SUN EDITORIAL:

Recession’s deep grip

Suffering on the rise among millions of Americans victimized by falling economy

Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

People fortunate enough to have a job not threatened by a layoff and a home not threatened by foreclosure may indeed think the recession is over or that the worst has passed.

But not readily apparent is a whole other world.

This is a world where once-secure people are either now barely hanging on or have lost everything — their careers, their homes and cars, their credit, their savings and, in a growing number of cases, even their children.

Evidence of that can come in statistics, such as the record number — 36 million — of Americans now receiving food stamps, or the ever-rising unemployment and foreclosure rates.

Evidence can also come from daily news stories about urgent needs mounting among individuals and families. Las Vegas Sun reporter Timothy Pratt wrote Wednesday about the calls to Nevada’s emergency help line (2-1-1), which have increased 22 percent since the recession began.

“People are desperate,” said Mary Liveratti, who oversees the program. “They’re looking for help in meeting basic needs, like food, clothes, a place to live.”

Also, The New York Times published a two-part story last week on the rising number of runaways and otherwise homeless children in the country, blamed in no small measure on the recession. “Several times a month we’re seeing kids being left by parents who say they can’t afford them anymore,” the director of a children’s resource center in Oregon told the paper.

The Times spent 11 months interviewing homeless children in eight states who, for various reasons, rejected shelters and opted for living on the streets. The story recounted the despairing ways in which they were trying to survive, sometimes unsuccessfully. Of one homeless girl, the paper wrote that she was “childlike enough to suck her thumb, but dangerous enough to carry a switchblade.”

Such images are why government programs to help those hardest hit in this recession, which is not even close to being over, are needed more than ever.

Discussion: 8 comments so far…

By Future

11/1/09 at 3:41 a.m.

Suggest removal

The LV Sun says "People fortunate enough to have a job not threatened by a layoff and a home not threatened by foreclosure ...think the recession is over or that the worst has passed.

That would be all the state and local Union workers who got salary and benefit increases out of the stimulus package.

You have to see by the jobless numbers the failure of the stimulus.

So while the stimulus poured money into public union workers pocket nothing got to small business our only true job engine.

The $789 billion did nothing for small business.

Now 10 months later Obama instead of giving a tax break from the 35% rate is looking to add taxes in the form of cap and trade and Health insurance fines.

Until Obama and Reid get off the backs of small businesses there will be no job recovery.
By fremmasmind

11/1/09 at 4:37 a.m.

Suggest removal

"That would be all the state and local Union workers who got salary and benefit increases out of the stimulus package."
Future please enlighten us on this statement. I know of many state and local union members who are suffering just as much as any non-union employee.
I don't think being union or non-union can protect anyone from the economic disaster taking place. Especially because we still have got a long road ahead of us. Untill we start seeing our unemployment rate going down because more people are getting back to work and not dropping off the list because of running out of unempolyment funds or leaving the state, we are all in the same boat right now.
By judgesmales

11/1/09 at 6:29 a.m.

Suggest removal

Ooooh, you had me on board until the very end. Right up until the words "government programs" in the last paragraph. So sorry, Sun.

Also, it's not only those with jobs and homes who think the recession is over. It's YOUR PRESIDENT, too, who keeps telling us every day the recession is over. By pumping more than $2 trillion of borrowed money into the economy, Obama (Peace Be Upon Our Benevolent Master and Savior) was able to get a lousy 3.5 percent GDP number out of the 3rd quarter.

What does Obama (Peace Be Upon Our Benevolent Master and Savior) do for an encore in Q4 and Q1 2010? Another Cash for Clunkers with our tax dollars? Free homes for everyone? Another bank bailout so Citi, Wells and B-of-A can extend-and-pretend admitting the truth: the banks are INSOLVENT.

Obama (Peace Be Upon Our Benevolent Master and Savior) is just trying to string the sheep along until the 2010 elections, hoping the Dems don't get their clocks cleaned. He's going to keep telling lies, hoping if He tells it often enough, people will believe it.

As long as Obama (Peace Be Upon Our Benevolent Master and Savior) has the Sun in his corner, that's at least four or five extra readers He will reach.
By fosimmons

11/1/09 at 7:47 a.m.

Suggest removal

Fellow Idiots: A CriminalBush tax cut for the rich of over $1.4 billion and an illegal Iraq war costing over $700 billion so far, a deregulated SEC and a K St. run Republican Congress are where all this started and where the blame lies. That was eight years of this stuff. Most of us sat back and did nothing. No letters, no votes against these criminals and now here we are today twisting our hands in wonderment. We pay. The end will be achieved when President Obama gets his programs in the works. Any Republican you see will see tell you that as long as no other Republicans are listening. Thank you.
By ghostcommander

11/1/09 at 9:04 a.m.

Suggest removal

The cheney/bush tax cut benefited the 400 richest Americans by over $600,000,000,000. Many invested in "Euro's" because of the dollar decline, and in the Wall St. economy. They did absolutely nothing to invest in the "Main St." economy.
By LarryVegas

11/1/09 at 10:13 a.m.

Suggest removal

Here's fosimmons and blaming George Bush for all the woes in the World.

The White House and Congress are stuck on one thing. A government takeover of the health care system. They care about nothing else, Afghanistan, the economy, unemployment, global cooling and the financial and housing crisis can all wait on the back burner as the White House attacks all who dare question their attempt to takeover of the health care system.
By larry5

11/1/09 at 7:41 p.m.

Suggest removal

It's not often that I read someone calling himself an idiot, but it's not for me to argue. Anyway, Idiot, there are not too many people who believe that Bush did everything right. I'm eager to admit he made a lot of mistakes.

So what to do to correct that? The answer is definitely NOT to push through a pork-laden bill costing us a trillion dollars - money we don't have at a time when spending needs to be curtailed, even stopped.

Unfortunately those who fell for the hope and change song have nothing left now but hope. The country elected George W. Obama, and his supporters still believe they got something different. Yes, the idiots abound.
By KillerB

11/1/09 at 8:15 p.m.

Suggest removal

judgesmales -- your post is right on. The problem is trusting these institutions at all. Their struggle to stay relevant is mostly lies to maintain the status quo.

That bit near the end about the homeless girl is particularly haunting. But kids on the streets is not a new problem, and it's a oddly compelling life choice. I've had a few of them as guests in my home occasionally, and found them to be more respectful, with better manners than the average "normal" high school kid. Most of them were just exploring their freedom -- something they seemed to know more about than the rest of us.

« Previous Ten Next Ten »

Live chat: Tuesday, noon PST; Chat with Krista Creelman; Problem Gambling Center executive director Krista Creelman will answer questions about gambling addiction from Las Vegas Sun readers from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. ... Submit question