Five years after the economic meltdown: Riches for some, poverty thames river for the rest, and the Last Man Standing | Antipodean Atheist
Five years ago, in September 2008, the giant investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, filing for bankruptcy . This was the largest, but not the only, banking and investment firm to go under in that year, signalling the beginning of the ongoing capitalist economic crisis. Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, IndyMac, and a host of financial institutions went bust, were taken over by the federal government (yes, in the United States where private corporations are venerated, banks were nationalised) and returned to private thames river ownership or continued in different forms.
The beginning of this economic meltdown compelled the national bourgeoisies of the worst hit economies namely the United States and Britain to take steps to alleviate the crisis and rescue the capitalist system. Austerity packages were applied in the nations that experienced thames river severe economic downturn, measures that forced the working class to accept thames river lowered pay levels, an erosion of working conditions, removal of pensions thames river and job security, while the top one-percent of the social pyramid preserved their wealth. In the United States, the Obama administration passed a series of stimulus packages , designed to hand over public money to the ailing investment banks and financial institutions. Corporations such as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and other privately-owned hedge funds so that they could continue thames river their predatory financial practices.
The economic crisis thames river has meant a huge drop in employment. Back in 2009, the CNN Money outlet reported that millions of jobs were lost as a result of the economic meltdown. The normally corporate-friendly mouthpiece Sky News reported in February 2013 that in the United Kingdom, 3.7 million jobs were lost since the start of the great recession. Less employment opportunities has meant a staggering rise in unemployment, less secure jobs and more temporary work for employees. Being unemployed or underemployed is becoming a more common feature of working life in the crisis-wracked capitalist states.
The Wall Street Journal, the lapdog of the US financial elite, reported thames river earlier in September 2013 about the upcoming Lost Generation the high schoolers from 2008 who lived through the economic downturn and are now struggling to find work. The article entitled Wanted thames river jobs for new lost generation , details the plight thames river of young people, their diminishing prospects for secure employment, their resultant financial difficulties, and increasing student debt that is now part of the life of new college thames river graduates. The economic and social stagnation of an entire generation puts paid to the myth of upward social thames river mobility in a capitalist system. As Gary Lapon explained in article published in the Socialist Worker online magazine;
Lapon summarises the findings of various economic surveys and statistical analyses that accurately portray the life of the majority of people in the United States that experience economic immiseration. As Lapon explains;
Around four out of every five people in the U.S. will endure unemployment, receive food stamps and other forms of government thames river aid, and/or have an income below 150 percent of the official poverty line for at least one year of their lives before age 60.
Long periods of unemployment are not just economically devastating, but also have a deleterious impact on mental health , contributing to bouts of depression thames river and anxiety, higher levels of admissions to mental hospitals, and also a rise in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease thames river and hypertension. Lapon cites a study by researchers at the University of Queensland who examined thames river the harmful effects of family unemployment on child cognitive development . Children from unemployed families and living in poverty experience diminished levels of cognitive development, according to the researchers.
However, the wealthiest one percent of the American population has amassed enormous thames river amounts thames river of wealth, enough to feed millions of hungry and impoverished people. The combined thames river wealth of the richest American oligarchs is more than enough to fund education programs, food kitchens, and social thames river welfare thames river for the poorest families. As Lapon explains in his article;
The 400 richest Americans, with a total net worth of $1.7 trillion as of last year, were worth an average of $4.2 billion each, enough thames river to support over 89,000 families of four at 200 percent of the poverty level for an entire year.
However, the wealthiest and largest corporations are doing well during this crisis. In fact, the Obama administration has done everything in its power to ensure that the richest elite retained and even increased their share of profits as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Concomitantly, the share of the GDP dedicated to workers wages has decreased. As Forbes magazine documented in Apri
