No Bailouts for Jobless and Homeless

In the porkathon to pass the bailout bill, Republicans balked at two measures--to extend jobless benefits for the unemployed and allow bankruptcy judges to reduce penniless homeowners' mortgages.

So much for Main Street, where signs of a 1930s Depression are cropping up everywhere:

*New figures show 760,000 lost jobs this year. Of the 9.5 million Americans out of work, two million have been for more than six months. Nearly 6.1 million people are working part-time because worsening business conditions have led to fewer hours and less pay.

*With bank-account insurance increased from $100,000 to $250,000, the potential liability of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for failing banks is now estimated to be $1.1 trillion. The FDIC's fund currently has about $45 billion, a five-year low.

*The number of Americans on food stamps, growing every month, was 28.6 million in June, according to latest government figures, reaching the level of late 2005, when Katrina and other hurricanes caused widespread suffering.

*Homeless families in Massachusetts motels have increased from 17 to 588 in the past year, with another 1,800 in shelters.

In my Depression childhood, everyone in our neighborhood was poor and many penniless until FDR and the New Deal began to bail us out with relief programs. In the 21st century, the government so far is concentrating on banks, investment houses and hedge funds.

We'll soon find out if the trickle-down theory works.

Signed, Sealed But Far From Delivered

Barack Obama, who started out as a JFK lookalike, will have to be another FDR. With George W. Bush signing the bailout bill today and preparing to leave office as Herbert Hoover II, the economy is in a shambles that will shape the next presidency.

As Wall Street got its $700 billion lifeline, the stock market plunged.

Another 159,000 jobs disappeared last month for a total of 760,000 for the year.

California warns the US Treasury that it may be unable to meet its payroll and will need a $7 billion loan, as other states search for cash to meet theirs.

Taking office in January, an Obama Administration, which promised the voters change, will be scrambling to find both immediate fixes and long-term solutions for an economy that an adamant free-market government has turned into a quasi-Socialist state overnight.

In the momentary panic, few are making ideological arguments against the attempts of Congress and a Republican Administration to plug the dike, but when Democrats take full control, President Obama will have not only the economic realities to confront but an outcry against the government interventions that will be necessary to save American jobs, homes and businesses.

He should start a close study of FDR and the New Deal without delay.