America: The Great Depression Of 2008

The last line in this story exposes it for the farce that it is… “…and the unemployment rate is up to perhaps 5 per cent”. Unemployment during the Great Depression of the 1930s was around 24.9%. I’d say that’s quite a difference.

The depression that America is experiencing has more to do with the fact that there isn’t a candidate worth electing as our next President.

USA 2008: The Great Depression


Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive – a sure sign the world’s richest country faces economic crisis.

We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.

Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.

The increase – from 26.5 million in 2007 – is due partly to recent efforts to increase public awareness of the programme and also a switch from paper coupons to electronic debit cards. But above all it is the pressures being exerted on ordinary Americans by an economy that is suddenly beset by troubles. Housing foreclosures, accelerating jobs losses and fast-rising prices all add to the squeeze.

Emblematic of the downturn until now has been the parades of houses seized in foreclosure all across the country, and myriad families separated from their homes. But now the crisis is starting to hit the country in its gut. Getting food on the table is a challenge many Americans are finding harder to meet. As a barometer of the country’s economic health, food stamp usage may not be perfect, but can certainly tell a story.

Michigan has been in its own mini-recession for years as its collapsing industrial base, particularly in the car industry, has cast more and more out of work. Now, one in eight residents of the state is on food stamps, double the level in 2000. “We have seen a dramatic increase in recent years, but we have also seen it climbing more in recent months,” Maureen Sorbet, a spokeswoman for Michigan’s programme, said. “It’s been increasing steadily. Without the programme, some families and kids would be going without.”

But the trend is not restricted to the rust-belt regions. Forty states are reporting increases in applications for the stamps, actually electronic cards that are filled automatically once a month by the government and are swiped by shoppers at the till, in the 12 months from December 2006. At least six states, including Florida, Arizona and Maryland, have had a 10 per cent increase in the past year.

In Rhode Island, the segment of the population on food stamps has risen by 18 per cent in two years. The food programme started 40 years ago when hunger was still a daily fact of life for many Americans. The recent switch from paper coupons to the plastic card system has helped remove some of the stigma associated with the food stamp programme. The card can be swiped as easily as a bank debit card. To qualify for the cards, Americans do not have to be exactly on the breadline. The programme is available to people whose earnings are just above the official poverty line. For Hubert Liepnieks, the card is a lifeline he could never afford to lose. Just out of prison, he sleeps in overnight shelters in Manhattan and uses the card at a Morgan Williams supermarket on East 23rd Street. Yesterday, he and his fiancée, Christine Schultz, who is in a wheelchair, shared one banana and a cup of coffee bought with the 82 cents left on it.

“They should be refilling it in the next three or four days,” Liepnieks says. At times, he admits, he and friends bargain with owners of the smaller grocery shops to trade the value of their cards for cash, although it is illegal. “It can be done. I get $7 back on $10.”

Richard Enright, the manager at this Morgan Williams, says the numbers of customers on food stamps has been steady but he expects that to rise soon. “In this location, it’s still mostly old people and people who have retired from city jobs on stamps,” he says. Food stamp money was designed to supplement what people could buy rather than covering all the costs of a family’s groceries. But the problem now, Mr Enright says, is that soaring prices are squeezing the value of the benefits.

“Last St Patrick’s Day, we were selling Irish soda bread for $1.99. This year it was $2.99. Prices are just spiralling up, because of the cost of gas trucking the food into the city and because of commodity prices. People complain, but I tell them it’s not my fault everything is more expensive.”

The US Department of Agriculture says the cost of feeding a low-income family of four has risen 6 per cent in 12 months. “The amount of food stamps per household hasn’t gone up with the food costs,” says Dayna Ballantyne, who runs a food bank in Des Moines, Iowa. “Our clients are finding they aren’t able to purchase food like they used to.”

And the next monthly job numbers, to be released this Friday, are likely to show 50,000 more jobs were lost nationwide in March, and the unemployment rate is up to perhaps 5 per cent.


Your Social Security Number Will Determine When Your Economic Stimulus Check Is Sent

I know there are some people out there complaining about getting an economic stimulus check. In my opinion, much of that has to do with “Bush Derangement Syndrome”. Any time the government is giving me my money back, I’m happy.

This is the way it generally breaks down depending on the method of payment.

Direct Deposit Payments:

If the last two digits of your Social Security number are:
Your economic stimulus payment deposit should be sent to your bank account by:

00 – 20 May 2
21 – 75 May 9
76 – 99 May 16

Paper Check

If the last two digits of your Social Security number are:
Your check should be in the mail by:

00 – 09 May 16
10 – 18 May 23
19 – 25 May 30
26 – 38 June 6
39 – 51 June 13
52 – 63 June 20
64 – 75 June 27
76 – 87 July 4
88 – 99 July 11

Social Security numbers determine when economic stimulus checks go out


The Internal Revenue Service outlined Monday how your Social Security number will determine when you probably will get your economic stimulus check this spring or summer.

The IRS said it plans to deliver 130 million checks between May 2 and July 11 based on the last two digits of the recipient’s Social Security number.

According to the IRS, direct deposit payments will be made May 2 to recipients whose Social Security numbers end in 00-20.

Direct deposit payments will be made a week later, May 9, to people whose numbers end in 21-75. The final round of direct deposit payments will be made May 16 to people whose numbers end in 76-99.

Those who will receive paper checks are on a longer schedule.

Checks will be mailed May 16 to those whose numbers end in 00-09. A second round of checks will be mailed May 23 to those whose numbers end in 10-18. A May 30 mailing will be made to people whose numbers end in 19-25.

Subsequent mailings will be made June 6 to those whose numbers end in 26-38, June 13 to numbers 39-51, June 20 to numbers 52-63, June 27 to numbers 64-75, July 4 to numbers 76-87, and July 11 to those whose numbers end in 88-99.

The payments of $300 each to certain low-income recipients and $600 or $1,200 to single or married taxpayers, plus additional money for families with qualifying children, will be calculated from tax returns filed by April 15. Filers also can indicate on those returns whether they want money directly deposited in a bank account or mailed to them.

Late filers and anyone who owes back taxes or other debt that normally would interfere with getting a tax refund also may get either a later stimulus payment or a smaller one, the IRS said.


Previously:
Economic Stimulus Package Rebate Calculator

Economic Stimulus Package Rebate Calculator

If you’re like I am, when it comes to extra money in your pocket, then you can bet I want to know more. So here are the details along with a handy calculator to see how much you’re getting back.

The Economic Stimulus Package recently passed Congress, and tax rebate checks will be sent out late spring or early summer.

The Basics for Tax Rebate Checks
· Most single taxpayers will get a rebate of $600.
· Most married couples who file jointly will get $1,200.
· Plus, you’ll get an extra $300 for each child under age 17 for whom you claim a child credit on your 2007 return.
· Low income seniors and disabled veterans (and their widows) who don’t owe enough income tax to qualify for the full rebate can qualify for checks of $300, or $600 if they filed joint returns.

These checks will be sent automatically, so no application form is necessary, as 2007 income will be used. The calculator below can be used to find out how much your rebate should be:

Related:
Your Social Security Number Will Determine When Your Economic Stimulus Check Is Sent

Load More