Empire in Decay : Tonight Tens Of Thousands Of Formerly Middle Class Americans Will Be Sleeping In Their Cars, In Tent Cities Or On The Streets!
Empire in Decay : Tonight Tens Of Thousands Of Formerly Middle Class
Americans Will Be Sleeping In Their Cars, In Tent Cities Or On The Streets
The Economic Collapse is SNOWBALLING!
Economic despair is beginning to spread rapidly in America. As you read
this, there are millions of American families that are just barely
hanging on by their fingernails. For a growing number of Americans,
it
has become an all-out battle just to be able to afford to sleep under
a
roof and put a little bit of food on the table. Sadly, there are more
people than ever that are losing that battle. Tonight, tens of thousands
of formerly middle class Americans will be sleeping in their cars,
even
though that is illegal in many U.S. cities. Tens of thousands of others
will be sleeping in tent cities or on the streets. Meanwhile,
communities all over America are passing measures that are meant to
push
tent cities and homeless people out of their areas. It turns out that
once you lose your job and your home in this country you become
something of an outcast. Sadly, the number of "outcasts" is going to
continue to grow as the U.S. economy continues to collapse.
Most Americans that end up living in their cars on in tent cities never
thought that it would happen to them.
An article in Der Spiegel profiled one American couple that is
absolutely shocked at what has happened to them.... Chanelle Sabedra
is
already on that road. She and her husband have been sleeping in their
car for almost three weeks now. "We never saw this coming, never ever,"
says Sabedra. She starts to cry. "I'm an adult, I can take care of
myself one way or another, and same with my husband, but (my kids are)
too little to go through these things." She has three children; they
are
nine, five and three years old.
"We had a house further south, in San Bernardino," says Sabedra. Her
husband lost his job building prefab houses in July 2009. The utility
company turned off the gas. "We were boiling water on the barbeque
to
bathe our kids," she says. No longer able to pay the rent, the Sabedras
were evicted from their house in August. How would you feel if you
had a
3 year old kid and a 5 year old kid and you were sleeping in a car?
Sadly, if child protective services finds out about that family those
kids
will probably be stolen away and never returned.
America is becoming a very cruel place.
Unfortunately, what has happened to that family is not an isolated
incident. As rampant unemployment has spread across America, the number
of people that have lost their homes has soared.
Today, it is estimated that approximately a third of the homeless population
in Seattle live in their cars.
It is even happening to my readers. A reader named JD left the following
comment on one of my articles a while back.... I was laid off from
my
construction job almost 2 yrs ago was on unenjoyment for over a yr
they
cut me off last september so i lost my apartment. Since then ive been
couch surfing and hotel hopping. Now i occaisonally sleep in my car.
I
was lucky enough to have a friend with a lawn care business so i can
at
least put ever increasing gas in my carhouse. I hate to say it but
i
think we will see hoovervilles in the major cities soon. When the
welfare & food stamps & all the other govt. programs end the
anarchy
begins. Desperation is rising all over America. Most people had hoped
to
see an economic recovery by now but it just hasn't happened.
The phenomenon of Americans living in their cars has become so prominent
that even Time Magazine has done a story about it.... For people who
cannot afford rent, a car is the last rung of dignity and sanity above
the despair of the streets. A home on wheels is a classic American
affair, from the wagon train to the RV. Now, for some formerly upwardly
mobile Americans, the economic storm has turned the backseat
or the rear
of the van into the bedroom. "We found six people sleeping in their
cars
on an overnight police ride-along in December," says John Edmund, chief
of staff to Long Beach councilman Dee Andrews. "One was a widow living
in a four-door sedan. She and her husband had been Air Force veterans.
She did not know about the agencies that could help her. I had tears
in
my eyes afterwards." Unfortunately, it turns out that sleeping in cars
has been made illegal in many areas of the United States.
In many cities, police are putting boots on the cars and when the homeless
owners can't pay the fines the vehicles are being taken away from them.
Venice, California is one place where people have been arrested for
living in vehicles. Venice had been a popular spot for people living
in
their RVs to go, but police started arresting people that were living
in
RVs and they began towing away their vehicles. The following is an
excerpt from an article that appeared on the Daily Kos website....
They
took Eric while he was changing his battery in his car. Claimed
he lived
in his car. A few days later they went to 3th Street and took his
RV
because he was in jail and no one moved it for 72 hours. Saturday
they
did a sweep of 7th and took Bear and his RV. They also took Elizabeth's
RV but do not know if they took Elizabeth but can not find her.
The
police went to 6th and took the white RV that always parks by Broadway
on 6th. Everyday they take 1 to 4 RVs. Very soon there will be no
one
left. Once you are down on your luck in America you will quickly
find
that authorities will try to take everything else you still have
away
from you.
The United States can be a very brutal place to be if you are poor.
All over America, communities are making tent cities illegal or they
are
simply just chasing them away.
It turns out that many Americans really don't like large numbers
of homeless
people camping out in their neighborhoods.
But many of those now living in tent cities used to be just like you and me.
What is being done to tent cities in some areas of the country is
absolutely
disgusting.
For example, who could ever forget this video of police in St. Petersburg,
Florida using box cutters to slash up the tents of the homeless....
What goes through your mind when you watch something like that?
If you don't feel at least a little bit of compassion for those people
then
something is wrong.
You never know - you might be the next one forced to take refuge in
a tent
city.
In many U.S. cities, it is even illegal to sleep on the street. If you
are
homeless I am not sure what you are supposed to do. In some areas of
the
U.S. you can't sleep in your car, you can't sleep in a tent city and
you
can't sleep on the street.
So what should we do with all of the Americans that are being forced
out of
their homes by this economy?
Should we just round them all up and put them into fenced camps?
Don't laugh - we are getting closer to that kind of thing every day.
We live in very frightening times.
Poverty is absolutely exploding in America. The number of Americans
that are
going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 46% since
2006.
There are 44 million Americans on food stamps. If it was not for measures
like these, the streets of America would be filled with destitute people.
Things are tough out there and they are about to get tougher.
At the beginning of next year, the extended unemployment benefits that
have
been helping the unemployed during this economic downturn will expire.
Up to
now, many unemployed Americans have been able to enjoy up to 99 weeks
of
unemployment benefits. Now that is coming to an end.
According to the New York Times, this is going to drain 37 billion dollars
out of the wallets of unemployed Americans that are just barely hanging
on.
What in the world is that going to do to the economy?
This all comes at a time when it looks like unemployment is going to
start
rising once again.
Cisco has just announced that they are going to be laying off 10,000
workers. Other large firms are expected to announce more layoffs shortly.
The number of good jobs continues to shrink.
There are other signs that the economy is slowing once again. Pre-orders
for
Christmas toys are way down. Vacancies at U.S. shopping malls are rising
again. Nearly every major poll shows that Americans are extremely
pessimistic about the economy right now.
So why in the world is all of this happening?
Where in the world did all of our jobs go? NAFTA? GATT? Yes.
It turns out that millions of our jobs have been shipped overseas
where the labor is far, far cheaper and it is really starting to catch
up
with us.
On The American Dream website, I just finished an article entitled "How
Globalism Has Destroyed Our Jobs, Businesses And National Wealth In
10 Easy
Steps". It is a 2500 word essay that explains how globalization has
absolutely gutted our economy. The article will hopefully help you
understand why so many good jobs have left the United States and why
they
aren't coming back.
Many of our great cities that used to be the envy of the entire globe
are
now a bad joke to the rest of the world.
The following is what one reporter from the UK found when he visited
one of
the worst areas of Detroit....Occasionally a half-ruined or half-burned
house still stands to remind you
that this used to be a cityscape. Pathetic, besieged knots of surviving
homes remind you of what was once here. Sometimes amazing efforts have
been
made to keep them smart. More often, they haven't.
Many bear menacing notices warning visitors to stay away. On the door
of
one, easy to imagine as a neat home with an iron-pillared porch where
the
head of the family must once have sat on summer evenings, are the words
'Enter at ya own risk' accompanied by a crude drawing of an angry face.
I ventured into a nearby ruin, smashed, charred and half-filled with
garbage. You have no idea who or what might be lurking in these houses.
But don't laugh at Detroit. What is happening in Detroit is coming
to your
area soon enough.
America is in an advanced state of decay. The number of "outcasts" is
going
to multiply as more Americans lose their jobs and their homes. Millions
more
Americans will be sleeping in their cars, in tent cities or on the
streets
before this is all over.
The U.S. economy is never going to get back to "normal". What we are
living
through now is the "new normal" and it is rip-roaring prosperity compared
to
what is coming.
Please show compassion to the people around you that are hurting right
now.
You never know, as the economy continues to unravel it may be you that
needs
some compassion soon.
POSTER WRITES: What can we average citizens do? Adopt a full time servant? Put up a tent in your back yard, and allow them entry to your powder room for bathing and toilet facilities? A LIVE IN FAMILY? I'll bet plenty of seniors live alone, unable to do heavy housework. Heck, I'm one of them. I might consider adopting a small family. We should start a REGISTRY. FREESTAFF.ORG
SEE: TENT CITIES, THE NEW MISERY
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