Stories Of Despair From The Forgotten People That The U.S. Economy Has Left Behind

By Michael Snyder
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
April 25th, 2016

There is so much economic despair in our country today, but if you have a good job and if you live in a good neighborhood you might not ever encounter it. There really are “two Americas” in 2016, and they are getting farther and farther apart with each passing year. On the one hand, you have lots of people smiling in New York City these days because of the stock market boom, and property values have soared to ridiculous levels in San Francisco because of the tech bubble. But in between the two coasts there are vast stretches of forgotten people that the U.S. economy has left behind. In this article I am going to share some of their stories with you.

Because I run a website called The Economic Collapse Blog, I hear from a lot of people that are really struggling in this economy. Just yesterday, I posted an article entitled “In 1 Out Of Every 5 American Families, Nobody Has A Job“, and one of my regular readers left the following comment on that article…

After 5-6 some odd years I finally got a decent tech job that pays a couple of bucks more than typical fast food. For the first time in a long time I can say we are coming out of the black. But however, it’s a shaky recovery. If I lose this job at anytime in the next few years it will be devastating so I’m taking the opportunity to win back my certs so that I can get a higher paying tech job.

Here’s to keeping fingers crossed…

In many areas of the nation today, it is a real challenge to find a good job. According to the Social Security Administration, 51 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year at this point, and you can’t support a middle class family on $30,000 a year. The American Dream feels like it has ended for millions upon millions of families, and this is leading to a lot of depression and despair.

I would like to share with you three comments that were recently left on a New York Times article about depression. In all three instances, the commenters link their battle with depression with the economy in some way…

>#1 But for me, I see another change that has affected me as I have entered the high risk age group. Over the years, as the economy dumps, as the businesses that have employed people in my region have cut staff, or just gone away, I have seen almost every friend that I have made in the last 30 years move away. My social network imploded.

For those who cannot easily recreate new sets of friendships, especially if they are un- or underemployed, and have fractured family relationships, there is little social support to help stave off depression. And for more and more people who are working, the push to work independently, not in an office atmosphere, creates even more isolation.

The Rest…HERE

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 26th, 2016 at 12:54 am and is filed under Economics, God Help Us, Government Evil. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.