I worked in IT for many years, then consulted on IT projects for 5 years until those projects left the country.  Searching for meaningful employment, five years ago I turned to non-profit organizations.  Last month my non-profit job ended due to budget cuts.  Now, in our early sixties, with affordable healthcare a real concern until we become eligible for Medicare my husband and I want to downsize, but finding no market for selling our rather too-large home, we are contemplating the unthinkable --- Should one of us re-locate for a job, while the other partner remains at home to maintain our house and protect that investment until the housing market revives (if it ever does).  This is something we promised ourselves we would never do --- but it is beginning to look like and option we will have to consider.

This economy is destroying families.

The USA had the opportunity to demand greater protections for the working people of the world when they entered into these trade agreements.  Instead of doing that, politicians embraced the same trade agreements crafted by lobbyists and corporations seeking massive profits.  What we are not left with is a major trade imbalance and the inability of USA workers and businesses to compete in the global marketplace.  For example, the minimum wage in China is $0.70 per hour in some cities.  Mind you, that is a 16% increase over what the minimum wage was just a few months ago.  And since Chinese based companies are not required to adhere to the same labor, environment, and reporting standards as USA based businesses, we are left with an uncompetitive workforce on more then just wages.

I have been one of the few that believes we have been in a trade war with China for years.  And we are going to lose this war, and our final opportunity to help lift the Chinese people up with greater workplace rights, without even one of our elected officials acknowledging a trade war even exists.

In Ohio, there are few jobs to be had.  A semi recent Wal Mart opening netted over 4,500 job applicants in Cleveland.  And our state is so deep in red ink that many of the social programs which have helped the most needy are under pressure of retooling their programs to cope with 30-50% reductions in funding.

Barbara, I am sorry to here about your situation.  I wish you the best and sincerely hope that you are able to live with your husband in the same home no matter what part of the country you may end up living in.

A new report from Demos updates the Pew project's findings on economic security. It documents the downslide before the economic downturn for black and Latino middle-class families. But it also shows a decline in economic security for middle-class families overall. Key figures and conclusions are on my blog at http://povertyandpolicy.wordpress.com.

The bottom line, I think, is that a large majority of middle-class families were at the edge of a cliff when the recession set in. Not only a job loss, but any other further pressure on their resources, e.g., a serious illness or injury, would have been enough to push them into poverty.

And it might not even have taken that. According to Demos, black middle-class families had, on average, just $500 in savings and investments, not counting any equity in their homes. That would hardly be a buffer, even in better economic times.

Kathryn, this is great proof of two things.  One doing even many of the right things is NOT any sort of guarantee that stuff when hitting the fan won't push you into poverty. Two, that the poverty line, as figured by our nation, is almost certainly leaving out many who ARE in poverty and forcing people into a dire level of desperation just to get help.

You mention serious illness or injury, look how many have been falling into bankruptcy due to medical bills with many of them insured.  Isn't the number something like half of all bankruptcies?  I do happen to know that a growing cause of disability isn't so much the condition itself but the lack of access to health care caused by how insurance operates and causes impediments to care and that combined with poor funding for Public Health entities and Medicaid's discrimination against those without children this combination of situations effectively forces anyone who needs health care for a disability or chronic condition onto disability.  To point out how silly this is from a logical and fiscal point of view, the primary category of adult disability, as based on numbers, is mental illness and the numbers are rapidly growing - which means that simply fixing the aforementioned jumble of bad policies and underfunding could (at least in theory) keep many off of disability at least part of the time.  And it's just plain stupid that we have "health insurance" that lets families or individuals go bankrupt.

As to savings, without a society and/or family that will actually HELP individuals and families in hard times (society clearly doesn't and many of us don't have families that will), even the recommended savings aren't enough.  At best, they MIGHT hold out till you get a new job or qualify for the appropriate assistance - if the issue is disability.  Otherwise, savings can bite you in the rear because they're a cash asset...which is kind of stupid that our assistance programs penalize you for having done something you should have done.  Why should a person have to get rid of everything just to get "help"?  That still doesn't make sense to me even after going through it.