Robert Oak's blog

Fifty Years Later the War on Poverty Is Lost

Fifty years ago Lyndon B. Johnson declared War on Poverty.  Great strides were made.  Between 1964 and 1965 Medicaid and Medicare were enacted, food stamps made permanent, a flurry of work and volunteer grants were passed, and educational opportunities were made more egalitarian.  Unfortunately later administrations have been tearing apart Johnson's weapons against poverty one by one.

Outsourcing Pays Big to Private Companies While Americans Suffer

Remember how outsourcing was shoved down the throats of the American people by claiming it would save money and was more efficient?  Guess what, not only is costing more, the services now provided are dismal failures.  A new report, Out of Control describes the abysmal state and consequences of outsourcing public services.

Happy New Year From The Economic Populist!

Happy New Year from the Economic Populist!  Let's hope 2014 is better economically for most of us as 2013 was another real dog for most of America.  Wall Street was on fire and the investor class made out like bandits while real robust job growth still has not materialized.  2013 is the year the middle class was completely ignored.  Still broke, still jobless or working with low wages and eroding worker's rights, America's middle class was pummeled yet again.

Safeway Skewered for Throwing 6,000 Workers Under the Bus in Video Parody

Safeway closed a whopping 72 Dominick's grocery stores resulting in 6,000 jobs lost.  They acquired Dominck's grocery chain, engaged a hedge fund, hyped up the stock price and then promptly shuttered the Illinois neighborhood grocery.  The excuse is these Dominick's grocery stores serve low profit margin geographical locations.  In other words, Safeway doesn't want to offer grocery access to poor people.

Happy Holidays From The Economic Populist

Happy Holidays from The Economic Populist!  Put up your feet and grab the egg nog for it's time to watch some Christmas parodies.  Santa's list these days is clearly corrupted by the word processor.  The nice receive lumps of coal while the naughty get new yachts.  The ode to joy is hard to hear.  May our holiday funnies round up bring you joy and cheer as sarcasm rings the bell of truth.  Merry Christmas!

The Late, Great Taper Starts With Low Interest Rates as Far as the Eye Can See

Wall Street was all aghast that their quantitative easing was about to disappear.  The FOMC decided to taper in January and now stocks soar.  Why?  Because the taper is minimal and the FOMC announced the federal funds rate will remain an effective zero for much longer than previously estimated.

Congressional Scrooges Deny Unemployment Benefit Extension

The latest budget deal does not extend unemployment benefits for some of the long term unemployed.   This means without some Congressional action, unemployment benefits will only be available for 26 weeks in 2014.  The current average time to be officially unemployed is 37.2 weeks, far exceeding the time one can receive regular unemployment insurance benefits in most states.

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