Prolonged Aid to Unemployed Is Running Out

Thank you for this story! I used to be a devout "free marketeer", anti-union, anti-welfare, and so on and so forth. You know . . . everyone needs to pull themselves up by their bootstraps as it were. In theory, I agree whole-heartedly with the self-reliance/educate yourself/work hard concept. But I've noticed throughout the past decade or so that here, in America, education, hard work, integrity, honesty, etc. doesn't get one very far in financial terms. I'm beginning to believe that this "American Dream" stuff is more of a myth than a reality.

If the fallout, spin-offs, job losses, etc,. as a result of the current recession, follow the same statistical pattern as the last few recessions, there's going to be millions of financially devastated Americans added to the welfare rolls and out on the street. America has experienced twelve recessions (including the current) since the end of World War II. But in those recessions, we didn't have the severe mortgage default and foreclosure problem that millions of Americans are now experiencing. We also didn't have the level of career displacement  that  45% of the currently unemployed are faced with. Once a recession gets to a certain level, the line between recession and depression gets very thin.