"Yes We Can"

But sometimes circumstances are such that it becomes swiftly obvious that the hopeful chant is an empty mantra. Americans are understandably wedded to the idea that their country is capable of providing them with the American Dream, and why not? It has done a fairly good job up until the present. And the present situation is an unfortunate blip on the economic history as opposed to the current situation prevailing in that country.

"Not my fault", says the incumbent. Don't they always? And aren't they, in a sense, right? Well sometimes. Not when they've been part of the machinery and haven't been alert to the brewing crisis, although ample warning signs were there. You've got to live it to believe it, though; that too is human nature. And everyone wanted to believe that sub-prime mortgages represented a fair and just society, ennobling it and enabling the under trodden.

Just President Obama's luck to come in on the cusp of a world-wide financial collapse. U.S. generated. Where now one in five Americans is without employment or vastly under-employed, and hope for amelioration of that situation is staggeringly elusive. One in nine Americans is struggling to meet minimum credit card payments, and one in eight has defaulted mortgages or facing foreclosure.

Over a hundred-thousand American families each month file for bankruptcy procedures. Wait, there's more, there always is when misfortunes are being calculated. Fifty million Americans are without health insurance, and thirty million of them require food stamps to fulfill basic nutritional necessities.

The stock market crash that bloomed after the global meltdown eradicated over $5-trillion of American middle-class savings and pension plans. And then there was the government multi-billion-dollar bailouts, along with stimulus packages which sent the deficit soaring. Well, there are solutions, and don't they always somehow end in the imposition of increased taxes?

Taxing the wealthy, despite their immense riches, and taxing huge corporations, despite their immense holdings, and taxing the financial institutions, despite their deserving it, won't elevate the Treasury as much as might be hoped. But taxing the 300-million-plus American population will. Yep, placing another burden on the over strained middle class, and the poor working stiffs still looking for better than minimum-wage.

"It is more difficult now than in the past for many people to achieve middle-class status because prices for certain key goods - health care, college and housing - have gone up faster than income", according to a report issued by the U.S. Commerce Department. "Extra medical bills or higher family expenses for child or elder care can easily make a middle class lifestyle unattainable."

Over the last two decades, the report points out, the cost of health care leaped 325%, and the price of college tuition went skyward to the value of 60%, while house prices increased in that period by 150%. Salaries did not keep pace with that increase in the cost of normal living expenses. Moreover, "Incomes have fallen as a result of the weakest job growth since the Great Depression, flat wages and declining benefits.

At the same time, prices for necessary items, such as food, energy, housing and transportation have all risen sharply." And a Pew Research Center survey found Americans admitting they either haven't advanced in life (25%) or have fallen behind (31%). "The security of the middle-class life has disappeared", according to a bankruptcy law expert at Harvard University.

And then there's this little tidbit; American families spend less on food, clothing, furniture and appliances than they did a generation ago. And why is that? Well, because people are attracted to cheap alternatives. Products less pricey than those produced, say, in the United States. Products produced in cheap-labour countries like Asia, particularly China.

So the production jobs that once buoyed the U.S. economy and the GDP have gradually gone elsewhere to provide American citizens with cheaper alternatives. Now, there are far fewer jobs and there are no alternatives; less expensive products are the norm. Greatly enhancing China's GDP, and aiding its population to move into the middle-class stream.

Those items that cannot be cheaply reproduced in low-wage, high-production countries abroad like home mortgage and vehicle payments, health insurance, child care, education and taxes have risen more rapidly than income. And the strapped American Treasury is in financial bondage to the holders of its Treasury bonds. Yes, China again.

The end result: A severely conflicted society comprised of the supremely wealthy and the growing poor. Yes, it was ever thus, but the divide is growing and the working poor are becoming more restive.

Revolution, anyone?