U.S. Economic/Financial News
Jobless Without Benefits: Highest Rate in 60 Years
Under Bush-Cheney, now 41.7% of jobless Americans exhaust their unemployment benefits without finding a job; last year, a whopping 43.5% of people were still jobless when their 26 weeks of state unemployment benefits had run out. When combined with an unemployment insurance "exhaustion rate" of 42.5% in 2002, this represents the highest two-year peak in long-term unemployment since 1940 and 1941 (about 51% and 46%, respectively).
Since Bush took office, the unemployment insurance exhaustion rate has worsened dramatically. For the 12 months ending Aug. 31, 2004, about 41% of jobless workers used up their unemployment benefits without finding work, up markedly from an exhaustion rate of 31.9% in 2000, according to data released Sept. 27 by the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number of people exhausting unemployment benefits has nearly doubled, to over 4.1 million nationwide from 2.1 million in 2000. At the same time, the average length of time that jobless workers depend on state jobless benefits has increased by about three weeks, to 16.7 weeks.
Some examples for industrial, election battleground states: (2004 data are for the 12 months ending June 30, the most recent available). |
|
# exhaustions,
12-month period |
exhaustion rate |
|
2000 |
2004 |
2000 |
2004 |
Michigan |
80,809 |
176,170 |
25.5% |
35.1% |
Ohio |
48,306 |
123,064 |
22.1% |
34.9% |
Pennsylvania |
96,622 |
197,823 |
15.2% |
35.0% |
Millions Lose Health-Care Under Bush-Cheney
Millions more Americans lack health-care coverage, and premiums jumped much faster than income, under Bush-Cheney, according to a report released by Families USA Sept. 28. Average premium costs rose at least three times faster than income in 35 states since Bush took officeif workers could get coverage at all. Nationally, workers' premium costs shot up by 35.9%, on average, while their earnings rose by only 12.4%. Premiums soared even as employer-provided insurance packages covered fewer health services, and workers were hit by increasing deductibles and co-payments.
The number of people facing "catastrophic" health-care costs jumped by 23%; 14.3 million Americans now pay more than 25% of their annual income for health care.
Some 12.7 million more people are uninsured today, than four years ago. A whopping 85.2 million Americansone out of every three under 65 years of agelacked health insurance at some time during 2003-2004, up from 72.5 million (29.6%) during 1999-2000, the report said. Over half of these people were uninsured for at least nine months. The vast majority of uninsured are working, or are members of working families.
"The number of people who were uninsured at some point in 2003-2004 exceeds the combined population of 32 states and the District of Columbia," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.
Findings for battleground states:
|
|
uninsured as % of non-elderly pop |
increase in uninsured |
|
1999-2000 |
2003-04 |
|
Michigan |
24.3% |
31.1% |
585,000 |
Ohio |
26.0% |
29.5% |
233,000 |
Pennsylvania |
22.0% |
27.4% |
533,000 |
Amtrak Makes Case for Bridge Replacement in Connecticut
Amtrak officials took Congressional staffers on a tour of aged and deteriorating railroad bridges in Connecticut to show that they are not exaggerating when they insist increased Federal funding is needed to replace the spanswhich are at least 85 years old, the Hartford Courant reported Sept. 29. On the heels of Congressional Democrats having joined the LaRouche-led fight against Cheney-Bush budget cuts to the nation's passenger railroad service, to instead rebuild and expand it, Amtrak escalated its campaign for Federal funding to replace rickety bridges and make badly needed repairs deferred under decades of under-investment. Amtrak engineers showed Federal officials the decayed railroad bridges in Connecticut, where 40 trains pass through per day.
The tour demonstrated "that these bridges have exceeded their useful life," Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said. "We can't patch them with chewing gum and baling wire."
Todd Mitchell, chief of staff for Rep. Rob Simmons (R), agreed, "We're past the point of putting band-aids on these bridges."
Without replacing the bridges, the worn-out machinery that raises and lowers the 1919 drawbridge over the Thames River in New London, for example, could get stuckhalting train service between New York and Boston, or preventing a nuclear submarine from the U.S. Navy base in Groton from leaving port. In July, Amtrak engineers found several broken bolts, during a daily inspectionjust as they did in 1994 and 1995. Amtrak was scheduled to replace the bridge in 1998, but Congress never approved funding.
The state's other two movable bridgesboth built in 1907are over the Connecticut River and the Niantic River.
Also slated for replacement are three of the worst fixed-bridges in Amtrak's inventorytwo more than a century old. Replacing the 1899 East and 1899 West Harbor bridges that span Stonington Harbor will cost $6 million, Amtrak estimates, plus another $6 million to replace the 1906 span over the Pattagansett River in East Lyme.
USAir Liquidation Pending: Demands Court-Ordered Wage Cuts
US Airways, in a bankruptcy court filing over the weekend, threatened that this, its second bankruptcy in two years, would end in liquidation of the company and its assets, starting in January or February 2005, unless the court issues an order compelling $1.2 billion in salary cuts from USAir's unionized employees. This averages a 23% cut in salaries and benefits for all 28,000 remaining employees, who already gave up $2.3 billion in wages and benefits in the airline's first bankruptcy. USAir's revenues have collapsed to half what they were four years ago; it has no debtor-in-possession financing and is trying to operate on cash; so banks with potential credit lines are calling the shots here. They demand a plan for a non-union, low-budget airline, or no financing. Unless they're satisfiedor, the airline industry is re-regulated as Lyndon LaRouche has called forUSAir says it will start losing its leases, and thus its planes, in January.
United Airlines also facing collapsing revenues, is planning to demand more givebacks; even American Airlines, which is supposedly "profitable," and has recently been called the big carriers' one success story and a veritable workers' paradise, is mooting similar action. Delta is on the ropes, going through waves of layoffs, and making preparations for bankruptcy.
Major airline hubs abandoned so far: Pittsburgh, by USAir, and Columbus, by America West (one of those which got government loan bailouts, like USAir and American).
Manufacturing Updates: 'No Upswing In Swing States'
* Ohio: Auto-parts maker Delphi announced lay-offs of 120 workers at its Dayton-area plantmore than 25% of the factory's workforce, starting Oct. 4.
* Michigan: Auto-parts maker Intermet Corp., one of the world's largest metal casters with nearly 6,000 employees, filed for bankruptcy, blaming soaring steel prices. Pepsi is closing its Frito-Lay manufacturing plant in Allen Park that employs 390 peopleone of four shutdowns nationwide, by year-end.
* Kentucky: Auto-parts supplier Chelsea Industries is closing its two plants in Saline and Cadiz, as of Oct. 31, eliminating 109 jobs. Officials blamed falling orders from Mitsubishi, and sharp increases in steel prices.
* West Virginia: General Motors is ceasing packaging operations at its Martinsburg plant, cutting 200-300 jobs over the next few years.
Poverty Soaring in LaRouche-Designated Battleground States
Both California and Texas cities follow closely behind Cleveland, Ohio in high rates of poverty. The recently released Census Poverty 2003 survey, which severely understates the actual level of poverty, due to its flawed method of data gathering, still shows double-digit levels of poverty in America's large cities. Over 60 cities, with populations of 250,000 or more, have high rates of poverty according to the data. Below is a list of cities in California and Texas with 15% or above rates of overall poverty.
CALIFORNIA |
% Rate |
TEXAS |
%Rate |
Fresno |
28.4 |
El Paso |
24.5 |
Long Beach |
24.1 |
Dallas |
21.0 |
Stockton |
20.6 |
Houston |
20.3 |
Los Angeles |
20.1 |
San Antonio |
18.5 |
Santa Ana |
16.4 |
Corpus Christi |
16.8 |
|
|
Austin |
16.0 |
The rates of childhood poverty in these cities range from highs of 45.3% (Fresno) or 34.1% (El Paso) to lows of 10.6% (San Jose) and 12.9% (Arlington, Texas. The number of cities is too numerous to list here.
Foreclosures in Metro-Atlanta Jumped 19.4% Over 2003
Some 30,407 homes have been foreclosed by lenders so far this year (through Oct. 5), in metro Atlanta's 13 core counties, according to the Atlanta Foreclosure Report.
Fannie Mae Under Criminal Investigation for Fraud
On top of an informal inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the DOJ has opened a criminal probe which is still in the preliminary stages, after Fannie's regulatorthe Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversightsaid the mortgage finance giant manipulated its financial results, the Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 30. OFHEO's report had suggested that some Fannie Mae executives may have misled regulators, which in some cases would be an added criminal offense. Justice Department officials concluded that the regulator's findings demanded an investigation, the Journal said, adding that OFHEO referred its report to Federal prosecutors last week.
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