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.

Two Cheers for the Plan B Lifestyle

The surging sales of the morning-after pill evoke mixed feelings. While the new contraceptive certainly gives women (and men) more freedom of choice, its popularity raises qualms about how far we’ve gone toward becoming a Plan B society.

Marry the wrong person? No-fault divorce. Stuff your face for years? Try diet pills and, if they don’t work, surgery. Run up too many bills? Go bankrupt.

In a society that believes in second chances, it’s hard to argue against the right to correct mistakes, but whatever happened to pay as you go, look before you leap or plain old think twice?

More to the point, there is still no totally free lunch. Uproot your children’s lives, tamper with your body chemistry, lose your credit rating, the “delete” button won’t solve everything.

At the risk of sounding like an old scold, one thing more: Get into the wrong war and try to find a Plan B pill for that.

Maybe we should be taking a longer, harder look at the Plan A’s in our lives.