U.S. Economic/Financial News

Poll: Underemployment Over 20%; Personal Bankruptcies Hit New Record

April 2 (EIRNS)—The Gallup daily tracking poll of unemployed and underemployed workers (the latter defined as part-time workers who want to work full-time, but can't find jobs) rose in March to 20.3% from Gallup's earlier report of 19.9%. Gallup also reported that more than 60% of the underemployed do not believe that they will be able to find a job in the next four weeks. In its earlier monthly poll, Gallup reported an even worse picture for youth and minorities, with 27% of Blacks, un- and underemployed; Hispanics, 29%; 18-29 age group, 31%; and those without a high school diploma, 38%.

Even more devastating is the number of people going bankrupt: 158,000 Americans filed personal bankruptcy in the month of October 2009, the highest number since the bankruptcy law was made tougher in October 2005. This is a rate of 6,900 bankruptcy filings every day this past month, up 35% from February, according to the data collection company, Aacer (Automated Access to Court Electronic Records). Not only is this an all-time high since the bankruptcy law changed, but 73% of the March 2010 bankruptcies are under Chapter 7, under which there no provision to save the homes of those filing.

These reports fly in the face of the Obama Administration happy talk about job creation, and show a small piece of the picture that American people's lives are disintegrating.

What Good Is Health Insurance If You Can't Find a Doctor?

March 28 (EIRNS)—The strain on primary care doctors is sure to increase over the next ten years as the health reform brings them millions of newly insured patients. Not only do 65 million people live in areas designated as having a shortage of primary care physicians, but recently published reports predict a shortfall of roughly 40,000 doctors over the next decade. This is the core of a story by AP's medical correspondent, who tries to minimize the impact that the so-called health reform will really have on the provision of medical care, by hyping such things as the medical home (another version of the HMO gatekeeper) and electronic medical records.

But the reality is, that having insurance will prove worthless (unless you're the insurance company) if there are no doctors to be seen.