opinion
uS Bond rating Downgrade: Beginning of the End
W
hen S&P downgraded
the U.S. bond rating
from AAA to AA+, they
formalized the financial buzz of
months, if not years. The U.S. is
going to hell in a hand basket,
replicating the denouement of
England in the mid-21st century.
Our tax structure, which rewards
the rich and punishes the middle
class, looks like something from a
developing country, and our eco-
nomic distribution is going to look
like that soon, as well. While
many are disappointed and out-
raged that the flawed S&P felt
they could involve themselves in
the internal meat grinder of U.S.
politics by demanding a certain
level of spending cuts, the bottom
line is that our politicians were
willing to take us to the brink on
the debt ceiling, and this
brinkmanship does not bode well
for fiscal stability.
There are a number of other
trends that are troubling.
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture
reported that 45.8 million
Americans received food stamps
in May, a 12 percent increase from
a year ago.
This represents a
record – the highest number of
people receiving food stamps
since the program started.
Understand that there are many
who qualify for food stamps but
don’t receive them – they are too
B ennett
c ollege
Julianne
Malveaux
proud to participate in a program
that many consider a welfare pro-
gram. Thus, the report that 45.8
million receive food stamps
understates the magnitude of food
insecurity in our nation.
Nationally, home ownership fell
to 66 percent, the lowest level in at
least two decades. The level of
homeownership has long been
seen as an index of long-term fam-
ily financial stability. In these fas-
cinatingly oscillating economic
times, is it any wonder that these
rates have continued to drop, and
that there is a concomitant eco-
nomic reverberation from this
decline?
Of course, the unemployment
rate is of extreme concern. It
dropped just a tick from June to
July, from 9.2 to 9.1 percent. It is
still so high and so ingrained that a
third of those officially without
work haven’t worked for a full
year. The average unemployed
person has been out of work for 40
weeks. The official unemploy-
ment rate for African Americans,
at 15.9 percent, has also fallen.
However, the real unemployment
rate for African Americans
approaches 30 percent.
Last week, President Obama
urged the private sector to hire
more veterans. I applaud his effort
to find jobs for those who have
serviced our nation. Yet, finding
jobs will take more than exhorta-
tion, and veterans aren’t the only
ones who need jobs. As I listened
to our president rattle off the sta-
times, he can’t use the word
“Black” without attracting the ire
of the Limbaughs of the world,
what if there were also tax credits
available for those who hired inner
city workers, for those who have
been unemployed for more than a
year?
In tying President Obama’s
hands, the Congress signaled that
economic revitalization would
have to happen without govern-
ment stimulation. That may be
one of the reasons S&P decided to
downgrade the value of US
Our tax structure, which rewards the
rich and punishes the middle class,
looks like something from a
developing country, and our
economic distribution is going to look
like that soon, as well
tistics about veteran unemploy-
ment, I was reminded that there
are other groups that experience
higher unemployment than the
reported rate. Imagine the impact
if President Obama rolled out a
program to target those African
Americans who experience unem-
ployment. Or, because it is clear
that in these racially charged
bonds. We are in a position that
can, at best, be described as
embarrassing, when challenged
China demands an accounting
from us on the world stage. To be
sure, China has a point. They are
a creditor, we are a debtor. They
have a right, now, to wonder if
their investment in the United
States has been a good one.
Is this the beginning of the end
of U.S. hegemony? Can we com-
pete with other countries without
the edge that once came from
being perceived as the biggest and
the baddest, the world leader, the
trendsetter? Now, in some eyes,
we are just another struggling
country, hampered by debt that is
poorly secured, bereft of solutions
because of partisan bickering.
Other struggling countries agree
that investment in education is a
long-term strategy. They agree to
provide support for budding entre-
preneurs. We haven’t even gotten
there yet.
Yes, thank you
Congress for keeping the Pell
grant at its current level. Still,
there have been short sighted us in
the educational arena that are trou-
bling, including the cut in the
summer Pell.
Negative statistics need not be
the beginning of our end. We can
turn it around, if we make clear
choices. Is there a collective will
to invest in our young people, to
provide jobs for our unemployed,
to salvage the middle class? Can
we get on the same page? The
S&P downgrade makes it clear
that political brinkmanship weak-
ens our nation financially. Our fis-
cal failure, if uncorrected, repre-
sents the beginning of our nation’s
end.
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august 10, 2011 The Seattle Skanner Page 5