(no subject)

I've been saying for years that stock market crashes are not part of a "natural business cycle" but are essentially swindles of the middle class by the upper class.

Here's the first time I've seen anyone else saying this, and doing so with greater skill and depth than I ever have, pulling in numerous connected themes.

The first thing that one must acknowledge is that we have just witnessed one of the most massive transfers of wealth, from the poor to the rich, in mankind's history. This enormous theft now threatens the very existence of the middle class in America. David DeGraw does an excellent job of adding it all up. Here are a few highlights:

50 million Americans now live in poverty
Half of all American children will need foodstamps at some point in their lives
Hunger rates are now at all-time highs
50 million citizens are now without health care
1.4 million filed for bankruptcy last year, 60% of them because of medical bills
13 million are expected to lose their homes before the crisis is over
Meanwhile, we incarcerate more people in the world than any other nation, and a new prison opens somewhere in America every week.

from The War on the Middle Class