news
US Bond Rating Downgrade: The 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
proud to participate in a program
that many consider a welfare pro-
gram. Thus, the report that 45.8
B ENNEtt
C ollEgE
Julianne
Malveaux
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
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 veter-
ans. I applaud his effort to
find jobs for those who
have serviced our nation.
Yet, finding jobs will take
more than exhortation, and
veterans aren’t the only
ones who need jobs. As I
listened to our president
rattle off the statistics
about veteran unemploy-
ment, I was reminded that there
are other groups
that
experience
higher unemploy-
ment than the
reported
rate.
Imagine the impact
if President Obama
rolled out a pro-
gram to target those
African Americans
who
experience
unemployment. Or,
because it is clear
that in these racial-
ly charged 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
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
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
page 8 The Portland Skanner august 10, 2011
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
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
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
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
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.
Julianne Malveaux is President
of Bennett College for women in
greensboro, north Carolina.