Jobs, not food stamps: The 60 Minutes report that drove the show UPDATE: Hot Air kudos to CBS
It really is worth watching because it outlines beautifully (umm, pardon the adjective) the problem facing 14 million Americans. Relying on food stamps, unemployment checks, and neighbor kindness to stay afloat in an economy that clearly is not recovering, merely treading water.
As you scroll this report make note of what it is these people with PhD’s and MS’s want more than anything. The first video, life on employment, while shorter, is maybe more to the point. The second video is the entire 60 Minutes report and the first 3 to 4 minutes is all you need to see.
But it’s not more unemployment benefits these people want, it’s a job and you will see in the shorter second video, Nancy Pelosi’s stimulus doesn’t go very far.
and here’s the full 60 minutes piece.
Here are the current numbers. Unemployment rate 9.6% (9.1% in Connecticut), 14.8 million people unemployed, 2.5 million people who have quit looking, and the number of people who are working part time because nothing else is available … 9.5 million people.
Last but not least … 42% (6 million people) of the unemployed have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. The worst since the Great Depression. Time to replay Nancy Pelosi’s cure for their ills.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEKRX-TOIiI
UPDATE: Sorry about the broken links above. The CBS embed code wasn’t working … so instead I am taking you right to my boss’ site.
UPDATE 2: I thought I would include Ed Morrissey’s take on the 60 minutes report, as it never crossed my mind as a loyal CBS employee. Credit to Ed for catching this. My bad.
The shock here isn’t the news that CBS reports, but the fact that CBS reports it at all — or at least before the midterm elections. Give 60 Minutes full credit here; they don’t soften the blow. Indeed, they report that the actual number of unemployed, underemployed, and those who have given up looking for work altogether puts the unemployment rate at almost double the awful 9.6% mark used by the Department of Labor, and instead hits 17% nationwide and 22% in California:
Indeed. But this is what journalism should be.
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Jim, the second vid. highlighting the revival-type meeting of the unemployed was heartbreaking. So many people losing so much. I find myself grateful that I rent at this point and that we lost everything after 9/11/01 with the butt-kicking our family business took. We lost it all before unemployment took the baton from the depressed housing market. Lost money on the sale of that house but at least it wasn't foreclosed on.
The best position to be in is to have nothing left to lose. Not being owned by a bank and having a landlord who hasn't raised the rent in 3 years is what I'm grateful for after being grateful for my health and my childrens' health. I see the 99ers and adults living through this depression as in a position of finally prioritizing their lives. It's amazing how living with less actually creates more in your life.