James Flanigan, the L.A. Times business writer, informs us:
"More than 27 million working Americans, about 20% of the U.S. labor force, earn wages below the poverty level, according to Low Wage America, a new book of studies by 38 economists published by the Russel Sage Foundation."
In other words, 1 out of 5 people who have jobs, cannot support their families.
On the same page of the Business Section, there is an article by Marla Dickerson, from which I extract this piece of news:
"Today, a laid-off Californian with questions about food stamps can get answers from a telephone hot line staffed in part by workers in India. The state of California two years ago outsourced the delivery of some welfare benefits to Citicorp Electronic Financial Services Inc., which uses English-speaking workers in Bangalore and Pune to assist the down-and-out in Bakersfield and Pacoima."
Yes, Citicorp is doing great, but those who must work for a living are in trouble. Since the vast majority of Americans are workers and not business people, these trends point to a horrible economy ahead.
The economy is in bad shape regardless of what you hear about business indexes and trends. We need Congress to fix the tax system so that corporations do not send work overseas and to increase the minimum wage to the point where a person working for a living can support his family.
Will the Republicans do this? NO. Elect a few Democrats in 2004!
