Extreme Financials--What's Happening to the Very Poor?

This morning The New York Times posted a list of the biggest losers in the Madoff ponzi scheme. The list includes a lot of very rich people, their charitable trusts, and banks throughout the world. My sadness is that the charitable trusts and consequently funding to charitable organizations have been ransacked by poor management and greed.

One very big victim is the JEHT Foundation, one of the most progressive funders in the country--$26 million was given away last year to social justice causes, often to organizations whose missions are just too scary for most foundations.

This entire story is about greed and a sense of entitlement that some wealthy people have: I'm entitled to a 10% return on my money. For what?

Since funding will be so scarse at a time when government and corporations, as well as individuals, have been caught in the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, many people will suffer.

The very poor are already suffering, and no one seems to be noticing.

According to the December 29, 2008 issue of The Nation, in 2007, more than 37 million Americans were living in poverty, that's 12.5% of the population. This figure doesn't include the impact of the unemployment rise that acccompanied the recent banking failures. 1.9 million Americans lost their jobs just this year. The consequence, is that between August 2007 and August 2008, the food stamp program caseload rose by 2.6 million people. One in five American children is living on food stamps.

This economic analysis was calculated by Robert Pollin from the University of Massachusetts in an article called "How to End the Recession."

He suggests, and it appears that Barack Obama was listening, that only massive spending by government can end the downward spiral.

35 days left of Bush. Will there be anything to govern by January 20th?