life stress that threatens the every day functioning of an individual and their ability to cope there is always an increase in the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior," said Dr. Berman.

"In general," he added, "we will expect to see an increased rate of suicide if the recession is prolonged. The Great Depression had a great affect on unemployment and suicide. Subsequent recessions were not as lengthy and did not have the same observable affect on suicide. This current recess threatens to be longer than any recession we've had since the Great Depression."

Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in 2008 rose 36 percent from 2007, and employee assistance providers, which offer counseling as part of an employee's health plan, have reported a dramatic increase in calls related to depression and financial concerns.

The loss of a job or a home may be enough to push some people into despair. When the crisis hits, they feel hopeless, humiliated, and in despair. They don't have the resiliency that is required to get them through a particularly stressful situation.

At the top of the list of callers' concerns to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline were worries about homelessness or home foreclosure. In 2008, more than 2.3 million Americans faced home foreclosure proceedings, an 81 percent increase from 2007.

And it's been growing ever since.

Oregon's suicide prevention line, Oregon Partnership, recorded a 55 percent increase in calls over the past year. Director Leslie Storm said callers have also been mentioning job and money concerns increasingly in the past few months.

Mary Tavarozzi, a principal at Towers Perrin, a healthcare consulting group, said that employers are responding to the recession by actively advertising the counseling services available under certain healthcare plans. Some have even asked healthcare providers place a counselor on a job site a few times a week, or have made outside experts on financial planning available to their workers.

Over the next few months, the Samaritans of New York, a suicide prevention group and crisis line for New York City and the New York State Office of Mental Health will be strategizing how corporations can play a more active role in suicide prevention, said Samaritans director Alan Ross.

If you can, reaching out to friends and family can ease the sense that one is isolated in a problem and reduce an individual's suicide risk, says Dr. Yeates Conwell, co-director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide at the University of Rochester Medical Center in upstate New York. Helping people gain perspective of their situation, he said, is integral to suicide prevention.

My related posts:
Here are a few of my blog posts just regarding the unemployment situation:

JEC Hearing on Long-term Unemployment in Washington DC
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog5.php/2010/04/28/jec-hearing-on-long-term-unemployment-in

How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog5.php/2010/04/17/how-a-new-jobless-era-will-transform-ame

America in Crisis - Congress Must Choose: Unemployment Benefits or Homelessness
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/13/america-in-crisis-congress-must-choose-u

Tom Coburn and the Republicans on H.R. 4213 - "NOT!"
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/11/tom-coburn-and-the-republicans-on-h-r-42

Latest Unemployment Numbers and Links from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/09/latest-unemployment-numbers-links-from-t

50 Years Old and Unemployed? You're a Dead Man Walking
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/19/50-years-old-and-unemployed-you-re-a-dea

Critics of the Jobless - Why Benefits Should Be Extended
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/09/critics-of-the-jobless-why-benefits-shou

Extended Federal Unemployment Benefits - Tier V - UPDATES
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010
Fox News: "Are U.S. Veterans also Lazy?"
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/27/fox-news-are-u-s-veterans-also-lazy

A Tribute to Another Unemployed 99er
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/24/a-tribute-to-another-unemployed-99er

99ers Tossed to the Curb like Old Beer Cans
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/24/99ers-tossed-to-the-curb-like-old-beer-c

Unemployment: Bottom of the List for Obama (UPDATES)
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/05/unemployment-bottom-of-the-list-for-obam

Senator Kyl (R) Wisely backtracks - Calls for Extending Benefits
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/04/senator-kyl-wisely-backtracks-calls-for

They're not Lazy! They Can't Find A Job You Idiot!
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/28/they-re-not-lazy-they-can-t-find-a-job-y

Senator John Ensign and the GOP - "Let the Jobless Eat Cake"
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/27/john-ensign-and-gop-let-the-jobless-eat

The Jobless Have Been Lost in Debate Over Healthcare
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/27/the-jobless-lost-in-debate-over-healthca

Like the last Great Depression, Unemployment and Foreclosures, Might See Rise in Suicides
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/10/unemployment-foreclosures-might-see-rise

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Tea Party, Fox News, and Conservatives Attack the Unemployed
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/04/tea-party-gets-in-wrong-on-unemployment

Obama-Care © Verses Unemployment and Suicide in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

27 Million of 154 Million in Workforce w/o Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/15/27-million-of-154-million-in-workforce-w

Fox News Continues to Insult Unemployed
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/13/fox-news-continues-bashing-the-jobless

"Diversity" and Illegal Hiring Practices
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog2.php/2010/03/12/mgm-mirage-illegal-hiring-practices

No, Unemployment Benefits is not an Inalienable Right
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/15/no-unemployment-benefits-is-not-inaliena

Too Old for the Workforce in 2010 - Unemployed Because of Age
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/06/too-old-for-the-workforce-in-2010-unempl

What they're NOT Saying about Jobless Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/08/what-nobody-s-saying-about-jobless-numbe

When Strip Bars in Las Vegas are Going Broke, You Know it's Bad!
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog5.php/2010/04/14/when-strip-bars-are-going-broke-you-know

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

Unemployed 99ers - Running on Empty
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/04/17/unemployed-99ers-running-on-empty-do-not

As of today, more than five million more families (another 5% of all U.S. households) are now behind on their mortgages. And like the ones before them, risk foreclosure. This year and going forward, economists are predicting many more.

The government’s "Mortgage Modification Plan" from last year (a $75 billion taxpayer-financed effort) has been another Obama failure.

For the Obama administration, there is also the concern that millions of more foreclosures could delay or even reverse the economy’s supposed "tentative recovery" - the last thing it wants in an election year. Obama's had enough bad publicity already from all his other blunders.

Obama's latest "new-and-improved" program will allow owners to sell their homes for less than they owe, and will give them a little pocket change to help speed things up. ($1,500 for a "relocation allowance".)

This will be brokered with the banks, but the banks don't like this. Maybe they'd rather evict the families and allow the property to go into disrepair (further eroding the housing market) and collect the full amount through the government's guaranteed FHA insurance...funded by taxpayers just like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and TARP.

Taxpayer money will now be used to help soften the blow of people facing eviction from their homes by the banks. I would guess that many of these mortgages are A.R.M. loans, the kind that the banks have resisted renegotiating into regular 30-year conventional loans (and at a fair interest rate that the family could have better been able to afford.)

Taking effect on April 5, the program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers (who have not been rescued by Obama's failed "loan modification program") to give up their homes through a process known as a "short sale".

(Contact the White House for details...)

Related posts:

Will we see homeless shantytowns in 2010?

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

Will we see homeless shantytowns in 2010?

...and if so, why does Obama insist on giving us "healthcare reform" instead of jobs?

The widespread prosperity of the "Roaring Twenties" ended abruptly with the stock market crash in October of 1929 and the Great Depression followed. At one point in the depth of the depression, 25% of the American workforce was out of work. For many Americans, these were very hard times.

"Hooverville" became a common term for shacktowns and homeless encampments during the Great Depression. There were hundreds of Hoovervilles throughout the country, each testifying to the housing crisis that accompanied the employment crisis of the early 1930s.

"Hooverville" was a deliberately politicized label, coined and used to emphasize that President Herbert Hoover and the Republican Party were held to be responsible for the economic crisis and its miseries. (No, they didn't inherit it from Bush.)

Homeless man sitting in a "Hooverville" shantytown in Seattle, Washington 1931

Homelessness followed quickly from joblessness once the economy began to crumble during the early 1930s. Homeowners lost their property when they could not pay mortgages or pay taxes. Renters fell behind and were evicted. By 1932 millions of Americans were living outside the normal rent-paying housing market.

Many squeezed in with relatives. Unit densities soared in the early 1930s. Some squatted, either defying eviction and staying where they were, or finding shelter in one of the increasing number of vacant buildings.

And hundreds of thousands took to the streets, finding what shelter they could, under bridges, in culverts, or on vacant public land where they built crude shacks..."Hovervilles". Some cities allowed squatter encampments for a time, others did not.

Some of the men who were forced to live in these conditions possessed construction skills and were able to build their houses out of stone. Most people, however, resorted to building their residences out of wood from crates, cardboard, scraps of metal, or whatever materials were available to them.

Homeless shantytown known as a "Hooverville" in California - 1933

The economic troubles of the 1930s were worldwide in scope and effect. Economic instability led to political instability in many parts of the world. Political chaos, in turn, gave rise to dictatorial regimes such as Adolf Hitler's in Germany and the military's in Japan.

At the end of 1931, infrequent rallies, and even riots, began to occur throughout the nation. Frustration and fear permeated the country.

In John Steinbeck's famous novel "The Grapes of Wrath", the Joad family settles into a Hooverville in California. (See my post about the Dust Bowl)

Bonus Expeditionary Force

In May of 1932, 300 World War I Veterans set out from Oregon to Washington DC to lobby for a bill for their wartime bonus pay. Many more joined them as they traveled. They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force.

When they reached Washington DC, they were organized into tent-camps. Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur was concerned that the group was a communist attempt to undermine the government, but they were merely hungry veterans, many of them accompanied by their families.

In 1932 the bill was defeated in the Senate, but the Veterans did not riot; they simply sang "America the Beautiful" on the Capitol steps and returned to their encampments.

Herbert Hoover was uncomfortable with the attention the World War I heros were drawing to his administration, and city officials worried about riots. Thus, the President ordered General Douglas MacArthur to clear the area, immediately.

MacArthur gathered cavalry, infantry, a machine gun squadron, and tanks and proceeded up Pennsylvania Avenue. MacArthur was joined by Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton Jr. The cavalry advanced with swords drawn. The militia destroyed the make shift homes of the veterans, often with fire. The veterans were driven across the bridge to the opposite side of the Anacostia River, where another encampment was destroyed by fire. No one was certain how that fire started.

The veteran's bill was finally passed in 1936, but the bill required an override of a Presidential veto. This time the President was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Progressive Democrat who had been elected and in office since 1932.

After 12 Years of Misery

In 1941 World War II finally kick started the economy again. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and an even larger number went back to work in well-paying defense jobs.

And onced again, America prospered...until now, 80 years later, in 2010.

Hundreds of "Hoovervilles" sprang up all across America during the 1930's - A sign of things to come in 2010 and beyond?

...and if so, why does Obama insist on giving us "healthcare reform" instead of jobs? Maybe in 2010 we'll have Obama-villes.

Watch the documentary, "The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America"

Related posts on the current unemployment situation:

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Extended Unemployment Benefits in 2010 - Fully Explained
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010

Above the Law?

Corruption in government isn't new...it's been going on for years. Only these days, it's so in-your-face blatant!

Supposedly, our elected officials (both locally and in Washington) were to be held to a higher standard when it came to abiding by the law...because, after all, it is they who impose these laws on the common people who elected them to office.

Just like that young and impressionable rookie cop, fresh out of the police academy, full of enthusiasm to join the force so he/she can fight evil and corruption - but only to be corrupted by the institution itself.

My guess is that some went to Washington with that same ambition as well, but only ended up being a part of the corrupted machine. And just like that rookie cop, the authority and power also went to their head. There is a human temptation that, for most it seems, can't be resisted.

It once was an honor to represent the people, but now, working for government has only become a vehicle that enables them to rape the country and to enrich themselves.

Many in Congress aren't honorable people, but leeches and scavengers...dining on the dead carcass of what was once a proud and great country, the leader of the free world.

I would like to see ALL new blood in Washington after having them sign an oath first...to immediately resign if they ever violated that oath...but not an oath to God (because they don't respect that oath), but a legally binding oath in which no government provision (or the likes of Nancy Pelosi) could save their @ss. It would have worked well with the likes of Charlie Rangel.

But if it takes an Act of Congress to get rid of all the rift raft in government, then we're seriously screwed!

In one post I wrote, "Charlie Rangel - From Slavery to the Present" it becomes pretty clear that good ole Charlie, as "Harlem's Godfather" (and many other members of Congress), are only in it for the money...and has not been truly representing their district's needs.

Rangel should have stepped down and been prosecuted over a year ago...then served some jail time, just like anyone else would have. He puts his pants on just like you and me. The only difference being, he's a crook.

If Federal employees are guilty of tax evasion, they should lose all their benefits too, including their massive taxpayer-paid pensions.

When was the last time you remember paying someone to steal from you?

I'm sick and tired of corruption in government. Every damn day we're seeing this. Democrats and Republicans alike. From the lowest to the highest levels of position. It's like a cancer that has seeped in and ate away at the fabric of decency, honesty and the moral character of this once great country.

Now we just have contemptible and greedy and egotistical pompous @sses governing us.

And it won't change until the people demand more. If they steal a pencil, it leads to billions of dollars. Corruption starts out small and keeps growing. If they cheat on their spouse, you can bet that they will cheat on you too.

The definition of what "is" is, is whether they get caught or not.

My dad once explained a particular philosophy that thieves lived by, and that stealing wasn't wrong, but getting caught was.

These are the people that rule (not govern) the people in America today.

'Draining the swamp' should be the mantra of any newly elected member of Congress, and not just a cheap Nancy Pelosi sound-bite.

"Guilty as hell. Free as a bird. America is a great country," Bill Ayers declared when interviewed by David Horowitz.

I'm sure Charlie Rangel agrees with Bill Ayers.

Did I tell you about the time when Charlie Rangel, Bill Ayers, and Barack Obama were all on the upper westside of Manhatten at the same time in the early 80's?